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.”

Stop Blaming Hip-Hop for Black athletes behaving badly

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

    The next time some misguided, ill-informed pundit, talking head or basically any one on FOX (Jason Whitlock) gets on TV and blames hip-hop culture for the all the ills facing the Black community or in the sports world, I’ll have one thing to say before I press the next channel of my remote control: STOP!

    In a recent article on FOX Sports.com, entitled: “Hip Hop Culture Hurting NFL,” that scriber of opinionated, misinformed nonsense from Kansas City —Jason Whitlock—blames “hip-hop” culture for the behavior of Black athletes in the NFL.

    In his article he writes, “African-American football players caught up in the rebellion and buffoonery of hip hop culture have given NFL owners and coaches a justifiable reason to whiten their rosters. That will be the legacy left by Chad, Larry and Tank Johnson, Pacman Jones, Terrell Owens, Michael Vick and all the other football bojanglers.”
    Throughout the entirety of the article, Whitlock rants about the abhorrent behavior of Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Lewis and Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson. He writes, “Hip hop is the dominant culture for black youth. In general, music, especially hip hop music, is rebellious for no good reason other than to make money. Rappers and rockers are not trying to fix problems. They create problems for attention.”

    That’s the closest thing you’ll see to any kind of evidence linking hip-hop culture to the knucklehead behavior of some of our Black athletes. That’s like saying the reason why there is crime in America because people watch too much TV or movies. It’s utter nonsense.

    The bufoonish and boorish behavior by athletes, regardless of race, in the NFL or any other sports league, has been going on long before hip-hop hit the world in the early 1980s. Wasn’t former Dallas Cowboys receiver Lance Rentzel arrested for exposing himself to a little girl back in 1970? He was traded to the San Diego Chargers and still played for a year or so. Did listening to Jim Morrison and the Doors cause that? Morrison did expose himself at a concert in Florida around that time.

I guess Whitlock can put that on hip-hop, too.

Hip-hop, like the term “liberal” in the political world, is a buzz-word been misused by attention-seeking Black conservatives like Whitlock and others as a shortcut to absolve responsibility from the larger entities in the sports-industrial complex that contribute to the foolish behavior. Demonizing urban youth culture is a good way for Whitlock and others to get TV face time.

  The constant blaming of hip-hop for the ills of Black world, the sports world or for society’s neglect of the structural inequities that exist in this society is not only disingenuous, but intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt. When you break it all down, it is downright hypocritical, especially when you look at the complete world of sports. It’s the system of athletics itself that creates the knucklehead monsters Whitlock rails about.

From the moment we find out that little Johnny Boy can slam dunk a basketball or has 4.2 speed in the 40-yard dash, he is separated from the rest of the world and courted with special treatment.

 Everyone from coaches, parents, and even some media outlets have placed this young man on a pedestal, “He’s the Next Big Thing.” There are suburban newspapers throughout the country that put the photographs of kids as young as six-years-old in their newspapers when they start playing pee-wee league. It makes parents happy, but it plants the seed for these kids to have a false sense of entitlement as they mature. Hip-Hop has nothing to do with that.
        So what if he doesn’t get good grades in school, the coaches and other enablers will either overlook it or worst yet, create some fake prep school or academy and inflate their grades to get into some Div. I program. Last March, the NCAA passed legislation to crack down on the diploma mills that are designed to make these kids eligible for college.

        Hip-Hop culture has nothing to do with that.

        When they get to “Bigtime State” U, they are treated like gods by fans and boosters even though they can barely read or write. They come in with a sense of entitlement. They get money from boosters and expect their grades to be fixed because they’re making millions of dollars for the University.

Some universities like the University of Colorado back in the late 1990s would go as far as providing a sexual escort service for potential recruits. Recruits were taken to strip clubs and oh by the way, the rapes of several young women were overlooked in the process. Again, that’s not from hip-hop culture.

