There They Go Again: Baseballl, Steroids and Misplaced Outrage Strikes Again

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

I never thought I would see the day where I would quoting Ronald Reagan in any column that I write. But as I listen to the latest round of misplaced outrage at yet another outed steroids user—former Cubs outfielder Sammy Sosa, all I can say is, “There they go again.”

When I listen to the cartoon character media pundits voice their self-righteous indignation about Sosa, Manny Ramirez, or Alex Rodriguez over their use of steroids at a time when Major League Baseball was the only sports institution to not have a policy or testing procedures against performance enhancing drugs, I am simply amazed at the hypocrisy of everyone throwing stones.

While fans and the media are shaking their fists and fingers at the players with a collective “shame-on-you,” the other perpetrators of the steroids era-the owners and principally Commissioner Bud Selig, who lost institutional control over the sport, will be allowed to walk away from the this sorry era in baseball history unscathed and blameless even though they made billions of dollars from it. Thanks primarily to those who cover baseball in the mainstream media who are now serving as Selig’s propaganda police every time we find out that a player once used steroids or HGH.

Selig and friends will ride off into sunset in the way that Arnold Rothstein’s character did in the movie, “Eight Men Out,” when he said, “So long, suckers,” as the Chicago White Sox players from the Black Sox scandal of 1919 were being banned from baseball.

Even though it has been proven time and again that the owners and the commissioner looked the other way as their players were jacking the ball out of the park in record numbers, those who chronicle baseball can only express their outrage at the players—the millionaires—while Selig and the billionaires are allowed to escape without any blame.

I think without any hesitation that Selig should have been fired as a commissioner of baseball. In collegiate sports whenever there’s a scandal, the higher ups in the athletic department—the coach and athletic directors and administrators are called to the carpet and held accountable for their actions.

Not in baseball, though. Even though the facts prove without a doubt that the players weren’t the only ones to blame for the “Steroids Era”, baseball’s pundits are focused on the players rather than looking at the owners and commissioner who enabled it.

The Mitchell Report concluded that “obviously the players who illegally used performance enhancing substances are responsible for their actions. But they did not act in a vacuum. Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades-Commissioners, club officials, the Players Association, and players-shares to some extent in the responsibility for the steroids era. There was a collective failure to recognize the problem as it emerged and to deal with it early on. As a result, an environment developed in which illegal use became widespread.”

In 1990, then-MLB commissioner Fay Vincent warned the owners about steroids use in the sport in a memo and was subsequently fired by the owners with Selig being included in that mix of ownership. Then there were the comments of former San Diego Padres general manager Kevin Towers, who also admitted the complicity of those who run the sport.

“We went through a real difficult time in 1994 with the strike,” Towers told ESPN the Magazine. “Then some amazing things happened. Homeruns were up. Fans were flocking to the ballparks, lining up to watch batting practice. But we all realized that there were things going on within the game that were affecting the integrity of the game. I think we all knew it, but we didn’t say anything about it.

“The truth is, we’re in the competition business and these guys were putting up big numbers and helping your ball club win games. You tended to turn your head on things.”

The mainstream media also played their part in the whole steroids era. Most notably, we ignored such things as androstenedione sitting in Mark Maguire’s locker during the chase to break Roger Maris single-season homerun record in 1998. When an Associated Press reporter pointed it out, he was roundly criticized by his colleagues.

Even more insane was the media’s reaction to Jose Canseco’s tell-all books about players using steroids. Oddly enough, he was dismissed as a jerk for ratting out his boys by the mainstream media so he could make a few bucks. It’s funny how most everyone that Canseco said was using steroids got eventually outed. But in the eyes of the mainstream media, Canseco is an idiot for doing something the media should have been doing in the first place.

In that 1998 homerun race between Maguire and Sosa to pass Roger Maris and during Barry Bonds quest to pass Hank Aaron, how much money did media outlets like Fox and ESPN make covering their exploits? Billions.

And so now that the big media outlets and MLB owners have made their money of their drugged up millionaires, they throw will throw them under the bus in the same way a pimp discards a prostitute when she outlives her usefulness.

MLB’s newest group of hookers and hos—the baseball writers—will once again do the dirty work by vilifying the players, weakening the MLBPA and letting Selig and the owners off the hook.

And by the way those Hall-of-Fame voters who don’t put Bonds or Sosa in the Hall of Fame are not protecting the integrity of the game, they’re covering their own backsides while doing the bidding of the billionaire owners who put out a drugged up product.

Sheldon Brown on the Clock: Corner’s days in Philly might be numbered over contract dispute

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

PHILADELPHIA—For what seems like the umphteenth consecutive year the Eagles will come into a mini-camp of a new season with a disgruntled player unhappy with his current contract. It is almost like watching a rerun of “I Love Lucy.” You always know how it’s going to end.

When various Eagles veterans and rookies began streaming in for mini-camp late last week, the buzz among media types was whether or not cornerback Sheldon Brown who is unhappy with his current contract which pays him $3.5 million a year through 2012 , would even show up after asking the team to trade him if they did not renegotiate his deal.

Eagles vice president Joe Banner said the team would not renegotiate Brown’s contract nor would they trade him. Then the Eagles traded for former New England Patriots cornerback Ellis Hobbs presumably as an insurance policy in case they decide to part ways with Brown. That means the clock on Brown’s time in Philadelphia is ticking.

When the ongoing story of Lito Sheppard’s demand to change his contract dragged through the season, he saw his playing time decrease exponentially to the point to where he saw no playing time during last season’s NFC Championship game and he was subsequently shipped off to the New York Jets.

But like Sheppard, Brown did show up for the Eagles three-day mini-camp and like Sheppard, kept a stiff upper lip, answered questions about his plight in the parking lot at the team’s Nova Care practice facility.

“It’s not hard for me to work under these conditions because I understand the business side of the game,” Brown told reporters. “To the fans, I apologize. It’s just business. It’s all business to me. …I know everything that I’m getting myself into before it happened.”

There were two responses or better yet non-responses from Brown that weekend that told you all you needed to know about how veteran players regard the Eagles organization. Upon his arrival Thursday, Brown was asked several times about his feelings toward Banner and each time he responded with a very terse“no comment.”

