woodbuck27
05-08-2007, 05:09 PM
http://www.thenewstribune.com/512/story/57214.html
An NFL sequel: Jerramy Stevens’ Second Chance
DAVE BOLING; THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: May 8th, 2007 01:00 AM
Please, spare us the sanctimony.
We’ve all been fooled by Jerramy Stevens in the past, so that part is understandable.
But for Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Bruce Allen to rationalize the signing of the troubled tight end by putting on a Father Flanagan humanitarian act is an insult.
The Bucs landed Stevens with a low-ball offer because he’s talented (if inconsistent), and because they were 4-12 last season and the pressure is on.
It’s the same reason they signed Justin Gatlin, the Olympic sprint champ whose track career was suspended by failed drug tests.
“Sometimes you have to give people a second chance,” Allen said of signing Stevens, whose legal troubles led the Seahawks to give up on the former first-round draft choice after five seasons.
Allen acknowledged that Stevens had “some off-the-field issues that have hampered him a little bit.”
Allen’s usage of the words “second,” “some” and “little” causes us to wonder if he truly understands Stevens’ history.
Stevens has done jail time for a number of various mixtures of driving and intoxication, the latest coming in March when he was arrested in Arizona on suspicion of drunken driving and marijuana possession.
His playing status with the Bucs certainly will be reviewed by league commissioner Roger Goodell, who is on a crusade to clean up the NFL’s image.
Forget the rhetoric and posturing and consider one eye-opening statistic that all the enablers and excuse-makers and 10th-chance givers need to keep in mind:
Stevens’ blood-alcohol level after the Arizona arrest was reported as 0.204. When Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock killed himself in a recent traffic accident, his was 0.157.
Stevens was drunker that night in Arizona than Hancock was the night he drove into the back of a flatbed truck. That Hancock was buried last week while Stevens is trying to revive his career is only a matter of timing and circumstance, and should illustrate to Stevens how lethal he could be.
“… He understands he has to do the right things,” Allen said of his agreement with Stevens.
Oh, does he?
I can’t count how many times I’ve written about Stevens and his supporters promising he’s learned from his mistakes and it’s all behind him.
When Stevens announced he was leaving Washington early to enter the NFL, I wrote about the risk/reward issue.
“Teams might end up kicking themselves for passing on Stevens when they had a chance to draft him … or they might find out they were right to be suspicious. It seems, then, that greatness is there for Stevens to grasp … or allow to slip through his fingers.”
When the Seahawks drafted him late in the first round and , signed him to a contract that included heavy fiscal disincentives for getting into trouble I wrote that it was shrewd and foresighted on their part, and was the sort of structure the talented player needed.
Didn’t work.
Little more than a year later, Judge Albert M. Raines sentenced Stevens to two days in jail and 25 hours of picking up roadside trash.
I considered that a sentence so humbling that it surely would get his attention. Showing a depth of insight, the judge also reminded Stevens of another former Husky, Reggie Rogers, who threw his career away when a drunken-driving incident killed several teenagers and left him with a broken neck.
“I don’t want that to be you,” the judge said.
Nobody does. But that didn’t work, either.
Stevens went through a span of several years when there were no known legal violations. Either he was just more evasive or had gained control. If it was the latter, then there’s hope that he can do it again and maybe live up to his considerable promise.
Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck last week talked of Stevens as “a great teammate.” He cited his hard work to the point of calling him selfless.
“All his problems stemmed from one thing, and that was alcohol,” Hasselbeck said.
“If you take alcohol out of the equation, he was a perfect teammate and a great kid.”
Stevens could be very charming and convincing, and on the field he could help win games. But Bruce Allen and Tampa Bay had better keep him sober or off the streets, because Stevens has given us plenty of evidence how he treats “second” chances. A bad ending in this matter will be on them.
It will be a wonderful story of personal redemption if he can salvage his career.
But it will be a much different story if he ends up hurting himself or somebody else.
