Lonestar
05-20-2010, 02:29 PM
Woody's Mailbag: A stroll down Memory Lane
Dave from Evergreen asks Woody about the ramifications of the columns he writes.
By Woody Paige
The Denver Post
POSTED: 05/20/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
UPDATED: 05/20/2010 09:52:36 AM MDT
I've always wondered how you maintain access and (perhaps) cordial relations with pro athletes when you regularly criticize them for all to read. Would you share a few memories of how your columns have affected some of your relationships with athletes or managers over the years?
— Dave Gleason, Evergreen
What up, Dave? The relationships are extremely varied. I've had two or three players who physically threatened to fight me because of something negative I may have written. One pro basketball player got ready to take a swing when one of his teammates stepped in and caught his arm and said: "You don't want to give him half your salary." The player who wanted to fight never spoke to me again.
A group of Broncos once sent Tom Jackson to me and said they wouldn't talk to me again. (They actually had misunderstood what I wrote.) That lasted a couple of days. The Nuggets voted not to talk to me one season, and a week later they were back talking freely.
I was asked to tell a story at the other end of the spectrum this week. I wrote a column once praising Johnny Neumann, a young ABA player at the time. (I had criticized him on several other occasions for never passing the ball. Then one night he set the league record for assists, looked at me on press row and yelled: "See, I can pass." The next game he had two assists again.)
There was a knock on my hotel room door on the lower end of Miami Beach (where the posh South Beach is now, where rooms were 20 bucks then), and a young lady (she later said she was 19) stood in the hall. "I think you have the wrong room," I said. She replied: "I'm a gift from Johnny Neumann. He loved your column."
I've had people
Nuggets head coach George Karl. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)
send me a small Christmas tree (Edgar Kaiser, then-owner of the Broncos) and a copy of their book (Dan Issel), but nobody ever sent me a prostitute — before or after that. I was 24.
I told her no thank you, and she insisted that Neumann already had taken care of the matter. I told her she could take the morning off; I wasn't interested. She finally asked if she could wash her hands before she left. End of story, except that when this story appeared on "The History of The ABA" a few years ago, they left out the part where I refused her offer. My daughter called me and wasn't too pleased.
Manager Jim Leyland, now with the Detroit Tigers, told ESPN he wouldn't let any of his players come on the network because of what I wrote about him when he was in Denver as the Rockies' manager.
I had known the late Norris Weese since college, and he was a backup quarterback with the Broncos. When I wrote that he should be traded (thinking he would get more playing time somewhere else) his wife called and chewed me out. But Norris and I remained friends.
Craig Morton stopped talking to me for months because I had written "Craig Morton found God this season, but he couldn't find Moses on Sunday." But our relationship resumed.
I really don't think about how the columns will affect relationships. I just write my opinion, and if players or managers or coaches don't want to talk to me again, I understand.
Whether anyone believes it or not, a couple of weeks ago I couldn't
WOODY PAIGE
Pose your question for Woody's Mailbag.
Browse Woody Paige's archive of recent sports columns.
sleep at all for a couple of nights thinking about a column I was about to write: that Kyle Orton should be traded for the betterment of him and the Broncos. Afterward, I slept well.
I think it bothers all of us to criticize athletes, but they are paid professionals (I don't personally rip anyone who is an amateur), and they must be reviewed, just as you might critique an actor's performance in the movies or on Broadway.
I've found that most athletes were treated like kings as kids, in high school, in college, and the first time they're criticized as a pro, they have some serious problems with it. I understand.
At the end of every column I write, at the end of this mailbag, all over the Internet, I'm called a drunk, a has-been, an idiot and words I can't even begin to use here. Do I like it? No. But it comes with the territory.
Dan O'Dowd of the Rockies didn't talk to me for years and told others he wouldn't talk to them because they worked for the same newspaper I did. It didn't change our coverage. O'Dowd and I talk now. It's his choice, honestly.
