Ballers, Gamers and Scoundrels

Dana Jacobson

Not again. Well, this time the venue wasn’t national television, but the remarks were just as vile. Worse, actually. Today, ESPN’s Dana Jacobson, co-host of the morning show “First Take,” was suspended by the network for a week because of derogatory remarks she made about Jesus at a roast for colleagues Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic (of ESPN Radio’s “Mike & Mike in the Morning”) in Atlantic City earlier this month.

According to the The Press of Atlantic City, Jacobson made an “absolute fool of herself, swilling vodka from a Belvedere bottle, mumbling along and cursing like a sailor as Mike & Mike rested their heads in their hands in embarrassment.”

They were kind. At least one other site has offered an unfiltered version of the remarks: It notes that Jacobson reportedly trashed Notre Dame, Golic’s alma mater. No crime in that, but in the midst of her tirade the anchor reportedly said, “F–k Notre Dame,” “F–k Touchdown Jesus,” “F–k Jesus.”

Wow.

Full disclosure: I worked with Jacobson for several weeks during the previous incarnation of “First Take,” “Cold Pizza.” She was smart, funny and very supportive. Like many women in the male-dominated sports media, she’d become “one of the guys,” holding her own on any sports conversation and never backing down from a good sports “fight.” I like her, so I was particularly pained when I read of her rant. As a Christian, I was incensed.

So, yes, just like the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman, her suspension was warranted.

And it might get worse for her. The Christian Defense Coalition, has called for Jacobson to be fired. According to the Christian Newswire, the group has planned a public vigil for this Friday at ESPN’s headquarters in Bristol. CDC director Rev. Patrick said this to the wire service: “Hate speech, and religious intolerance should have no place in American society. When we see these things raise their ugly head, it is critical that people of good will unite together and prayerfully stand against such bigotry and prejudice. By publicly saying, ‘F–k Jesus,’ while representing ESPN, Dana Jacobson has crossed a very well defined line. Her comments are so outrageous and inflammatory that the only proper response for ESPN is to immediately release her. A week suspension is simply not enough and sends a message that ESPN tolerates this kind of behavior and speech.”

Another organization, the controversial (and some say fringe) Catholic League has called ESPN to verify her comments. If they are correct as reported, said organization President Bill Donahue, then the penalty was “inadequate.” An earlier post on the Catholic League’s website was entitled “ESPN Anchorwoman Trashes Jesus Christ.” ““Imagine the outrage if Ms. Jacobson said, ‘F–k Mohammed,’ ‘F–k Jews,’ or ‘F–k African Americans.,’ ” said Donahue. ” Although the faith community can forgive and extend mercy to Ms. Jacobson, she still must assume full responsibility and accept the consequences for her hate-filled rhetoric.”

And we haven’t even heard a peek from Rev. Al Sharpton - yet.

It’ll be interesting to hear from those who howled that Tilghman was unfairly punished, and that she should have been protected by the first amendment. Free Speech ain’t free, as I’m sure you’ve heard many times. You can’t yell “Fire” in a crowded building, and we are all accountable for the words we utter. If you don’t believe me, go into your boss’ office and tell her what you really think.

Those of us in the media are also held to a higher standard. We fight for the right to speak freely and report freely, but we are also cognizant of every word we write and speak - at least most of us are. No single word I write is by accident, nor is it written without thought to the consequences of using it. When I am on television - even during commercial breaks - I am conscious of everything I say, whether live or on tape. (Now watch a game with me and my buddies, as we did last Sunday night, and the mouth filter is OFF!)

We are held to a higher standard because we understand the power of words - written or spoken. It is why many of us joined this profession. We do not take words for granted, no matter where we are.

Even at a roast. I understand that wherever I am publicly, I am representing not only Roy S. Johnson, but also Men’s Fitness, SportsNet New York, NBATV, as well as my family and friends. Anyone might slip, as Tilghman did, but I do my best to respect them all and mind my words.

That she was not “on the air” offers no solace for Jacobson.

In the obligatory statement to the world, she said: “I am sorry. My actions at the roast were inappropriate and in no way represent who I really am. I have personally apologized to many of the people involved. I won’t make excuses for my behavior but do hope that I can be forgiven for such a poor lack of judgment.”

She will definitely be forgiven, but will she be back on the air?

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Jacobson v Tilghman: Who’s Worse? Read: Here.