On Friday at his locker when Brown was asked if his situation is a reflection of how the Eagles organization treats players like Sheppard, Jeremiah Trotter, and Brian Dawkins who dare to ask for more money or alter the terms of their contract, his answer implied that it was the same old song.

“You been around longer than me before my time, so you can speak on some of the other guys, I just know about the guys in my era,” Brown said smiling. “It makes a great story for you guys, it’s always somebody different, sign the next man up …somebody’s going to get lucky.”

Unfortunately, Brown won’t be the guy who will be lucky. He’s had a solid career here, but he’s at the age of 30 where he’s basically expendable to the Birds who have a penchant for unceremoniously dumping players who get beyond the age of 29. Remember the Eagles are the Logan’s Run of the NFL: A place where players who turn 30 are ritually executed.

In the minds of Eagles management, Brown hasn’t been a superstar or a perennial Pro Bowler like a Brian Dawkins or even Sheppard who made two Pro Bowls during his time in Philadelphia.

Look for the Eagles to cut Brown loose if players like Hobbs or Virginia Tech rookie Victor “Macho” Harris have solid training camps. I don’t think the Birds are interested in another disgruntled player spending the season bitching and moaning about a contract that they are not going to alter.

Here’s a lesson for those younger Eagles players-don’t sign a long-term deal before you’re eligible free agency because if do and your performance far exceeds the deal you signed or worse yet when you turn 30 don’t even think about asking Birds management to redo your contract because it ain’t gonna happened.

And if you complain about it, they will reduce your playing time and eventually send you packing one way or the other.

The Eagles quest to be the gold standard, the winners of the “Salary Cap Bowl” has left a bitter taste in the mouths of players who left here feeling disrespected after giving their blood and guts to the organization. Dawkins very bitter departure this past spring was a classic example of that .

Brown is just the latest Eagle unhappy with his contract and the team’s stern refusal to renegotiate contracts and he will definitely not be the last.

The Future is now for Eagles offensive rookies

The Future is now for Eagles offensive rookies
By Chris Murray
For the Chris Murray Report

PHILADELPHIA–Back in 1975, the Dallas Cowboys had 12 rookies—which included Randy White and Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson that not only made the team, but helped take it to the Super Bowl that year.
Flashing forward to the here and now of 2009, the Eagles have on paper arguably the best draft class in the NFL coming into all the minicamps, OTAs (organized team activities) and ultimately training camp.
The Birds are hoping players like rookie wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, the team’s No. 1 draft choice, and second-round draft choice running back LeSean McCoy will develop fast enough to put them into the Super Bowl in 2009 after they fell short last season.
“We’re going to take it all the way through training camp and see how they do,” said Eagles head coach Andy Reid in a press conference after the team’s first day of mini-camp. “If I feel like they’re ready to play, we’ll put them in there. My time line is that you get ready right (to start) now. We’re going to throw a lot of things at them and we’re going to see if they can digest it.”
Maclin’s selection at the wide receiver spot might be like manna from heaven for Eagles fans as well as quarterback Donovan McNabb who have been clamoring for a big play receiver for years. But the reality for Maclin is that he has to digest all the complicated schemes of the Eagles version of the West Coast while learning how to read defenses. That’s something easier said done for most rookies who come into the NFL though not impossible.
“It’s a kind of hard to draft somebody and expect them just to come and start,” said Eagles second-year wide receiver DeSean Jackson, who led the Eagles in receptions as a rookie last year with 62 receptions for 912 yards and two touchdowns while starting in all 16 games. “They still have to prove themselves as NFL players. If all that happens and it falls right, they can definitely do it.”
The 6-foot, 200-pound Maclin comes to Philly with a boat load of accolades from his final season at Missouri. He set a school record for receptions with 102 catches for 1,260 yards and 13 touchdowns. As a receiver, punt and kickoff returner, Maclin led the nation in all-purpose yards with a school-record 2,833.
While the Eagles will no doubt utilize his skills as a return specialist, Reid made it very clear that Maclin is here to give McNabb another weapon in the passing game.
“I didn’t pick him up as a returner,” Reid said on the day he drafted Maclin. “I picked him as a receiver.
“As a receiver he was the most productive receiver in the country, all around I’m saying when you add special teams in there. You look at his hands, his ability to catch football, he didn’t drop footballs. You look at his ability getting in and out of breaks. They have a vertical game that they’ve worked on and then quick hitch routes that they do in their offense. He has the ability to stop and start which is important and the ability to get in and out of breaks, which I think is important as well.”
Meanwhile, Maclin said he feels no pressure to come in and live up to all the billing, but also recognizes that a starting slot on the Birds offense will not be given to him by simply showing up.
“I’ m not going to come here from day one and expect everything to fall into my lap,” Maclin said. “I want to work for everything that I achieve. It’s the kind of situation I want to be in. I want to be a guy that the team can rely on. I definitely think that time will come for me.
“I’m always on toes and always expecting things to happen. It takes a lot for me to be intimidated.”
Another rookie with an opportunity to move into a starting position for the Eagles is second-round draft choice running back and former University of Pittsburgh star LeSean McCoy.
As a runner, the 5-10,204-pound McCoy gained 1,488 yards runs in his final year at Pitt and he also caught 32 passes for 305 yards in the Panthers version of the West Coast offense. What will get McCoy time on the field will be his ability to pass block in an Eagles offense that looks to throw the ball first.
“He’ll need to work on that,”Reid said. “He’ll work on that when he gets in. They asked him to cut block more than what we cut block. That’s part of their scheme. We’ll ask him to stand up and probably have 12 good shots of that on film which we can evaluate, not as much as some of the other guys.”
McCoy said for him it’s just a matter of getting down the basic skills and mechanics. For him a good starting point is simply having the desire to do it. A lot of running backs coming out of college are not too enamored with having to block. It ’s more of a necessary evil.
“I have the heart to do it, I have the passion to do it,” McCoy said “I think me technique is off as far as being able to block people. It’s something that I wasn’t required to do as much, but I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to stick my nose in there and get it done.”
At the tight end position, the Eagles drafted Cornelius Ingram out of Florida who promises to be able to do something that L.J. Smith wasn’t able to do during his tenure here—stretch the field and make catches from the tight end position.
Playing in Florida’s spread offense for three years, Ingram caught 64 passes for 888 yards and eight touchdowns. He missed his senior season because of an ACL injury. Ingram said he’s ready to get back on the field and play football again.
“I just want to show everybody that I’m healthy,” said Ingram, who played quarterback in hig high school. “I don’t want to have to make all these make spectacular plays. I’m just going to relax and soak it all in.”
The Birds are hoping Ingram can make the grade as a blocking tight end as well. He will be competing against Brett Celek, who played well in the second half of last season and during the Birds run to the NFC title game.
“I’m not going to tell you that he is heavy in the tail there where he is going to be knocking guys five yards off the ball but he looked like he was adequate at it,” Reid said. “I think what you get with him is a very athletic receiving tight end who can pull the zone on the line of scrimmage.”
Ingram said he players like himself, Maclin and McCoy know the expectations for them to come in and contribute will be intense, but they are good enough to come in and start at some point this season.
“I hope so, eventually at the end of the day that’s everybody’s purpose,” Ingram said. “I’m just trying to come in and pick up things right away. I know I have a lot to learn and a long way to go, but I don’t mind asking questions and being around other guys and seeing how they do things.”

