Read my lips

Athletes and coaches take too many liberties with the truth

We're all accustomed to a certain amount of dishonesty in sports, little white lies that no one really believes. When the coach of Powerhouse U. says that Northwest Nowhere Tech is a "fine, fine football team," we know what he really means is that he could grab 11 guys out of the physics lab and still beat Tech by five touchdowns. When an owner fires his coach and says his franchise has "decided to go in another direction," we know what he's really saying is that he wouldn't trust the coach to run a 7-Eleven.

But lately we have descended to an entirely new level of untruth, making it hard to believe anything that any sports figure says. Get out your umbrellas because basically everybody is slingin' it. Athletes and coaches are insulting the public's intelligence by making up stories Dr. Seuss couldn't have matched.

My personal favorite is the one from high school hoops star LeBron James, who tried to explain away his acceptance of a free pair of expensive throwback jerseys by saying that he thought the store owner was giving him the gear as a reward for his good grades.

LeBron, please. Tell us the dog ate your wallet or that Winona Ryder swiped the jerseys and left them in your Hummer, but don't tell us that a sporting goods store owner would give you more than $800 worth of merchandise because you got an A- in social studies. And by the way, you probably don't want to draw people's attention to that 3.5 grade-point average you supposedly have. We're not saying the GPA isn't legit, but if you really can maintain a 3.5 while criss-crossing the country all winter to play basketball, you should be headed for Oxford, not the NBA.

But if James was fibbing, at least that mistake can be chalked up to his youth. University of Washington football coach Rick Neuheisel and new San Francisco 49ers coach Dennis Erickson have no such excuse. Neuheisel said publicly, in no uncertain terms, that he had not talked to anyone from the San Francisco 49ers in connection with their head-coaching vacancy, which is the kind of whopper that makes George O'Leary look like George Washington. When Neuheisel's lie was exposed, he apologized and said he'd been trying to honor the confidentiality agreement he had with the Niners. Next, he'll tell us that he reads the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue for the articles.

The truth is that Neuheisel knew his potential Washington recruits might look elsewhere if they knew he was thinking of leaving, so he wanted to deny, deny, deny until their names were safely on letters of intent. The coach the 49ers ultimately hired, Erickson, went through a similar dance with the high schoolers he was recruiting. One of them said that Erickson assured him he wasn't going anywhere, then just a few days after national signing day Erickson was gone.

Both men would have shown more integrity by shooting straight. Neuheisel would have been better off telling the media that he wasn't going to comment on job openings so close to signing day, a policy that would have been totally understandable. Both coaches could have tried the truth with their respective recruits as well. Something like this probably would have worked: "Look, I plan to coach you for your entire college career, but plans can change. If I get a great job offer, like anyone, I would have to consider it. Don't enroll at this school or any other one just because of the coach. That makes about as much sense as going to the college with the cutest cheerleaders. But when you're making your decision, remember that this school hires coaches who don't just tell you what you want to hear. What I'm saying to you now is proof of that."

Despite their recent fabrications, I have no doubt that Neuheisel and Erickson are men of the highest integrity. I have complete faith that the incidents were merely momentary lapses of judgment and that from here on out they will speak nothing but the unvarnished truth.

See how easy it is to lie?

Sports Illustrated senior writer Phil Taylor writes about a Hot Button issue every Monday on SI.com.

 

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