Dave Boling: 253-597-8440
dave.boling@thenewstribune.com
An NFL sequel: Jerramy Stevens’ Second Chance
DAVE BOLING; THE NEWS TRIBUNE Published: May 8th, 2007 01:00 AM
Please, spare us the sanctimony.
We’ve all been fooled by Jerramy Stevens in the past, so that part is understandable.
But for Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Bruce Allen to rationalize the signing of the troubled tight end by putting on a Father Flanagan humanitarian act is an insult.
The Bucs landed Stevens with a low-ball offer because he’s talented (if inconsistent), and because they were 4-12 last season and the pressure is on.
It’s the same reason they signed Justin Gatlin, the Olympic sprint champ whose track career was suspended by failed drug tests.
“Sometimes you have to give people a second chance,” Allen said of signing Stevens, whose legal troubles led the Seahawks to give up on the former first-round draft choice after five seasons.
Allen acknowledged that Stevens had “some off-the-field issues that have hampered him a little bit.”
Allen’s usage of the words “second,” “some” and “little” causes us to wonder if he truly understands Stevens’ history.
Stevens has done jail time for a number of various mixtures of driving and intoxication, the latest coming in March when he was arrested in Arizona on suspicion of drunken driving and marijuana possession.
His playing status with the Bucs certainly will be reviewed by league commissioner Roger Goodell, who is on a crusade to clean up the NFL’s image.
Forget the rhetoric and posturing and consider one eye-opening statistic that all the enablers and excuse-makers and 10th-chance givers need to keep in mind:
Stevens’ blood-alcohol level after the Arizona arrest was reported as 0.204. When Cardinals pitcher Josh Hancock killed himself in a recent traffic accident, his was 0.157.
Stevens was drunker that night in Arizona than Hancock was the night he drove into the back of a flatbed truck. That Hancock was buried last week while Stevens is trying to revive his career is only a matter of timing and circumstance, and should illustrate to Stevens how lethal he could be.
“… He understands he has to do the right things,” Allen said of his agreement with Stevens.
Oh, does he?
I can’t count how many times I’ve written about Stevens and his supporters promising he’s learned from his mistakes and it’s all behind him.
When Stevens announced he was leaving Washington early to enter the NFL, I wrote about the risk/reward issue.
“Teams might end up kicking themselves for passing on Stevens when they had a chance to draft him … or they might find out they were right to be suspicious. It seems, then, that greatness is there for Stevens to grasp … or allow to slip through his fingers.”
When the Seahawks drafted him late in the first round and , signed him to a contract that included heavy fiscal disincentives for getting into trouble I wrote that it was shrewd and foresighted on their part, and was the sort of structure the talented player needed.
Didn’t work.
Little more than a year later, Judge Albert M. Raines sentenced Stevens to two days in jail and 25 hours of picking up roadside trash.
I considered that a sentence so humbling that it surely would get his attention. Showing a depth of insight, the judge also reminded Stevens of another former Husky, Reggie Rogers, who threw his career away when a drunken-driving incident killed several teenagers and left him with a broken neck.
“I don’t want that to be you,” the judge said.
Nobody does. But that didn’t work, either.
Stevens went through a span of several years when there were no known legal violations. Either he was just more evasive or had gained control. If it was the latter, then there’s hope that he can do it again and maybe live up to his considerable promise.
Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck last week talked of Stevens as “a great teammate.” He cited his hard work to the point of calling him selfless.
“All his problems stemmed from one thing, and that was alcohol,” Hasselbeck said.
“If you take alcohol out of the equation, he was a perfect teammate and a great kid.”
Stevens could be very charming and convincing, and on the field he could help win games. But Bruce Allen and Tampa Bay had better keep him sober or off the streets, because Stevens has given us plenty of evidence how he treats “second” chances. A bad ending in this matter will be on them.
It will be a wonderful story of personal redemption if he can salvage his career.
But it will be a much different story if he ends up hurting himself or somebody else.
Dave Boling: 253-597-8440
dave.boling@thenewstribune.com