When I walked into the Phillies' clubhouse the other day, a bunch of players asked me to come over and talk. When I walk into the Rockies' clubhouse, several of the veterans don't talk to me on a personal level because of the general anti-Post sentiment expressed by the ownership and the executives and Clint Hurdle.
Clint Barmes, Jason Giambi and Todd Helton say hello. They're class people and class athletes.
In summation, I don't go drinking with players (although I did, once, with John Elway. I went to McDonald's several times with Dante Bichette, and I have had a bunch of breakfasts with Doug Moe because he was eating all the time on the road) and managers, and we're not best friends.
As I've mentioned here before, George Karl was my next-door neighbor. We talked about the death of my sister from cancer, his cancer, his kids, but very rarely did we talk basketball. I thought it was infringing on his personal life. He would say: "Let me grab a six-pack and we'll watch the Rockies," and we talk about baseball.
I told him I wouldn't knock on his door and say: "What's wrong with J.R.?" I would go through proper team channels and talk to him at practice. He thanked me.
One day I was standing on the deck of my house, and George hollered at me. I had written a column criticizing him that morning. "I just read your column. It was total (bleep)." And he turned and walked back into his house.
When I saw him at practice the next day, I said: "George, if you want to talk to me about my column, you have to go through proper channels. You can't scream at me across the yard." We both laughed. He got it. He accepted it. Some do. Some don't.
Hey Woody, who do you like in the Bowlen Bowl? Which team do you think will finish with the best record next season, the Redskins, Bears or Broncos?
— Michael Fuller, Basalt
What up, Michael: I like this question. After Mike Shanahan took over in D.C., the first thing I did was look at the team's schedule. My first thought was maybe 8-8. That was before they traded for Donovan McNabb. I think the Philly trade was what I call a twofer. You improve your team; you hurt a team in your division. So I'm thinking 10-6 because of McNabb, the running back situation, the change to the 3-4 and Shanahan.
I just looked at the Bears' schedule. Jay Cutler and Shanahan play against each other in Week 7 (Oct. 24). Nice. Their record will depend on Brett Favre's return (two games vs. Bears, obviously), if Cutler can become a man under Mike Martz and has some help, and if Chicago's defense can get back where it was. They don't have an easy schedule. I'm guessing 8-8 in May.
The Broncos we know about, and it's tough for me to sit here in May not knowing who the quarterback will be. The defense should be better; Knowshon Moreno should be better, and Josh McDaniels, I believe, will be a better coach in his second season. With Kyle Orton at quarterback, I'd say the Broncos go 8-8 or 7-9 and no playoffs. With Brady Quinn and/or Tim Tebow at quarterback, I'll say 10-6 (with a victory in the final game of the year over the Chargers in Denver) and win the division.
But this is subject to change. On this May day, I'd say Shanahan and McDaniels tie, Cutler third.
Hey, Woody. How do you see our rookie receivers fitting in? Will Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker fully recover from their foot injuries? Also, what's the scoop on Dicky Lyons?
— Mike, Rochester, N.Y.
What up, Mike: Let's start with Lyons, a late free agent. I think he has only a slight chance to stick as a return man and the last receiver, if there's an injury. He's short (5-feet-11) and not a real speedster. But I would predict he won't make it.
Thomas and Decker will stick with the team. I don't think either will be serious factors early in the season. Eddie Royal, Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Stokley will be the main three, and Brandon Lloyd and Kenny McKinley will be used with the two rookies. But that's seven. Will the Broncos keep that many? Maybe.
I like Decker's game. He's a gamer a poor man's Ed McCaffrey. There are a lot of "ifs" on Thomas, although he should be totally recovered from his injury by training camp.
The "ifs" are an adjustment from that Georgia Tech offense, which emphasized the run, had very few passing routes and not enough opportunities for Thomas to get free. He was considered by everyone to be the second-best wide receiver to Dez Bryant until he got hurt before the NFL combine, and he didn't have a Pro Day.