    Consider the case of former Ohio State star running back Maurice Clarett, who told ESPN the Magazine that he was given money and cars and phony landscaping jobs he didn’t have to show up for. Additionally, he was placed in courses where professors passed him whether attended classes or not.

    Former Maryland running back Sammy Maldonado, who transferred from Ohio State, confirmed Clarett’s story when he said that most of his transcripts weren’t accepted by the University of Maryland.

    Athletes get all the preferential treatment and are separated from the rest of the student population. The implications of this for African-American athletes are enormous. Some of these dislocated brothers walk around believing they are exempt from the racism that affects the rest of the African-American student populace because they are athletes and the white boosters and athletic supporters who slip money into their pockets are looking out for them.

    About 10 years ago, a former Maryland classmate of mine who played on the football team told me he had no idea that regular Black students were facing racism on campus. That’s an example of the cultural dislocation of Black athletes.

    In many instances the bad, dysfunctional behavior of these young men are overlooked because they’re averaging 150 yards per game with two TDs.Look at how many times the abusive behavior of Lawrence Phillips was overlooked by Nebraska because of his football prowess.

    And so when these guys get to the pros, you’re going to get those guys who think they are above the law and who allow their success and money to go to their heads. Throw in those ESPN Sportscenter highlights that show Chad Johnson’s self-promotion 10 times a day and actually produces commercials (that pays the athlete and encourages more buffoonery) from them, you have what you have. You can’t put that on hip-hop culture.

One final point, Pac-Man Jones, Tank Johnson, Chad Johnson and others are just a very small percentage of Black athletes who behave badly. It is not the norm. Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins has a boom box in his locker and plays hip-hop music. He was recently honored by Philadelphia Mayor John Street for his charitable work. You don’t see his name on anybody’s police blotter.

    The irony of all the hate on hip-hop is that the sports leagues have used hip-hop music and culture as a part of their marketing schemes to promote the game. Go to any NFL stadium before the game and you’ll hear hip-hop blaring over the public address system.

    Whitlock is right about one thing it is a cultural problem. It’s not hip-hop, it’s the culture of the sports industrial complex.

Turnovers, failed third down conversions doom Ravens

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report  

BALTIMORE, Md.—As great as the Baltimore Ravens defense is, it’s too bad their offense is not held in the same esteem.

 

On a day when their defense held Peyton Manning and the powerful Colts offense to five field goals and no touchdowns, the Ravens offense failed to be consistent when it needed be. The Colts came away with a 15-6 victory in the AFC Divisional Playoffs at M&T Bank Stadium to advance to the AFC Championship game where they will take on the New England Patriots.

 The Ravens, who led the NFL in turnover ratio this season, shot themselves in the foot by committing four turnovers. McNair threw two interceptions on drives where it looked like Baltimore would put points on the board. Perhaps the most devastating of the two picks occurred early in the second quarter when the Ravens had the ball at the Colts 4-yard line and McNair was picked off by rookie and Howard University grad Antoine Beathea at the one.

“Our turnovers, you can’t turn the ball over in a championship style game,” said Ravens head coach Brian Billick. “You just can’t do it. Obviously, it was very disappointing at that point in the game to not come away with the touchdown and change the temperament of the game and we didn’t.”  

McNair took responsibility for the offense’s inability to establish any kind of rhythm on offense. He said the little things such as untimely penalties contributed to the Raiders demise against the Colts.

“We just didn’t execute. We make a big play, and come back and throw an interception or we get a penalty, false start and then we get a holding call, things like that. Just the little things stopped us from getting into a rhythm,” McNair said.

What really hurt the Ravens was their inability to convert on third down. Baltimore was a mere 2 of 11 on third down conversions.  The Ravens failed to get into any kind of offensive rhythm throughout the game and wasted another good effort by their defense.

