Bad timing for Robinson
Posted: Sunday January 31, 1999 10:45 PM
MIAMI (CNN/SI) -- If there was ever any doubt in Mike Shanahan's ability to perform the dual role of franchise architect and head coach with the best of them (Bill Parcells, Jimmy Johnson) -- that finally died on a beautiful Miami night.
Sign seen on one of those weird Bronco hats (the ones that look like horseheads) before Super Bowl XXXIII: Hey Eugene, Got $40?
Amazing story. Just amazing. In the wake of Denver's 34-19 win over Atlanta in
Super Bowl XXXIII tonight, you wonder how any off-the-field story could
overshadow what happens in a Super Bowl. But in the hours before this game, the
Robinson story was being played bigger than the game. Caught in a Miami police prostitution sting Saturday around
9 p.m. and accused of soliciting oral sex from an undercover cop, Robinson was
released within two hours. Then, he met with coaches and players at the team
hotel. Dan Reeves, I hear, was furious with Robinson and -- this is just a
feeling -- could penalize him by doing something like putting him on the Cleveland
expansion list. Robinson, it was said, denied the charges.
How ironic. Twelve hours earlier, Robinson had received the Bart Starr Award from Athletes in Action, the Christian athletes' group, voted on by other players. This honors a player with high moral character who does good community deeds. Nice timing.
Robinson's third-straight Super Bowl appearance was plagued with controversy AP |
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And how painfully ironic is this: On the play of the game where the Falcons' hopes died, it was Robinson who made the big blunder. Denver led 10-3. Five minutes left in the second quarter. Denver's D had just stopped Atlanta, and Morten
Andersen blew a short field goal. On first down, on a well-conceived play-action
pass, John Elway sent Rod Smith deep down the middle. Robinson was two steps too
slow. Elway threw an absolutely perfect bullet. Perfect. And the tardy Robinson
could only flail on the laser beam. Denver, 17-3.
I want not to think that any of this had to do with Saturday night. I've always
found Robinson a friendly, frank and decent sort, a guy I first met five years
ago in Seattle, then chatted with frequently in Green Bay and who I have seen a couple
of times this year in Atlanta. Really good guy, I thought. One point: Even if
he's guilty of this, let's find him guilty of horrible judgment and shameful
infidelity. Let's not fry him at the stake for the rest of his life.
What am I thinking? It's the Super Bowl. Eugene Robinson's life will never be
the same.
Now for Today's Ten Things I Think I Think:
1. I think that I now don't know what to think about Chris Chandler, who followed up an awesome performance two weeks ago in Minnesota with an Alex Van Pelt performance tonight.
2. I think you'd all like to know about my pre-game meal Saturday night, wouldn't you? At Norman's in Coral Gables, I appetized on the Pear Tartelette (baked pear on a piecrust, topped with white cheddar cheese) and dined on grilled veal chop cooked Mongolian Barbeque style with Chinese eggplant and Thai fried rice. And I had to have the vanilla flan. Nice job, Norm, whoever you are.
3. I think it's all well and good for Cris Carter to say there should be some kind of morals clause in the Pro Football Hall of Fame balloting, as he did last night on ESPN following the Hall's vote to admit Lawrence Taylor. Maybe there should be. But it would have been nice for ESPN host Dan Patrick to follow that question with this one: "Cris, you've admitted having a marijuana problem early in your career. If there's some sort of morals clause, might this affect your chances to make the Hall?"
4. I think Lawrence Taylor is right to rip the Hall of Fame selection committee for unjustly injecting morals into the Hall decisions, but as usual he went too far. Ridiculously far. "These guys [selectors] sit around -- old phonies, phonies I call them -- and sit there and blast me and criticize me and say he shouldn't be in the Hall of Fame because he's morally wrong while they sit around on their third or fourth highball," he told Fox Sports News today. "They'll hold me to a standard higher than they hold themselves. And they'll go here to South Beach, get totally trashed and chase some little 13-year-old up and down the street -- but they're all right."
5. I think, being one of the 36 voters, I don't know where to start on Taylor.
6. I think this: LAWRENCE, SEVEN OF THE THIRTY-SIX GUYS ON THE COMMITTEE, AT MOST, VOTED AGAINST YOU! WHY ARE WE ALL CHILD MOLESTORS?! YOU'RE ABOUT FIFTY TIMES AS JUDGMENTAL AS WE ARE! That's all. For now.
7. I think that KISS mini-show before the Super Bowl was terrific.
8. I think he won't, but John Elway sure looked to me like he ought to play another year. I'm not sure why a guy would quit when he can move as Elway can, when (in weatherless conditions like this night) he can throw like this.
9. I think Stevie Wonder's a national treasure.
10. I think I thought it would be a lot better game.
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