Does he have world-class speed? No. Is he a good-hands guy? Not enough data to know for sure. Is he a character guy? Big time. Was he McDaniels' favorite? Yes.
The Broncos went from seeing Tebow to spending time with Thomas just before the draft. Will he ever be Brandon Marshall? Not on the field or off. He's not a problem-causer for defenses or police departments. So, it's up the air. And when the ball is up in the air, we'll find out.
Maybe I am looking thru green- and gold-tinted glasses, but what makes Tebow a better QB than Bradlee Van Pelt? They seem to be similar players, but Van Pelt had a better arm. Yes, Tebow won the Heisman, but so did Ty Detmer, Rashaan Salaam, and a whole lot of other players that did nothing in the NFL.
— Bob, Rapid City, S.D.
What up, Bob? Bradlee Van Pelt couldn't play dead on the pro level. That's the difference. He was a nice little quarterback in the CSU system. I'm getting tired of me talking about Tebow. He's going to be an all-pro quarterback. He can throw (which Van Pelt couldn't do), run, lead and play. Van Pelt was out of the league after a couple of seasons.
Why the heck is Tim Tebow working out in Memphis instead of Dove Valley?
— Grace Cooke, Littleton
What up, Grace? Under league rules, you cannot report to a team (except for rookie minicamp) until school is out. Tebow wanted to be at Dove Valley, wanted to pay his way to stay in Denver. He wasn't allowed to. Now that the veterans' minicamp is over, he is here to stay.
He went to Memphis because his agent, Jimmy Sexton, has his office there, and Tebow and Sexton felt like he could work out somewhat out of the spotlight.
And, given that I'm from Memphis, it's a great town for vacation. It boasts Graceland, Beale Street and the Mississippi River. I think he wanted to visit my old high school. And he wanted the best ribs in the country at the Rendezvous across from the old Peabody Hotel, where he could watch the ducks walk across the lobby and jump in the lobby fountain each morning. That's why.
http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_15121055
Dave from Evergreen asks Woody about the ramifications of the columns he writes.
By Woody Paige
The Denver Post
POSTED: 05/20/2010 01:00:00 AM MDT
UPDATED: 05/20/2010 09:52:36 AM MDT
I've always wondered how you maintain access and (perhaps) cordial relations with pro athletes when you regularly criticize them for all to read. Would you share a few memories of how your columns have affected some of your relationships with athletes or managers over the years?
— Dave Gleason, Evergreen
What up, Dave? The relationships are extremely varied. I've had two or three players who physically threatened to fight me because of something negative I may have written. One pro basketball player got ready to take a swing when one of his teammates stepped in and caught his arm and said: "You don't want to give him half your salary." The player who wanted to fight never spoke to me again.
A group of Broncos once sent Tom Jackson to me and said they wouldn't talk to me again. (They actually had misunderstood what I wrote.) That lasted a couple of days. The Nuggets voted not to talk to me one season, and a week later they were back talking freely.
I was asked to tell a story at the other end of the spectrum this week. I wrote a column once praising Johnny Neumann, a young ABA player at the time. (I had criticized him on several other occasions for never passing the ball. Then one night he set the league record for assists, looked at me on press row and yelled: "See, I can pass." The next game he had two assists again.)
There was a knock on my hotel room door on the lower end of Miami Beach (where the posh South Beach is now, where rooms were 20 bucks then), and a young lady (she later said she was 19) stood in the hall. "I think you have the wrong room," I said. She replied: "I'm a gift from Johnny Neumann. He loved your column."
I've had people
Nuggets head coach George Karl. (Karl Gehring, The Denver Post)
send me a small Christmas tree (Edgar Kaiser, then-owner of the Broncos) and a copy of their book (Dan Issel), but nobody ever sent me a prostitute — before or after that. I was 24.
