As a sports reporter, I seek answers and information from athletes, and I appreciate a colorful (rather than canned) response. So I would seem hypocritical to suggest some athletes should know to have a finger on their personal mute button. Learn to just say “no,” or at least- “no comment.”

Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs “cut loose” during an interview on an Atlanta radio station and in the course of fun, colorful conversation, T-Sizzle stepped out of bounds when he spoke openly of bounties (players getting paid for injuring opponents during a game) and voiced his opinion that he’d prefer Troy Smith be the Ravens starting quarterback over Joe Flacco. Suggs made the matter worse for himself when in his defense he denied saying what he said (although his words are all clearly stated and replayed on audio tape) and suggested the media had twisted the situation and “blown it out of proportion.”

Suggs has a possible point with one aspect of his complaint: the media is often guilty of blowing things out of proportion (anything worth covering is worth over-covering!). That being said, Suggs gave the media material to blow out of proportion- and it’s material that never should have been uttered on a radio show. Any number of former players have spoken out on the topic and confirmed that bounties in the NFL do, in fact, exist. Those same players then add: the subject of bounties is inside information that should NEVER be discussed in the media. Former Ravens coach Brian Billick opined that anyone who spoke publicly on such a matter is either too stupid or too arrogant to think it wouldn’t come back on them negatively.

As far as Suggs’ quarterback preference, again- better kept to conversation among teammates, not on radio airwaves. A telltale moment in the Suggs saga came when on his own radio show, the linebacker lamented that he was just talking to some radio hosts in Atlanta and didn’t think it was a big deal. He learned a lesson here, I hope, that in the age of instant information and the worldwide web- if you’re talking to anyone in the media, then you’re talking to everyone everywhere. Suggs is a good guy and I believe a smart guy. I believe with this lesson, he’s even smarter than he was before it (or, at least I hope he is).

Posted on Friday, October 24th, 2008 at 9:02 pm.
Categories: Opinion.
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