“That hurt big time and that always kills you,” said Ravens running back Jamal Lewis, who gained 53 yards on 13 carries. “When you’re playing a team like the Indianapolis Colts, you really do want to get those third downs and keep the changes and keep things going so you can keep Peyton Manning off the field.”

Ravens wide receiver Derrick Mason put the offense’s weak performance in its proper perspective. He said the defense did everything it could to win, but the offense didn’t hold up their end.

“We just didn’t play well today. You can’t sugar coat it. Anytime you can hold that offense to 15 points, you should be able to win the game and we didn’t,” he said.

For the second straight game, the much-maligned Colts defense came up big. They allowed six points and allowed just 83 yards rushing.  

“That’s what we wanted to do. We wanted to go out there and make some turnovers and get our offense back on the field and get off the field on third downs,” said Colts defensive lineman Raheem Brock.

Manning and the Colts offense didn’t necessarily bring their A-game. Manning threw two interceptions and the Colts failed to score a touchdown. But their offense was good enough to give kicker Adam Vinatieri the opportunity to score points with his legs. The former Patriots kicked five field goals, including a 51-yarder that bounced off the crossbar, to give Indy all the points they would need. Vinatieri set a career post season record for the most field goals in playoff history. 

 “Adam has been exceptional all year,” said Colts head coach Tony Dungy. “Offensively, it was how we thought it would be. You’re looking for plays and we got just enough of them. We missed some, but that’s how they force you to play.

”Manning had another sub-par outing completing 15 of 30 passes for 170 yards and two interceptions by Ed Reed. The Ravens could have had even more interceptions but they were dropped. For Manning it was an ugly game, but the important thing is they came away with the win.

“It’s tough to get into sync against these guys. They don’t let you,” Dungy said. “You know you’re going to get a play here and a play there. When you get the opportunity, you got to make it count.”

Meanwhile, Manning himself said he relished being the underdog over the last two weeks, especially in this game against Baltimore. He said is expecting the same thing against the winner of San Diego and New England.

“People are saying who are you pulling for in tomorrow’s game and if you want to play at home.You have to be careful of what you wish for,” Manning said. “Both teams that we play next week are awesome and outstanding. And if we don’t play well next week we won’t win.”

Time to Go: Sixers don’t deserve Iverson

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

 

If you don’t know by now or unless you’ve had your cable cut off, you all know that Allen Iverson’s days in Philadelphia as a 76ers are over. Done.

 

Last Friday night, I was among the throng of the media hordes surrounding Sixers owner Ed Snider when he confirmed for us what general manager Billy King tried to avoid saying to us earlier in the evening.

 

“Allen’s been here for 11 years, he’s done a great job for this organization. He’s one of the greatest basketball players of all time and I’m not here to diss him in any shape or form,” Snider said. “It’s time for him to go his way and for us to go our way. … We’re going to trade him. At a certain point you have to come to grips with the fact that it’s not working. He wants out and we’re going to accommodate him.”

 

As much as I have as I loved watching A.I. over the years, it is time for him to leave this Popsicle stand of a franchise that absolutely had no hope of winning a championship.

 

Before all the Iverson  trade rumors came out in Friday’s New York Post, I wrote a column in Tuesday’s edition of the Philadelphia Tribune, saying that Iverson should ask to be traded because there’s no way he was going to win anything with the franchise in its current configuration was going to win a championship or even make the playoffs.

 

I wrote that column based on the look of defeat and resignation that I saw on Iverson’s face in the Sixers locker room following Sunday night’s loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Wachovia Center.

 

As he fielded questions from a group reporters gathered around his locker, Iverson’s body language-with his arm folded and his neck trying to keep his head up had the look of  “get me out of here now.” When trade rumors surfaced on previous occasions, Iverson always reiterated his desire to want to say in Philadelphia.

 

Seeing Iverson at his locker, he even knew deep down inside that it was time to go. When he was held out of practice and told not to come with the Sixers to Orlando, he saw the writing on the wall.