I told her no thank you, and she insisted that Neumann already had taken care of the matter. I told her she could take the morning off; I wasn't interested. She finally asked if she could wash her hands before she left. End of story, except that when this story appeared on "The History of The ABA" a few years ago, they left out the part where I refused her offer. My daughter called me and wasn't too pleased.
Manager Jim Leyland, now with the Detroit Tigers, told ESPN he wouldn't let any of his players come on the network because of what I wrote about him when he was in Denver as the Rockies' manager.
I had known the late Norris Weese since college, and he was a backup quarterback with the Broncos. When I wrote that he should be traded (thinking he would get more playing time somewhere else) his wife called and chewed me out. But Norris and I remained friends.
Craig Morton stopped talking to me for months because I had written "Craig Morton found God this season, but he couldn't find Moses on Sunday." But our relationship resumed.
I really don't think about how the columns will affect relationships. I just write my opinion, and if players or managers or coaches don't want to talk to me again, I understand.
Whether anyone believes it or not, a couple of weeks ago I couldn't
WOODY PAIGE
Pose your question for Woody's Mailbag.
Browse Woody Paige's archive of recent sports columns.
sleep at all for a couple of nights thinking about a column I was about to write: that Kyle Orton should be traded for the betterment of him and the Broncos. Afterward, I slept well.
I think it bothers all of us to criticize athletes, but they are paid professionals (I don't personally rip anyone who is an amateur), and they must be reviewed, just as you might critique an actor's performance in the movies or on Broadway.
I've found that most athletes were treated like kings as kids, in high school, in college, and the first time they're criticized as a pro, they have some serious problems with it. I understand.
At the end of every column I write, at the end of this mailbag, all over the Internet, I'm called a drunk, a has-been, an idiot and words I can't even begin to use here. Do I like it? No. But it comes with the territory.
Dan O'Dowd of the Rockies didn't talk to me for years and told others he wouldn't talk to them because they worked for the same newspaper I did. It didn't change our coverage. O'Dowd and I talk now. It's his choice, honestly.
When I walked into the Phillies' clubhouse the other day, a bunch of players asked me to come over and talk. When I walk into the Rockies' clubhouse, several of the veterans don't talk to me on a personal level because of the general anti-Post sentiment expressed by the ownership and the executives and Clint Hurdle.
Clint Barmes, Jason Giambi and Todd Helton say hello. They're class people and class athletes.
In summation, I don't go drinking with players (although I did, once, with John Elway. I went to McDonald's several times with Dante Bichette, and I have had a bunch of breakfasts with Doug Moe because he was eating all the time on the road) and managers, and we're not best friends.
As I've mentioned here before, George Karl was my next-door neighbor. We talked about the death of my sister from cancer, his cancer, his kids, but very rarely did we talk basketball. I thought it was infringing on his personal life. He would say: "Let me grab a six-pack and we'll watch the Rockies," and we talk about baseball.
I told him I wouldn't knock on his door and say: "What's wrong with J.R.?" I would go through proper team channels and talk to him at practice. He thanked me.
One day I was standing on the deck of my house, and George hollered at me. I had written a column criticizing him that morning. "I just read your column. It was total (bleep)." And he turned and walked back into his house.
When I saw him at practice the next day, I said: "George, if you want to talk to me about my column, you have to go through proper channels. You can't scream at me across the yard." We both laughed. He got it. He accepted it. Some do. Some don't.
Hey Woody, who do you like in the Bowlen Bowl? Which team do you think will finish with the best record next season, the Redskins, Bears or Broncos?
— Michael Fuller, Basalt
What up, Michael: I like this question. After Mike Shanahan took over in D.C., the first thing I did was look at the team's schedule. My first thought was maybe 8-8. That was before they traded for Donovan McNabb. I think the Philly trade was what I call a twofer. You improve your team; you hurt a team in your division. So I'm thinking 10-6 because of McNabb, the running back situation, the change to the 3-4 and Shanahan.