Can Josh Freeman be the “Man” in Tampa?

Josh Freeman taking questions from reporters at the NFL Draft April 25. Photo by Chris Murray

By Chris Murray

of the Chris Murray Report

New York—If former Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman had played a couple of BCS bowl games and had a winning record during his tenure as the Wildcats signal caller, he would have most certainly received just as much hype as Detroit Lions draftee and designated franchise “Savior” Matt Stafford and New York Jets “Chosen One” Mark Sanchez.

Competing in the quarterback rich Big 12 Conference with guys like Oklahoma’s 2008 Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, Texas’s Colt McCoy, Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell and Missouri’s Chase Daniel, some might argue that Freeman is not as good as those guys.

Despite coming up with identical 5-7 seasons in his last two seasons as a collegian, the 6-foot-5, 248-pound, boyish -looking Freeman apparently had enough upside and potential to be the third quarterback taken and the 12^th pick overall by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in this year’s draft.

Unlike Stafford and Sanchez, no one is expecting Freeman to be the “Messiah” or the “Savior.” In fact, Tampa Bay fans weren’t necessarily waving palms saying, “Hosanna, Hosanna” when Freeman’s name was called. It was a loud crescendo of boos from Bucs fans gathered at Raymond James Stadium on draft day.

The Bucs organization believe Freeman will eventually be the “Chosen One” for their team for years to come.

“This kid is the ’savior of this franchise,” said Doug Williams, Super Bowl XXII MVP and Buccaneers pro scouting coordinator. “He’s a franchise quarterback. We’re not going to put him on the front line now. Eli Manning wasn’t on the front line, Steve McNair wasn’t on the front line Phillip Rivers wasn’t on the front line—You can name a lot of guys who weren’t on the front line right away.

“It ain’t about the front line, it’s who brings up the rear and ends up at the front.”

Bucs head coach Raheem Morris, who coached Freeman as a freshman when he was an assistant at K-State, believes he can be that “franchise” guy the way folks are touting Stafford and Sanchez.

“Anytime you get a chance to get a franchise quarterback on your football team, a guy that creates so much excitement, a guy with a big arm, a guy that’s accurate, a guy that’s got talent,6-5, 250 pounds that can stand in the pocket and deliver the ball and be your guy of the future, you go out and get him,” Morris said.

“You never say when a guy’s going to be a franchise quarterback, he’ll tell you. He’ll let you know. … When you draft a quarterback in the first round, he is the long-term decision. He’s the direction we’re going.”

Oddly enough, Freeman likens himself to Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, who was also booed on his draft day. When he was introduced to the Tampa media earlier this week, he was unfazed by the acrimonious greeting from Bucs fans.

“I’ve talked to a number of quarterbacks who are in the league and they tell you the same thing, it’s not about what are people are saying, it’s about the attitude you carry into the office every day and you’re willingness to work,” said Freeman, who played in just one bowl game in three years at Kansas State. “A great example was Donovan McNabb last year. They were ready to bench him and he wins six games in a row and carries them to the NFC Championship game. It’s all about the attitude.”

Freeman will come into his first rookie camps, minicamps, and training camps, not only having to learn the Bucs offense, but he will be competing with veterans like Byron Leftwich, Josh Johnson Brian Griese and Luke McKown—guys who have been around for awhile.

“(Freeman) knows what position he’s in, he knows that he’s under no pressure,” Williams said. “The key for him is to come in, get acclimated and when he’s ready to play, I promise you, he will.”

More than likely, Freeman will be carrying a clipboard on the sidelines rather than being thrown out to the wolves, or more accurately the Panthers, the Saints, and the Falcons right off the bat. Freeman believes he can be the guy for the Bucs for this year.

“I think it’s going to be a great situation with Byron, Josh Johnson and a number of quarterbacks, but I’m just going to go down there and learn from the veterans and at the same time, compete with them,” Freeman said. “It’s definitely going to be a long learning process, you can at last year and see Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan having success. It depends on the approach you take and how hard are you willing to work. I’m going to work as hard as I can to put myself in a position to start.”

The knock on Freeman from all the draft pundits and scouts is his accuracy and his touchdown to interception ratio. In his final season at Kansas State, Freeman completed completed 58 percent of his passes, threw 20 touchdown passes with eight interceptions and passed for 2,945 on a Wildcats team that lacked talent.

“He’s a big imposing guy, stands in the pocket, has a strong arm and he’s tough,” Williams said. “He’s athletic, he shows poise in the pocket and shows leadership on the field. He’s everything you want in a quarterback.”

For his three-year collegiate career, Freeman completed 59 percent of his passes. He threw 44 touchdown passes, but also threw 34 interceptions. The fact that he didn’t complete more than 60 percent of his passes in his career has some wondering about his accuracy.

“I was lucky enough to be there when he came in as a freshman and I watched him lead us and beat teams with him,” Morris said. “We didn’t have a whole of talent around us, but every time he walked on the field, we had a chance to win-no matter who we were playing whether it was Texas or FIU (Florida International University). It didn’t matter.”

A good example of what Morris was talking about came during his freshman year in 2006 when he threw three touchdown passes and ran for another a scoring in the Wildcats 45-42 upset of a fourth-ranked Texas squad that was in line to compete for a national championship.