 

“As hard as it is to admit, a change may be the best thing for everyone.  I hate admitting that because I love the guys on the team and the city of Philadelphia.  I truly wanted to retire a 76er,” Iverson said in a statement released by his agent Leon Rose. “I appreciate that in my 11 years in Philadelphia, the fans have always stood by me, supported me, and gone to bat for me.”

 

But the sad reality that Iverson has always known is that the Philadelphia 76ers have done little to nothing to put a team good enough to make a run for a championship. But this has been the case since former general Pat Croce left the team back in 2002.

 

Going back to the end of the season when he and Chris Webber didn’t show up for Fan Appreciation Night at the Wachovia Center, I thought that subconsciously or maybe even consciously Iverson was voicing his displeasure with the organization. I think that was the case when he failed to show up a 76ers Christmas party for season ticket holders and corporate sponsors a couple of weeks ago.

 

As inexcusable as both of those incidents were, I believe the root cause of it had to come from Iverson’s disenchantment with where the franchise was going. Don’t get me wrong I certainly don’t condone Iverson’s actions in and to be sure he has his own share of mistakes he has made during his time here, but I think he has been unhappy with the team’s effort to make a legitimate run for a title.

           

Last summer when everyone thought Iverson’s trade was imminent, I asked Iverson at the press conference in Washington, D.C. promoting his annual softball game if the Sixers organization had done enough to bring guys in to help him win a championship.

 

“Obviously not because it hasn’t happened yet,” said Iverson back in July. “It just makes me feel kind of bad that I had a strong season and we didn’t make the playoffs. “If I am there, we need guys around me and Chris [Webber] that’s going to give 110 percent night in and night out.”

 

And that is the real source of Iverson’s anger with the Sixers organization. King and the Sixers management did nothing to make this team better in the off-season. Inexplicably,  a team that desperately needed a point-guard and some depth at power forward and center drafted a Andre Igoudala clone in small forward Rodney Carney out of Memphis.  This team needed guys to rebound the basketball and banked on the idea that team would get better with familiarity with each other and their coach Maurice Cheeks.

 

What a bunch of hogwash that was. The team stinks just as bad as it did last year and are probably a whole worse and I blame that on King’s inability to bring in players that would fit his talent.

 

And please don’t tell me that players don’t want to play with him and that he doesn’t make players better. Bull-shit! If you remember the 2005 All-Star game, Iverson didn’t score over 20 points but put other guys in position to score. He was the MVP of that All-Star game. And remember 2001 when he took that team to the NBA Finals. In that year, he had a solid supporting cast of guys who could actually play basketball—unlike the group he was playing with the last two years. 

 

“Larry Brown was the Coach of the Year for the first time in 2001. Why? Because Allen Iverson had a good year. They say he doesn’t make players better. He made for money for George Lynch, Eric Snow, Tyrone Hill, Aaron McKie, etc.,” former Sixers coach and NBA analyst Fred “Mad Dog” Carter told me in a phone interview last summer. “He won the MVP for the All-Star game when he wasn’t the leading scorer.”

 

While Iverson would never throw his teammates under the bus and criticize them publicly, I think Iverson was not happy with the ability of some of his teammates and was frustrated that those players didn’t come to play night in and night out like he did.

 

Where ever Iverson goes, I hope he wins that world championship that he couldn’t win here. All the mistakes that he made off the court will be forgotten years from now  and the only thing that people will remember of Iverson was that he was a warrior who came to play every night whether he was injured or not. He gave all he could to help his team win a championship. It’s a shame that the Sixers organization didn’t give the effort as Iverson did.

Don’t Blame the Media for Your Team’s Issues

By Chris Murray

For the Chris Murray Report

Today’s column is dedicated to my good friend, frat brother and P.G. Journal/Gazette colleague John Harris III and every hardworking dedicated journalist because you all can relate to what you’re about to read.