May I provide some clarity to the noise that crackled across the airwaves and digital space all day following the sentencing of Michael Vick to 23 months in prison on charges stemming from his involvement in the well-chronicled dog-fighting mess? Here me on this: Michael Vick got what he deserved. He messed up (that change of language is for the little children who may stumble upon this post) - or made a severe “error in judgment,” as his able attorney, Billy Martin, so aptly stated today - and now must pay his debt.

Some said they were stunned that U.S. Henry E. Hudson levied a judgment that that exceeded the prosecutions recommendations of up to 18 months. Others (some of them journalists, sadly) railed that Vick was hit harder than the parade of the celebrities of late who’ve been sentenced to, oh, 90 seconds in jail for DUI and other related charges that, some said, “put humans in danger.”

Help me, please. The latter group needs to get a grip. The comparison is apples and zebras. Michael Vick bankrolled a heinous, illegal dogfighting and gambling operation. Emphasis on bankrolled. “He did more than fund it,” prosecutor Michael Gill said, speaking of the “Bad Newz Kennels” dogfighting operation. “He was in this thing up to his neck with the other defendants.”

Vick was the proverbial “big fish” the law always seeks. He was the kingpin, the Godfather, as it were. Moreover, he participated in said heinous and illegal acts. And he killed dogs. Killed.

Those facts alone were putting him at the high-end of the prison vacation pool. Now why did Judge Hudson go beyond the recommendations. Again, this is all on Vick.

He was stupid. Knowing that he would be tested for drugs, he failed a test for marijuana while under indictment. Dumb.

Now dumber. Given the opportunity to be forthcoming to authorities after pleading guilty, he was “less than truthful” with the feds, the judge said today. (Is that a polite way of saying “He lied?”) It was reported that when Vick did not admit to being involved to the extent that his co-defendents said he was. Even worse, when during a polygraph test he was asked if he participated in the killing of dogs he, well, was again “less than truthful.”

D umber.

Once again, this year is showing us what the Feds were the sports story of the year. Don’t mess with ‘em. Don;t step on their toes. And, Lord, don’t lie to them. Ask Barry Bonds. Ask Marion Jones. Ask Bud Selig. Ask, well, just about any athlete in almost any sport.

Ask Michael Vick. Maybe now he’ll tell the truth.

I’m not surprised.

Saddened. But not surprised.

Incensed. But not surprised.

My former colleagues named Green Bay QB Brett Favre their 2007 Sportsman of the Year today. Great guy. Great QB, and he’s having an unexpectedly great season. (At least he was until that little visit to Dallas at few days back.)

But, uh, Tony Dungy?? Great Guy. Great coach, and he won the freakin’ Super Bowl! He led his team, the Indianapolis Colts, to the biggest championship in pro sports a year after his teen-aged son committed suicide. A year after Dungy showed America what it was like to be a man of great faith in the midst of unspeakable tragedy.

And during that year - when he questioned whether he should coach again, comforted his wife and children, and dealt with his own great pain - Tony Dungy lived that faith, talked that faith and walked that faith, and he touched all of America as his team reached the pinnacle of its sport.

Tony Dungy was America’s coach.

And oh yes, he became the first African-American coach to win the Super Bowl, and in doing so, achieved a milestone that stands alongside all the great firsts achieved by so many people of color throughout our nation’s tortured racial history. But to me, that’s secondary to the way he embodied being a man in the midst of the storm of storms. That’s why he was my selection for SI’s 2007 Sportsman of the Year. No-brainer.

But I don’t work there any more. That’s full disclosure for those who find this post and don’t know that 12 years of my professional life were spent at the magazine.

I was there long enough to not be surprised at this selection. Favre has long been a favorite of the top editors there. Years ago, when it looked as if his Hall of Fame career was done, as he fought on gamely while it looked like his prodigious skills had eroded and that he should perhaps retire, they were looking for ways to tout him.

In fact I chuckled when the magazine published the cover below in December, 2006, a year after I last departed. I chuckled because there had been discussions about a Favre cover touting “Leadership” as far back as when I was still there. When I saw the “For the Love of the Game” cover I said to myself: “They finally figured out a way to get that cover.”

Yeah, they love them some Favre over there at SI. Little did I know how much.

Too bad. They missed a great story. They missed a great opportunity. They missed a great man.