What stands out most about Freeman is that he has a quiet confidence in himself and his ability as a quarterback. He believes that he is better than both Stafford and Sanchez.

“I think they’re tremendous players, but honestly,it’s my ability to make plays. I only got sacked 13 times and I think it’s due to the fact that I’m a big physical presence in the pocket and when you’re talking about staying in the pocket taking a hit and still delivering the ball, my size and agility often times allows me to escape and make a play down field,” Freeman said.

“I’m a combination of a lot of guys, but if I he to compare I’d say maybe like McNabb with the ability to escape in the pocket and still be a pocket passer.”

Activism and Performance Defined 1968 Olympic Track Team

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

If the images of Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their black-glove fists in protest at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City have lasted the test of time as a symbol of defiance against racism and all forms of oppression, the outstanding performances of the entire U.S. men’s Track and Field team has also transcended the test of time.

In the last 40 years, no other U.S. track team or squad from any other country has come close to equaling the accomplishments of the 1968 U.S. men’s track team at the Mexico City Olympics.

Ironically, what made Smith and Carlos’ protest possible and for that matter powerful was their dominance on the track. Not only did Smith win the gold medal in the 200-meter dash, he set a world-record in the process. Carlos finished third.

Among the many great athletes on that team was the legendary San Jose State “Speed City” squad of Smith, Carlos, 400-meter gold medalist Lee Evans and Ronnie Ray Smith accounted for four gold medals alone.

“Think about San Jose State alone, that would have beaten a lot of nations in terms of the medal count,” Carlos said. “We had so many athletes that came from across the United States.”

For the record, the 1968 U.S. men’s Olympic track and field team won 22 medals. They won 12 gold medals and set eight world records in the process. The U.S. team dominated the sprint events winning the 100 (Jimmy Hines), 200, and 400 meter dashes. They won both relays and took gold in the 110-meter hurdles (Willie Davenport). In the field events, the U.S. won golds in the long jump, high jump (Dick Fosbury), pole vault (Bob Seagren), the decathlon (Bill Toomey), shot put (Randy Matson) and discus (Al Oerter).

Track and field historian Derek Toliver said the U.S. team was the best of the nation’s great track and field powers from schools like San Jose State and Villanova, the historically Black colleges and universities and the U.S. military.

“It’s pretty special when you think about the depth and breadth not only from the African-American athlete male and female, you look at all the other guys that were there that got towed along,” Toliver said. “The level of confidence of that team because everybody there truly felt at any given time could be gold medalists and they were all correct. At one time or other if they hadn’t set a world record, whoever won a gold medal they had beaten them or come close to beating them. “

The U.S. also won medals in the distance events with Jim Ryun’s silver medal. Ryun was beaten in the final 100 meters by Kenya’s Kip Keino. The U.S. team also picked up bronze medals from George Young in the 3,000-meter steeple chase and Larry Young in the 50 kilometer walk.

Some experts point to the 1984 U.S. Olympic track team as being comparable to the 1968 team. The athletes who competed in Mexico City that were interviewed for this story said there is no comparison because they were simply better than the 1984 team that competed in the midst of the Soviet-bloc boycott.

“Everybody that was on that line in ’68 was capable of being a world-record holder,” Carlos said. “You can’t say that about the 1984 team. I’m not taking anything way from what Carl Lewis did because what he did was great, but those games can’t compete with the ’68 games.”

On the track, Smith held the world record in both the 200 and 400 meter dash. Even though he had beaten Evans in an event in the previous, Smith said he didn’t have to run the 400 meter dash because Evans was just as good. In fact, the U.S. team won all three medals in the 400.

In a highly-charged racial and political atmosphere in which African-American athletes were under fire and in some cases threatened for considering a boycott of the games, their outstanding performances made it possible for them to use Olympics as a platform to protest racism in America.

“It was for all Black people in America for the struggle that Black people were going through in America,” said Mel Pender, who was apart of the U.S.’s gold medal winning 4×100-meter relay team. “Those medals were won for them. That was my feeling and that was everybody else’s feeling. We were going to show our people just how great we were.”

Prior to the games, there was debate about how the protest would take shape among athletes like Smith, Carlos, long jumper Ralph Boston and sprinters like Pender, all of whom were apart of the Olympic Project for Human Rights.

There were some who wanted to stage a boycott while others wanted to make a statement at the games themselves. According to Harry Edwards, one of the key organizers of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, said there wasn’t going to be a uniform boycott because the consequences would have been dire, especially for the athletes from the military and from historically Black colleges.

“There was not going to be any uniformed or unified boycott,” Edwards said. “The black schools made it very clear that not only were there athletes not going to boycott, but if they were associated with the Olympic Project for Human Rights, they were not only off the team, they were out of school.

“The point was to break this headlock that American society had on Black people in sport and I think they did a hell of a job.”

Oddly enough, Pender, who was a 31-year-old captain in the U.S. Army at the time, said he was called into the office and warned by his commanding colonel not participate in any type of demonstration. He said he was called in because he was one of the spokesman for Olympic Project for Human Rights.

“I told Col. Miller, I understand but I’m Black and these are my brothers and sisters out there fighting for some of the same things I’m fighting for even in the military because there was racism in the military,” said Pender, who was denied the opportunity to go to flight school and ordered to go to Vietnam.

Boston said it was ultimately important for the Black athletes to not only go to Mexico City, but to win and use their victories as a platform to make their statement.

“If (Smith) and Carlos had finished dead last, there could not have been a statement because he couldn’t have been on the victory stand,” said Boston, who won the bronze medal in the long jump. “It was very important to win. It was important to go and compete. It was more important to earn a place, so you can have that soap box from which you can launch yourself.”

When it was decided that each athlete would come up with his own form of protest or expression, Boston said it brought about a sense of team unity and a determination that they were going to put out their best performances.

“Because we could not agree on a common act, I think what they did was to say agree to disagree and go forth and serve,” Boston said. “That allowed you to respect any other athlete who said this is what I want to do. We were together there’s no question about it.”

On the night that Smith and Carlos did their black-gloved protest on the victory stand, Boston and Pender said the team was shocked and stunned by the protest.

“John Carlos and Tommie Smith had no idea that it would become as big as it got,” Pender said.

