Lame duck

Shockey's evasiveness in wake of comments is nothing new

There is the possibility that the world will never again be treated to the wit and wisdom of Jeremy Shockey , who has threatened to stop speaking to the media following the controversy that erupted last week when a writer from New York magazine quoted the Giants tight end referring to Dallas Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells as a "homo." We do not expect that you will require grief counseling to cope with Shockey's silence. In fact, the prediction here is that Shockey, who is not exactly Mark Twain , will grow chatty again once he discovers that there are plenty of other sports figures to whom we can turn for laughably lunkheaded remarks.

Shockey is merely a professional football player who had a nice rookie year last season but, because he plays in New York and has a camera-friendly habit of acting as if he has just won the Super Bowl every time he catches an eight-yard pass, receives far more attention than his accomplishments warrant. The only question I'm remotely interested in hearing Shockey answer is this: Homo? Even homophobes don't call people homos anymore. He embarrasses no one but himself by using the term, which makes him sound like a sixth grader, circa 1975. It's so juvenile that the only appropriate response from Parcells would have been, "I know you are, but what am I?"

Although Shockey is behind the times in his choice of epithets, he is depressingly up-to-date in the way he handles himself once his mistakes hit the fan. Politicians may be masters of the non-denial denial, but sports figures are unparalleled at the non-admission admission. Shockey gave us a classic example of such verbal tap dancing on Saturday, when he managed to make a public admission/apology that really wasn't much of either. He said he was sorry for offending "people" without ever specifically mentioning the people who should have been most offended -- Parcells and the gay community -- in his brief speech.

Shockey also conveniently ignored the fact that he had originally denied ever saying the offending word in the interview. Unfortunately for him, the reporter, Chris Smith , had the interview on tape, according to a spokesperson for the magazine. The Giants issued a statement on behalf of Shockey that indicated Smith did indeed quote him accurately, but you could examine the transcript of Shockey's mea culpa with a magnifying glass and never find a clear admission that he was fibbing the first time around, or an apology to Smith for implying that he had somehow botched the quote.

Clearly, Shockey has learned his lessons well from people like ex-Baylor basketball coach Dave Bliss , who, in the wake of the investigation into his program stemming from Patrick Dennehy 's death, declared that Baylor had committed no NCAA violations and that his players had no more to do with drugs "than the man in the moon." Less than two weeks later, Bliss resigned when the school's probe turned up numerous violations, including illegal payments to the players and positive drug tests that weren't reported. When he announced his resignation, Bliss apparently developed amnesia with regard to his earlier declarations of innocence, just as Georgia basketball coach Jim Harrick did when his denials of wrongdoing within his program were later proved to be untrue, costing him his job. When Harrick was asked if he felt any responsibility for the violations, he said, "That's hard to answer." No, actually, it's not.

But we expect such evasive responses from most sports figures. Shockey is supposed to be different. He's supposed to be refreshingly candid, the kind of guy who speaks his mind regardless of the consequences. What we've found is that Shockey is just like the others, that when the heat grows too intense, he'll duck and dodge and shift the blame with the best of them. Shockey can zip his lips if he wants or he can continue to run off at the mouth. Either way, he's not saying anything new.

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

 

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