I’m not surprised.

At church this morning, my pastor said something that resonated with me: “God creates the the vision,” he began. “Then he kills the vision before resurrecting it supernaturally. He does that so that when the vision becomes real, you know it’s not you that made it happen.”

He wasn’t speaking to me directly - though anyone who knows the trials I endured over the last coupleof years knows how how those words spoke to me.

He certainly wasn’t speaking of the Mets, whose historic collapse culminated this afternoon in a stunning loss to the last-place Florida Marlins that eliminated the team from post-season contention. No baseball team had ever suffered such a September swoon. Ever.

Why this team needed to hot bottom only He know. But they have. Maybe someay Willie, Jose, Omar, David, Pedro and Tom will know why.

Wow. Kevin Everett almost died. Just24 hours ago, his prognosis from a severe spinal injury was worst than bleak. He wasn’t breathign on his own and doctors wonderedif he would live.

Today, not long after a visit by several teammates, the Buffalo Bills backup tight end voluntarily moved a limb. Suddenly, doctors were talking of the miraculous.

“Based on our experience, the fact that he’s moving so well, so early after such a catastrophic injury means he will walk again,” said Dr. Barth Green, chairman of the department of neurological surgery at the University of Miami school of medicine.

“It’s totally spectacular, totally unexpected,” Green told The Associated Press by telephone from Miami.

Some of us know that miracles happen every day. Others have to be knocked across the head with one. Hope this one didn’t hurt too much.

Write this down: Michael Vick’s return to the NFL in 2010 will be the league’s biggest non-Super Bowl Sunday. And it just might even be in a Falcons’ uniform.

Loony as it might sound, I’m willing to say you read it here first after watching Vick on the first day of the rest of his life. It wasn’t perfect, but it was real. That is what I felt as I watched a young man who had been a football player for most of his life finally begin to be a man.

This could all bite me in the butt someday. Because in the end it is not what you say but what you do. But Michael Vick HAD to say something and he said it well.

Though he had notes, he seemed to speak extemporaneously. It seemed to come from deep inside that place where few of us (and, yes, I’m one of them) have to go when life strips us of what we know (or what we thought we knew) and forces us to SEE what perhaps we do not remotely want to see: Our bare selves.

Though his words were not perfect, he said all the right things. He spoke with humility. He apologized to those he lied to (particualrly NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Atlanta falcons owner Arther Blank), and, most important, he found some context for his predicament by talking to our kids.

If he gives the Feds what they want (names) and continues to show contrition, I believe Goodell will revisit the indefinite suspension and perhaps allow Vick to be eligible for return to the NFL as soon as the day he leaves prision. Maybe more likely no longer than a year later.

As for the Falcons, Blank, maybe the biggest two-legged victim in this drama, has a true heart. And as much as he’d been hurt, what I heard to day was the voice of a forgiving man. In time - IN TIME - I would not be surprised to see him welcomed home. Imagine the night in ATL. Write it down.

Michael Vick now has a tremendous opportunity. He has an opportunity to have an impact five-fold beyond what he could have done as a mere football player. He has a platform now (or whenever he gets out of prison) to make a difference. I don’t know how yet (although I know I’m not talking about on a football field). And probably neither does he. But it’s there. We’ll see what he does it with it.

Vick said this experience made him “find Jesus,” and that he’d “turned his life over to Christ.” As a man of faith myself, I was conflicted of sorts. I wanted to say, “Hallelujah!.” But at the same time, the cynical journalist in him kicked into high-gear and busted out laughing. Well, duh. If you lose $71 million and DON’T find Jesus, well, then you are stone cold going-to-hell fool!

It was an enjoyable moment but my faith side prevailed. I’ll give Michael Vick his due. I’ll praise his conversion and pray that now he shows us all what God can do. In truth, he’s already done so.

Time to root for Brady Quinn. I was pretty much through with Brady Hype in the days, weeks and months leading up to the NFL Draft. Through no fault of his, the Notre Dame QB was painted as all things good by a combination of Gold Domers, Charlie Weiss Disciples and people who just didn’t know any better.

Now, after watching him agonize through the first round of the draft and fall faster than Don Imus, I’m gonna root for the guy. He handled it as well as can be expected. (Better than his family, it seems) After being shuttled the NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s private suite, he agreed to be interviewed live by ESPN’s Suzy Kolver and hung in there as he slipped to 22d after being touted by many as the potential No 1 pick in thedraft.