Meanwhile, Smith said he afraid for his life as he and Carlos raised their Black-gloved fists in the air, but he and Carlos were determined to make their statement against racism and injustice.

“That was the longest national anthem on any planet, my prayer was short,” Smith said. “Of course, I was afraid, I was terrified, but I was a on a mission from a non-secular situation which I claim even today. I believed I was saved because of my belief for others, not necessarily myself, because I am vessel to be used for the betterment of human kind.”

Other forms of protest, though not as spectacular as Smith and Carlos, included some athletes going to the medal stand without their shoes. Some wore black socks and Black arm-bands. Evans, Larry James and Ron Freeman, the three medal winners in the 400-meter dash wore black berets similar to those worn by the Black Panthers and removed them during the playing of the national anthem.

Pender said Smith and Carlos protests obscured the contributions of the other athletes on the team.

“It wasn’t only Smith and Carlos, it was everybody that protested,” Pender said. “They might have put their fists, but everybody did their own thing to show the world that we’re Black and we wanted to be treated the same as everybody. Guys wore black shoes, blacks socks, black ribbons. Everybody wore something.”

One of the most compelling records of the games was Bob Beamon’s record breaking leap in the long jump. His world record leap of 29 feet, 2 ½ inches set the Olympic track and field event on its ear and stood until 1991.

“I thought I was in shape enough to win until I saw 29 feet,” Boston recalled. “When he asked me to convert the distance (from meters to feet), I said that’s more than 29 feet. He said, ‘no it can’t be.’ I said it’s more than 29 feet.”

Boston said Beamon had outstanding leaping ability and could jump with the best of them.

“Beamon was an excitable character with a whole bunch of talent,” Boston said. “He could put his elbow on top of a basketball goal. That’s how high could leap. I heard a story that he could take a block of wood on top of the backboard. I know he blocked one of Dr. J’s (Julius Erving) shots.”

Smith said what made the difference in Beamon’s record breaking leap was his speed. He said Beamon was 9.3 100-meter runner had the ability to be an outstanding sprinter if he had chosen to go that route.

“In about five seconds into his run, I said ‘oh my god, the man was running like I had never seen him run before,” Smith said. “He didn’t even think about coming down. If you look at that jump, he landed on his feet and jumped out of the pit. His heel hit and his butt was over his heel and never touched the sand and had another eight inches.”

If you talk to the athletes about the legacy of the team both on and off the track, they all have different answers about what their 1968 Olympic experience meant. Carlos said not much has changed for African-Americans in the 40 years he and Smith raised their fists in Mexico City.

“When I come home, my eyes are wide open to see that things have not progressed,” Carlos said. “We’re still living the same way, people are still searching for jobs, people are still trying to get an education and people are still live their lives with drugs being in the midst of it all.”

Smith said the outstanding performances of the athletes while standing up for the dignity of African-Americans and the oppressed everywhere around the world made that 1968 track team even more special.

“It polarized us to not melt under pressure,” Smith said. “During that time there was a thought process to believe that if you don’t stand for something, you just might fall for anything. We were that tough. I’m just proud to say that I was a member of that team.”

Howard’s Numbers don’t Lie

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

I’ve always felt that All-Star games, regardless of the sport, are oft-times the manifestation of who’s the most popular rather than what’s done on the field.

And even when folks want to look at statistical measures of achievement on the field, there’s always somebody coming up with a stat to trump the one to justify that player’s spot on that team.

In baseball, there’s enough statistical analysis to make any mathematician blush or a cynic like myself vomit. For me personally, numbers and math are like kryptonite—something I avoid like the plague.

Welcome to the official, “Why the Hell was Ryan Howard Not on the National League All-Star Team?” edition of today’s Chris Murray Report. Tuesday night’s All-Star Game at New York’s Yankee Stadium was played without the game’s best slugger and that was downright wrong.

Last Friday, Colorado Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, manager of the National League team, named New York Mets third baseman David Wright to the National League All-Star team to replace Chicago Cubs outfielder Alfonso Soriano.

What? Was he out of his mind or what? Uh, Clint have you checked the National League homeruns and RBI leader board lately? No one on the National League squad has more than that Howard guy from Philly. Hello! How about those 28 homeruns and 84 RBIs?

I’m not going to say Howard should have been a starter because the fans make that decision and the Phils first baseman struggled earlier in the season. However, with those numbers mentioned above he could have been a reserve or a DH because they were playing in an American League park. You can’t ignore the league leader in homeruns and RBIs.

There is absolutely no question that Howard should have been on the All-Star team. Unfortunately, Howard will be the first National League homerun and RBI leader not playing in the All-Star Game since 1948 when Cincinnati’s Hank Sauer didn’t make the team.

Everybody I talked to from colleagues, to ex-players, and current Phillies had different views on what Howard has done statistically during the first half of the season. That’s where I learned that you can develop paralysis by analysis with baseball statistics.

When I vociferously pointed out Howard’s run production which included RBIs and runs scored (146-84 RBI and 62 runs scored) were higher than Wright’s and on par with starting National League first baseman Lance Berkman of Houston (152-73 RBI and 79 runs scored), I was told Wright was just a better overall player, especially on the defensive end and Howard has struggled at times defensively with errors in the field. Wright does have a better average at .286 than Howard at .234. And last, but not least, the Phillies first baseman has 129 strikeouts and is well on pace to breaking his own major league record.

You see that’s the infuriating part about all the stat geeks in baseball. You can come up with any statistical measure to sway an argument to support your own point of view. I got hit with everything from Wright has a better on base percentage at .386 to Howard’s .325.

And then someone said well look at the number of Howard’s errors at first base, 11 to be exact. That was used to negate the numbers he put up offensively. The runs he may have cost the team and etc.(BTW, his offensive numbers still trump his miscues in the field) Holy you-have-too-much time on your hands, Batman!

The final straw for me was that some local sports talk show geek said the small dimensions of Citizen’s Bank Park make it easier for Howard to jack the ball out of the park. I can name some of the greatest sluggers in the history of the game who benefited from launching pad ballparks. Are you kidding me?

All I could say was Stop!

Phillies manager Charlie Manuel had been saying something at various press conferences in the week leading up to the All-Star break that I thought cut through all the BS of certain statistics: He produces runs. And guess what, people? The more runs you produce for your squad you win game.