During the course of the buildup to Sunday’s big game between the New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys, injured Giants defensive end Michael Strahan criticized teammate Plaxico Burress on his radio show on WFAN for not playing with enough effort on an interception by Tennessee’s Pac Man Jones in New York’s loss to the Titans.

“It’s a shame, because Plaxico is a great player and he’s a good guy to be around,” Strahan told WFAN talk show host Joe Benigno. “But, at the same time, you’re judged by your actions out there on the field. And you can’t give up, you can’t quit, because you’re not quitting on yourself, you’re quitting on us, you’re quitting on everybody.”

This was the latest in a series of Giants internal squabbles being played out in the media—Tiki Barber publicly criticized head coach Tom Coughlin for his play-calling last week. On Wednesday, ESPN reporter Kelly Naqi asked “media worker” Michael Strahan about his comments. At first, he refused to talk to her because he normally talks to reporters on Thursdays.

Later that day, Naqi asked Burress for his reaction and he said Strahan had not spoken to him about his play in Sunday’s game at Tennessee and that he was stung by his teammate’s assessment of his play (or actually by the fact that Strahan called him out on his radio show).

Meanwhile, the rest of media hordes gathered around Strahan’s locker to get his comments. Visibly upset and quite possibly embarrassed by his actions, called out Naqi and accused her and the rest of the New York media of trying to divide the Giants.

“We don’t prepare to come in to have someone who wants to take a comment and try to divide teammates in a way that it just disrupts this team, because we don’t have that division here,” Strahan said. “So if you want to come here with the negative, you’re coming to the wrong guy, because I’m not a negative guy. I don’t kill my teammates. I’m a man, and I talk to my teammates.” (After you bash them on your radio show)

In other words, once again it’s the media’s fault that the Giants are bickering with each other and on this one he’s right –because he has a talk show—HE’s IN THE MEDIA and used his media outlet to call out his teammate and was upset because he got called out.

And to top things off, Giants running back Brandon Jacobs and host of other Giants came off the practice field in full view of reporters singing an out of tune rendition of Twisted Sister’s “We’re not going to take it,” to tell reporters that they are not a divided team and that it’s their fault for attempting cause division in their ranks.

I guess the Giants are going to be pumped up for Sunday’s big game against the New York Media Workers in the upper press box at Giants Stadium. Oh, I forgot about their game against the Cowboys. Oooops.

 

When you’ve lost three straight, you have guys at each other’s throats for whatever reason and you need an external enemy to rally against why not the media?

If the Giants, who blame the media for causing division in their locker room and making them lose, beat the Cowboys on Sunday will they give the media credit? If we media are the reason for a team’s losing streak or division in the locker room because of the stories we write or broadcast, will those guys give us credit for when they win? Think about it. When a team wins or scores a touchdown, will they say it was one of those “positive” stories we wrote in the media earlier in the week helped them keep their heads in the game? Or those awe inspiring words that we put together in a 25-inch feature motivated running back X to gain 150 yards rushing on 27 carries? Surely, we must have had a hand in that one, too.

 

I mean if the media gets blamed for a team’s troubles or if a guy like Strahan can accuse the press of dividing a team, then we should get some “dap” when they do something good, too. Hell, I want some credit, too. I think some of the stories I wrote during the 2004 season helped the Eagles make their run to the Super Bowl. I would love to hear Andy Reid at his post game press conference say, “Well, the Philadelphia media did a real nice job of writing stories to help our team win.” Or Donovan McNabb saying, “anytime Chris Murray writes a story, he inspires us to a higher level.”

 

C’mon, man where’s the love?

 

 

Y’all know I’m being facetious. Reporters nor the stories we write have anything to do with a team’s success or failure. The media doesn’t create divisions in the locker room, cause fumbles, score touchdowns or kill germs that can cause bad breath. If Strahan was so concerned about team unity, he shouldn’t have criticized Burress on his radio show.