In truth, he probably ended up where he should have been all along. A native of Ohio, he’s now a Cleveland Brown. As he walked onto the stage, looked skyward and held his new jersey proud, I thought to myself: Waiting often has its rewards. Here’s hoping Brady Quinn gets his.

There are no more simple sports stories. We know that now. The boundaries between our games and our lives are all but gone. We learned that last week when the ugly words of an aging talk show host, talking about a group of female college athletes, reverberated through out collective consciousness and struck him down. Now this. Now the tragic deaths of 33 young people at the hands of a troubled young gunman on the campus of Virginia Tech.

Sports fans know VT as the Hokies. They know it as the place that gave us Michael Vick.

When the shots rang out on Monday morning and the newsheads began showing us the pain and tragedy, we saw the rest of Virginia Tech, the tree-lined walkways and gray-stone buildings. Most important we saw the faces. We saw the students and the teachers, the survivors and the dead, all affected, all changed.

Words hurt, but we get over them. One young lady from Rutgers, the team targeted by the former talk-show icon, said the words used to describe her would scar her “for life.” Those among us who barely remember being that young know she’ll get past it and that such a scar would heal sooner than she thinks.

The young men and women of Virgina Tech, their teacher, families and friends are not so lucky.

Our prayers should go out to each of them, and even to the perpetrator (as difficult as that may be), and especially to his family. May God touch them all.

Note: Former Hokies Michael Vick and DeAngelo Hall, both ATL Falcons, expressed their grief over the tragedy, and today Vick’s Foundation announced it was gathering donations from locals communities in ATL and Virginia to aid the families of the victims. Vick contributed $ 10,000 to the fund.

I didn’t know Zach Johnson from Bob, Magic or my brother Jimmy Johnson. No need. He was one of the faceless dozens comprising the everyone-other-than-Tiger Tour a.k.a. The PGA Tour. Not any more. Johnson, an Iowan (is anything more faceless than that?) steeled his way around Augusta National on Sunday afternoon and outlasted Tiger Woods to become perhaps the least accomplished Masters champions ever.

Get this: The victory was only Johnson’s second of his career.

Woods has won 12 majors.

But let’s face it: Tiger never showed up. At least not the Tiger we’ve come to know. Even after going bogey-bogey on 17 and 18 on Friday and Saturday, he looked as if he was one Tigeresque shot away from making everyone else on the course crawl into a hole and cry for mommy. It never happened. Woods pulled within two shots with four to play but on the par-5 15th Tiger’s second shot lingered on the embankment before tumbling into the creek. He held on for par but Tiger left a birdie - at minimum - in that creek.

Woods squandered another birdie op at 16, then misjudged his approach at 17. He landed well short of the green in a bunker, which prompted an angry outburst:

“What the hell just happened”" he asked. A moment later he added, “(Unintelligible) said downwind.”

At that moment you did not want to be Steve Williams, Woods’s caddie, who walked forward several paces ahead of his boss. Smart man.

Woods went par-par on 17 and 18 on Sunday, but needed birdie-birdie. Just after walking off the 18th green he admitted to CBS’s Bob Macatee that the duel bogey-bogies earlier in the week probably cost him a fifth green jacket.

But props to Johnson (and not just because of his last name!). He won the tournament, shooting 69 on Sunday, tying for the lowest score of the day. (Woods shot 72).

Because Tiger didn’t pull away from the field like he typically does - prompting players to swing out of their shoes and attempt shots tat just aren’t in their bags - Johnson was able to stick to his conservative strategy. He didn’t go for a single par 5 in two during the tournament, and yet often still made birdie. (He birdied 3 of Augusta’s four par 5s on Sunday.)

“He played beautifully,” Woods said. “Look at the round he shot out there, the score. He did what he needed to do. He went out there, grinded away, made shots he needed to make.”

Playing two groups ahead of Tiger, he finished well before the best player in the world and waited, like the rest of us, for the Tiger we knew to show up. In his own chat with Macatee just after walking off 18, introduced himself to America in a manner fitting of Ressurection Sunday:

“I had some people who were watching over me,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion. “My faith is every important to me, and Jesus was right there.”

He is risen, indeed.

Yet another talented Johnson

Zach Johnson’s scorecard here.