At the risk of boring you with even more numbers, Howard is now batting .330 with runners in scoring position and .293 with runners in scoring position with two out. When you saw last night’s game, you should have asked yourself what’s wrong with this picture?

“When you look at his hitting with men in scoring position, his homeruns and his RBIs, he’s a run producer. How can you possibly overlook that stuff?” said Manuel. “Yeah, he has (129) strikeouts and has a low batting average, but those are hard numbers (RBI, homeruns, average with men in scoring position) to pass up.”

After the Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals last Wednesday night—on a pair of RBIs by Howard, Manuel made the point even clearer when a reporter asked about Howard’s batting average.

“As long as he produces runs and he hits in big moments in the game. To me that might be the most important thing,” Manuel said. “I sit and argue all the time about batting average. A guy can hit a low average and produce 100 or so runs, he’s more valuable to me than that the guy who hit .300 and doesn’t do a whole lot.”

Isn’t the object of the game to score more runs than your opponent—to win the game? To quote Kansas Chiefs head coach Herman Edwards: “You play to win the game. Hello!”

If you’re a Phillies fan or a baseball fan, would the Phils be in first place without Howard’s homeruns and runs batted in.

No and Hell no! Do the math.

The 1968 Olympic Protest 40 Years Later: Smith, Carlos and Edwards Reflect on Black Power Salute

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

The University of Pennsylvania students who attended the Race and Sports Lecture at Jon Huntsman Hall last April 24 were not born the day Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their fists in the Black power salute on the medal stand at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City.

And yet many of them wore the image of one of the most enduring symbols of turbulent 1960s on their tee shirts. Some of the students even brought their posters of Smith and Carlos’ protest on the medal stand.

At a recent forum sponsored by the Wharton School of Business and the Center for Africana Studies, Smith, Carlos and Dr. Harry Edwards talked about the 40^th anniversary of their protest at the 1968 Olympics and the events leading up to the protest.

In what was one of the rare times that the three organizers of the Olympic Project for Human Rights have come together to discuss their historic protest. Edwards said the activism of athletes in the 1960s that culminated in the Smith-Carlos Black power salute and other events of those times transformed the face of American sports.

“From 1960 until Curt Flood challenged the reserve clause in baseball-1972, 1973, 1974, the 15-year period marked an era in American sport that changed the substance and face of sport in this society,” Edwards said. “It changed how we look at sports and how we defined sports.

“Over that era, you had Muhammad Ali, who was really the godfather of the revolt of the Black athlete, Jim Brown, Bill Russell, Arthur Ashe, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, Curt Flood and then in some instances entire teams like the University of Wyoming football team which refused to play because of a lack of Black coaches and a lack of support for Black athletes on campus.”

Edwards said the 1960s generation of Black athletes succeeded and challenged the previous generation of Black athletes like Jesse Owens and Jackie Robinson, who were fighting for access onto the playing field of American sport. He said the generation they came along in the 1960s demanded access, respect and dignity at a time when the Civil Rights was becoming more militant.

“You had all of these extraordinarily courageous, insightful, intelligent, informed, committed and inspired Black athletes,” Edwards said. “It was a phenomenal era. That was the context in which the Olympic Project for Human Rights took place.”

During the forum, both Smith and Carlos discussed their personal backgrounds and how they came involved in the Olympic Project for Human Rights and how they met Edwards when they were students at San Jose State.

Smith grew up in the rural San Joaquin valley of California where he, his 11 brothers and sisters, and his father picked cotton on the farms. Carlos was raised in Harlem in New York and witnessed the plight of African-Americans in the urban areas. Both athletes grew up in a world where Black people were economically and politically deprived.

Both athletes came into contact with Edwards at San Jose State and got involved with the Olympic Project for Human Rights, which initially started as a campaign by Black athletes to boycott the 1968 Olympics.

When it became apparent that not all of the Black athletes were willing to participate in an organized boycott of the games for various reasons—some of which included expulsion for athletes who attend historically Black colleges and universities and court martial for athletes in the military—the athletes came up with their own individual expressions.

Carlos said the thing that inspired him on the medal stand was a conversation he had with Martin Luther King, who was supportive of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, in New York several months before the games and shortly before Dr. King’s death.

“When Dr. King died he didn’t get a chance to express to the world how he felt about the boycott,” Carlos said. “I remember distinctly asking Dr. King, ‘if people said they’re going to kill you, why would you go to Memphis?’ and he said to me, ‘John, I have to go back and stand for those who won’t stand for themselves and for those who can’t stand for themselves.

“That galvanized in my brain when I was on the victory stand, that’s exactly what I was doing standing for those who wouldn’t stand for themselves and those who couldn’t stand for themselves.”

Smith, who not only won the gold medal, but set a world record in the process, said he felt a sense of fear during the playing of the national anthem, but also realized that he had a higher mission.

“That was the longest national anthem on any planet, my prayer was short,” Smith said. “Of course, I was afraid, I was terrified, but I was a on a mission from a non-secular situation which I claim even today. I believed I was saved because of my belief for others, not necessarily myself, because I am vessel to be used for the betterment of human kind.”

Clinton versus Obama: Southern Strategy Redux

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

My observation of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s recent campaign and ultimate victory over Sen. Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary reminded me of an ugly tradition that has guided American politics for the last 40 years.

What was striking to me about Clinton’s campaign in Pennsylvania was that she was able to appeal to working class, blue-collar whites by painting Obama as an elitist who didn’t understand their issues and basically characterized him as the Black candidate.

One of Clinton’s most fervent supporters—Pennsylvania governor—Ed Rendell really made it clear when he said working class whites in the state outside of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh would never vote for a Black man as president. The Clinton campaign seized upon that and the results of the election indicated that she won a substantial number of working class whites.

For the remainder of this campaign, Clinton will use that time honored strategy—made famous by Republicans like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan—copied by the Democratic Leadership Council—The Southern Strategy—playing upon the fears and prejudices of white working class in both the North and the South. It has been the ultimate trump card that the Republicans have used to keep itself in power for all these years and now it is being used by a Democratic candidate for president to save her struggling campaign.