I just looked at the Bears' schedule. Jay Cutler and Shanahan play against each other in Week 7 (Oct. 24). Nice. Their record will depend on Brett Favre's return (two games vs. Bears, obviously), if Cutler can become a man under Mike Martz and has some help, and if Chicago's defense can get back where it was. They don't have an easy schedule. I'm guessing 8-8 in May.
The Broncos we know about, and it's tough for me to sit here in May not knowing who the quarterback will be. The defense should be better; Knowshon Moreno should be better, and Josh McDaniels, I believe, will be a better coach in his second season. With Kyle Orton at quarterback, I'd say the Broncos go 8-8 or 7-9 and no playoffs. With Brady Quinn and/or Tim Tebow at quarterback, I'll say 10-6 (with a victory in the final game of the year over the Chargers in Denver) and win the division.
But this is subject to change. On this May day, I'd say Shanahan and McDaniels tie, Cutler third.
Hey, Woody. How do you see our rookie receivers fitting in? Will Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker fully recover from their foot injuries? Also, what's the scoop on Dicky Lyons?
— Mike, Rochester, N.Y.
What up, Mike: Let's start with Lyons, a late free agent. I think he has only a slight chance to stick as a return man and the last receiver, if there's an injury. He's short (5-feet-11) and not a real speedster. But I would predict he won't make it.
Thomas and Decker will stick with the team. I don't think either will be serious factors early in the season. Eddie Royal, Jabar Gaffney and Brandon Stokley will be the main three, and Brandon Lloyd and Kenny McKinley will be used with the two rookies. But that's seven. Will the Broncos keep that many? Maybe.
I like Decker's game. He's a gamer a poor man's Ed McCaffrey. There are a lot of "ifs" on Thomas, although he should be totally recovered from his injury by training camp.
The "ifs" are an adjustment from that Georgia Tech offense, which emphasized the run, had very few passing routes and not enough opportunities for Thomas to get free. He was considered by everyone to be the second-best wide receiver to Dez Bryant until he got hurt before the NFL combine, and he didn't have a Pro Day.
Does he have world-class speed? No. Is he a good-hands guy? Not enough data to know for sure. Is he a character guy? Big time. Was he McDaniels' favorite? Yes.
The Broncos went from seeing Tebow to spending time with Thomas just before the draft. Will he ever be Brandon Marshall? Not on the field or off. He's not a problem-causer for defenses or police departments. So, it's up the air. And when the ball is up in the air, we'll find out.
Maybe I am looking thru green- and gold-tinted glasses, but what makes Tebow a better QB than Bradlee Van Pelt? They seem to be similar players, but Van Pelt had a better arm. Yes, Tebow won the Heisman, but so did Ty Detmer, Rashaan Salaam, and a whole lot of other players that did nothing in the NFL.
— Bob, Rapid City, S.D.
What up, Bob? Bradlee Van Pelt couldn't play dead on the pro level. That's the difference. He was a nice little quarterback in the CSU system. I'm getting tired of me talking about Tebow. He's going to be an all-pro quarterback. He can throw (which Van Pelt couldn't do), run, lead and play. Van Pelt was out of the league after a couple of seasons.
Why the heck is Tim Tebow working out in Memphis instead of Dove Valley?
— Grace Cooke, Littleton
What up, Grace? Under league rules, you cannot report to a team (except for rookie minicamp) until school is out. Tebow wanted to be at Dove Valley, wanted to pay his way to stay in Denver. He wasn't allowed to. Now that the veterans' minicamp is over, he is here to stay.
He went to Memphis because his agent, Jimmy Sexton, has his office there, and Tebow and Sexton felt like he could work out somewhat out of the spotlight.
And, given that I'm from Memphis, it's a great town for vacation. It boasts Graceland, Beale Street and the Mississippi River. I think he wanted to visit my old high school. And he wanted the best ribs in the country at the Rendezvous across from the old Peabody Hotel, where he could watch the ducks walk across the lobby and jump in the lobby fountain each morning. That's why.
http://www.denverpost.com/premium/broncos/ci_15121055