As Lee Atwater, who ran George H.W. Bush’s campaign, used the specter of the Willie Horton ad as a way scaring Southern whites and working class whites in the North and Midwest into seeing Michael Dukakis as a candidate too liberal for America, the Clinton campaign is using Obama’s old pastor Jeremiah White and his controversial commentary that condemned America for its racism at home and abroad as a way of telling white voters they should be very afraid of putting a Black man in the White House.

Oddly enough, it has been the Democratic Party’s failure over the last 40 years to make its poor and working class white constituents understand that the gains that African-Americans received through the Civil Rights Act and through programs like welfare (which actually benefited poor whites) and Affirmative Action did not come at their expense.

Additionally, the Democratic Party over the last 40-years failed to clearly make their working class white constituents understand that African-Americans have the same issues that they have in terms of the economy, affordable housing and education.

For example, when corporations shipped jobs overseas in the 1980s, Black and white workers were screwed in the process. White workers—poor and middle class still supported the Republican Party even when they acted against their own interests. Republican advocacy of “traditional” values became a code word for protecting the interests of Southern and working class whites. That is the sad legacy of the Southern Strategy.

With Clinton’s campaign trying to play catch up to Obama in the delegate count, the old Southern Strategy laced with the assumption that whites will not vote for a Black candidate over a Republican candidate in a national election is her last hope.

When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Bill of 1964, he made the remark that he had delivered the South to the Republicans for years to come. The man who created the Great Society was partially correct—he didn’t see forsee working class and poor whites in the North would also abandon a Democratic Party they thought put the interests of African-Americans ahead of so-called “hardworking” whites.

In 1968, Richard Nixon appealed to those fears of whites in the industrial North and the South against the backdrop of riots in the cities, Vietnam War protests and the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. He won a narrow election in 1968 over Hubert H. Humphrey, getting most of his support from Southern whites and Northern working class, blue collar whites-who thought the Democratic Party’s advocacy for improving the lot of African-Americans, through programs such as Affirmative Action, busing, and welfare would come at their expense.

Throughout the 1968 campaign, Nixon used code words like “law and order,” “government interference” and “states rights” to win working class whites and Southerners, who felt that the Democratic Party had abandoned their interest by tying itself to civil rights.

Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” would ultimately serve as the blue print for building what is now a solid Republican base in the South. Ronald Reagan (George H.W. Bush after him) seized upon this in the 1980s winning blue-collars working class whites in the Northeast who became popularly known as “Reagan Democrats.”

In the 1980s under Reagan and Bush, characterizations of the “Black welfare queen and the infamous Willie Horton ad further exploited the fears of whites and kept the White House in the hands of Republicans. Even as blue-collar jobs in the North and the South were moving overseas and small white family-owned farms were being foreclosed on and gobbled up by big corporations in the Midwest, working class and poor whites saw the Republican Party as the protector of their rights and values.

As the Republicans and the Right painted the Democratic Party as the haven for Black advancement at white expense, radical feminists, whacko environmentalists, gay activists, peaceniks, the Democrats adopted a strategy to win back those white voters both in the North and the South.

And that’s where Al From and the Democratic Leadership Council come in. It was formed in 1985 to move the Democratic Party from its traditional base of African-Americans, women and environmentalists to a more centrist or outright conservative stance. Some people have called them, “Republican Light.”

As the Democratic candidate for president and member of the DLC, Bill Clinton boldly declared his independence from the so-called liberal base or what is perceived to be the Jesse Jackson/African-American wing when he sharply criticized rapper Sistah Souljah for remarks she made after the Rodney King riots in 1992.

Many observers and pundits felt that Clinton had done a good job of putting the Jesse Jackson crowd in their place. It was as if he was saying  “don’t worry Southerners and working class ethnic whites in the North, hey I got your back and I’m one of you.”

So instead of trying to beat the Republicans by showing that white and Black workers have a whole lot  more in common, the Democrats joined the Republicans by playing the same game of pandering to white voters fears.

If you don’t believe me, look at Hillary Clinton’s campaign against Obama, especially in Pennsylvania. It tells you everything you need to know.

No Asterisk for Bonds

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report (Story originally appeared on Blackathletes.com)

There are days when I find myself saying I’m through with baseball and those who write about the sport. It may be hypocritical on my part because I cover the game for my paper in Philadelphia. I love baseball as a sport, but it’s not as fun as it used to be.

For the last 15 years or so where there has been strikes, alleged steroids usage, overpaid super stars, Pete Rose’s gambling scandal, declining numbers of African-American players, sanctimonious, holier than thou sports announcers and writers, and the rise of sports talk radio, baseball has been hard to enjoy.

The worst thing is the ugly hypocritical self-righteousness that has plagued virtually every aspect of the sport.

The latest thing that has me looking at baseball with a jaundice eye is the whole issue of Barry Bonds homerun ball 756 being marked with an asterisk to symbolize Bonds alleged use of steroids on the way to hitting historical homerun.

Fashion designer Marc Ecko, who bought the ball from the guy who caught it, came up with the idea of placing the asterisk on the ball and Baseball Hall of Fame President Dale Petroskey said he would be “delighted” to have the asterisked ball.

Bonds said he would boycott his Hall of Fame induction if the ball comes with an asterisk. I don’t blame him at all and Bonds is right when he called Ecko an “idiot.”

All of this is the result of the constant vilification of Bonds as a steroids user even though no one had actual evidence other than a leaked grand jury testimony, and a book written by two reporters who partially relied on the testimony of a scorned ex-girlfriend.

While “Game of Shadows” may have produced compelling evidence that he was juicing, the time frame that Bonds was supposedly using the drugs Major League Baseball had no official policy banning the use of steroids nor did it have any testing procedure for anyone we’ve accused (Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa et al) of using steroids.

Let’s also consider the idea that the owners and those who run the game knew the players were using performance enhancing drugs and looked the other way while they counted the money as homeruns flew out and the game was reeling from the strike of 1994.

Us media folks also looked the other way even after players like former Baltimore Orioles outfielder Brady Anderson hit 50 homeruns after barely averaging 15 throughout his career. I’m not going to even talk about the androstenedione that was seen in Mark McGwire’s locker. By the way, the Associated Press reporter who put that out there was criticized by his colleagues.

Then, Jose Canseco comes out with a tell-all book about the widespread steroid usage in baseball. Folks in the media attacked Canseco for having an agenda and putting it out there because he was down and out and in need of money. Canseco did what we in the media should have done years ago, but didn’t. Washington Post columnist Tom Boswell was the only journalist to point out that Canseco was on steroids.

And then you had the BALCO scandal and everybody in our profession got on the trail to root out the “evil doers” namely Bonds when his name came up in the BALCO investigation. Misplaced moral outrage was at an all-time high in heavy trading. It was like the Pharisees in the time of Christ yelling, “What need of we of witnesses, Caiaphas, crucify him.”

While the world, including several colleagues of mine were accusing Bonds of being a fraud and every scoundrel in the earth, the real criminals-those who run Major League Baseball—Bud Selig and company got off light thanks to everyone’s hatred of Bonds.

No one pointed out that former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent warned the owners that steroids would be a problem back in the early 1990s and even issued a memo about steroids (which the owners ignored) that some media pundits say is proof positive that baseball didn’t allow steroid use as a weapon against who said there were no rules against steroids.

As far as I’m concerned all the records during so-called steroids are legitimate whether you’re talking McGwire, Sosa and Bonds because there were no rules and testing procedures. If you put an asterisk on any of their records, put one on all the homeruns and batting averages after 1968 when the pitcher’s mound was lowered from 15 inches to 10 inches. That year only six players batted over .300. You might as well put an asterisk on everything before 1947 when African-Americans weren’t allowed to play.

My point to all of this is if this asterisked ball goes into the Hall of Fame and Bonds says screw the Hall of Fame, it will be another sorry episode in a sport that has allowed hypocritical moral outrage to go way too far.

It is bad enough that the game’s all-time leader in hits, Pete Rose, is being kept out of Baseball’s Hall of Fame for gambling on baseball—after his career as a player on the field was over.

To me, Rose got his just punishment by not being allowed to ever manage a team again, keeping him out of the Hall of Fame is just a case of sanctimonious piling on. He had an outstanding career as a player and I think the Hall of Fame should consider a player’s success on the field and not his failings as a human being after his playing career is over. By the way, gambling is a sickness and should be viewed as a mental health issue, not as a person’s moral failings.

When Rose finally admitted that he bet on baseball in another one of those tell-all books, folks in our profession then chided him for not being sincere and doing it for the money. I suspect that Jesus Christ will forgive Rose long before any of us who are also with sin will let him in the Hall of Fame. Would confession to a priest suffice? For his penance, he shoud say 50,000 Hail Marys and 50,000 Our Fathers, and endless “Acts of Contritions.” (you have to be catholic to understand what I’m talking about here)

How would that make baseball look with two of its greatest players not in its Hall of Fame?

Baseball with its greedy owners, overpaid players and its overly sanctimonious chroniclers of the sport have done more damage to the sport as America’s past time. Baseball and its holier-than-thou pundits need to get over their craving to be self righteousness.

At some point, baseball has to come to grips with the idea that it purposely overlooked its players using performance enhancing drugs. You have a rule and testing policies in place, so hopefully it doesn’t happen again. Bonds hit his 762 homeruns within the existing rules of the game at that time. You can’t retroactively punish a guy for a rule that wasn’t in place. With Rose, let him in, too. How long you do you keep punishing a guy?

Westbrook saves the Day for Struggling Birds

 

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

LANDOVER, Md.—Out of all the things that have gone wrong for the Philadelphia Eagles this season from special teams gaffes to getting blown out by the Dallas Cowboys last, the play of Eagles running back Brian Westbrook.

If you examine the stat sheets after an Eagles win or loss, Westbrook’s numbers whether he’s running the football or catching it out of the backfield, are always among the team leaders. At various times throughout Westbrook’s tenure in Philadelphia, he has had made that one game-changing plays that put the Birds over the top.

Every Eagles fan remembers his 84-yard punt return for a touchdown against the New York Giants at the Meadowlands in 2003 that not only help the Birds to come up with the win, but sparked them to a division title and a berth in the NFC title game. Coming into that game, the Eagles were 2-3 and in danger of having their season go by the wayside.

Last year in a loss to Tampa Bay, he scored on a 52-yard touchdown pass to get the Eagles back in the game. It took an improbable 62-yard field goal to beat the Birds in that game.

While the 2007 season for the 4-5 Eagles is still on life support, Westbrook’s big 57-yard touchdown pass that gave Philadelphia a 33-25 over the Washington Redskins Sunday at FedEx Field could be one of those plays that could get their season back on track.

“I hope so because we’re at the point now where we have to go and win seven games in a row to get where we want to go,” Westbrook said. “We have the guys that are capable of doing it. We’re going to go to work everyday this week to get things turned around.”

Westbrook said his touchdown reception was similar to his big return in 2003 from the stand point of his teammates giving him the daylight he needed to make the play.

“When you look at it in certain ways it does because on that play (2003) you had a team going out and perfecting a play, you had 10 other guys working to get things done,” Westbrook said. “This play here was another team where I had 10 guys in front of me out there trying their best to get me into the end zone.”

Washington was leading 25-20 with a little over three minutes left when Donovan McNabb caught the Skins in a blitz and found Westbrook, who got two huge blocks from guard Shawn Andrews and tackle Jon Runyan. The former Villanova took advantage of the daylight provided by his teammates and waltzed into the end zone untouched.

“He’s a playmaker, he’s one of the top backs in the league hands down,” said Eagles tight end L.J. Smith. “He’s a leader, he’s definitely emerged as a vocal leader more so in the last two years. I’m glad he’s on my team.”

Westbrook was playing with a heavy heart on Sunday because 24 hours earlier he attended the funeral of his uncle, William “Tony” Torney who helped guide and raise him as a young man. He dedicated the game and his effort to his uncle.

In the win over the Redskins, Westbrook had 183 yards of total offense-100-yards rushing, 83 yards passing and he scored two touchdowns. Outside of the quarterback, he’s the only legitimate weapon the Eagles have on a team full of second-tier talent at the skill positions.

“I’ve had an opportunity to see it first hand for a couple of years now,” said McNabb. “The guy is continuing to come into his own. He’s not just recognized locally, he’s recognized nationally. He’s guy that’s in a class with a LaDainian Tomlinson and the rest of those guys who can do it in the run game and the passing game. He can pick up blitzers and can help in the passing game. I’m excited to have him on my team because we can do so many things with him.”