The first Real Sports program of the year gives us three new stories and an update on streaker Mark Roberts. This is the best sports magazine on television, bar none and it’s won numerous Emmy Awards for Best Journalism, all of them much deserved.
It’s also our first real time review of the program for 2008 as it airs “live” here on the East Coast.
Segment #1 – Drinking Games
Reported by Bryant Gumbel, this story focuses on the massive amount of drinking done at NFL games. This starts with a group of Washington Redskins fans drinking hours before the game in the parking lot of FedEx Field. These fans are drinking not just beer, but Crown Royal and other hard mixed drinks. This group known as the DTB’s or Dead Tree Boys drink way before the game and during the game.
Police say drinking accounts for 99% of the arrests at NFL games. And in Buffalo, police arrested 64 people for charges stemming from disorderly conducts to fighting. HBO looked at the police overlooking the fans at Ralph Wilson Stadium during the last game of the season. The police say they can’t enforce the public drinking laws because they’re outnumbered by the fans. So they try to stop fans who are too drunk to enter the game.
Dick Meyer, a Chicago Bears fan, says he won’t go back to an NFL game after an experience he had after bringing his 13 year old son to Soldier Field. He says fan behavior at the game was so obnoxious, he was totally shocked. And he tried to ask one guy to stop yelling obscenities in front of his son. Then Meyer was told the fan would stop yelling by halftime because he was so drunk.
And at Jets games at Giants Stadium, there was the story that fans during halftime would harass female fans to show their breasts. It came to surface when videos were shown on YouTube.
The NFL says it’s proactive in trying to stop drinking at the games. But despite what the NFL has done, critics point out to the advertising done by beer companies at the games and on TV. The NFL says its policy is promote responsible drinking at games.
Th NFL has now teamed with one organization to try to prevent people from driving home drunk.
In Oakland, a checkpoint by police arrested 20 fans, but it only covered one exit and it was the only checkpoint of the season.
On November 19, 2006, one woman lost her husband when a drunk Miami Dolphins fan driving home from a game slammed into his car. In addition, she lost her two year old daughter. The fan claimed he only had one beer at the game, but police found open containers in his car and failed three sobriety tests. But the problem is that no matter what the police or the NFL do, the drinking at games continues.
The question is, when is enough enough? Grade – A.
Segment #2 – Tainted
Our next segment focuses on allegations that New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush took money from men who aspired to be his agent. But one man, Lloyd Lake, says he gave $13,000 to buy a car while he was at USC. Bush even posed on the cover of a magazine with the car. Lake says he gave even more money to Bush to go to clubs. And Lake says he would give Bush $3,000 each time he visited him at his college dorm.
Lake became friends when Bush was an up and coming high school football star in San Diego. Lake would give money to Bush. But Lake, a former gang member went to prison for two years, and the next time he would get in contact with Bush was through his stepfather when Reggie was at USC. Lake and the stepfather, LaMar Griffin, talked about setting a new sports agency, New Era, featuring Bush as its primary client. To finance that, Lake went up to a prominent businessman, Michael Michaels, to set up financing.
Lake says Griffin talked to him about getting more money. And he got money from the company, New Era, to help pay for Bush’s parents to go road games, an NCAA violation.
And Bush was financed for a trip to Las Vegas and Bush’s name is on the receipt.
In addition, Lake helped to pay for a new house that the Griffins moved into. However, one year later, the Griffins moved out with $12,000 of furniture that New Era paid for.
Bush, of course, hit the jackpot when he was drafted by the New Orleans Saints. Lloyd Lake also thought he was going to hit the jackpot, but another agent Mike Ornstein who’s also accused of paying Bush while at USC.
But Lake became angry when Bush went to Ornstein. Bush maintains his innocence of taking money from Lake. For his part, Lake says Bush is lying. When it looked like the business deal with the Griffins was unraveling, Lake started to take his conversations with Griffin. And on one tape, Griffin says Bush is going to give the money back.
Lake is suing Bush for $290,000. Michaels also sued Bush, but settled for over $200,000 and is banned from talking about the settlement. Lake, however, refuses to settle and he’s talking.
Lake decided to talk to HBO, authors of a new book called “Tainted Heisman” and the NCAA.
I’m a bit skeptical of this. Solid report by Goldberg. But Lake’s credibility is not the best. But somewhere in the middle lies the truth. There are signed receipts and proof the Griffins lived in the house New Era paid for. But I’m not sure of Lake’s word.
I’ll give this segment a B.
Segment #3 – The NFL Wives Club
Reported by Jon Frankel, this story focuses on NFL wives who are sisters in one way, yes, wives of former NFL players, but also a support group of sort.
Cindy Phillips, Randy Winans and Autumn DeMarco all are dealing with terrible disabilities that their husbands are dealing with now that they’re retired.
Autumn is not only taking care of her two children, but her 35 year old husband as well. Some days he can put medicine in his mouth, but others, he can’t. And Autumn says she has to wash him and also brush his teeth. They’re living in a decent place, but the money has run out. Their rent is being paid for by a fund for old football players, plus she has to pay for gas by coins. DeMarco is pawning his items just to pay for food. Her husband, Brian tried to hang himself, but Autumn stopped him. She hopes to find a doctor to help him.
Randy Winans was married to an offensive lineman, Jeff, who played for the Buffalo Bills. Her husband was knocked out 11 times in his career. Randy says there were times he would go into a rage and the concussions caused him blackouts. Randy could no longer cope with fearing for her life. She finally divorced him.
Joe Phillips thought he was ready for life after football. So did his wife Cindy. She started law school so could be ready when he retired. However, Joe Phillips is now wanted in multiple states on several charges. Cindy Phillips’ life unraveled when Joe retired from football. He found he couldn’t deal with life without football. Now without a compulsion to keep himself in shape, he found a compulsion to drink. And he would disappear for several days at a time. He was arrested for drinking and driving. Now, he’s been missing for two years. Cindy wonders what happened. Today, Cindy is practicing law and raising four children. Alone.
Autumn DeMarco says she’s talked with other NFL wives about how to deal with life after football. And Cindy says a lot of former NFL players can’t deal with life after football. There is a private website for NFL wives to talk to one another.
Compelling segment. A+
Segment #4 – The Full Monty
Updating a story from five years ago, Bernard Goldberg reports on Mark Roberts, the streaker who runs naked at several sporting events. Living in Liverpool, England, Roberts is the most persistent streaker in Europe. He was streaked at more than 300 events including Wimbledon, the Olympics and soccer matches.
Roberts has been banned from every soccer stadium in England. And he has to turn in his passport to authorities when he travels abroad so they know he won’t show his nekkid butt at away soccer matches.
It started in 1988 at rugby match in Hong Kong on a dare from his friends. So he went onto the field, took off his clothes and stole the ball. Roberts says the fans cheered loudly. Roberts even has run naked at a dog show and during a British morning TV show.
His mum, Patricia, says she did drop him on his head once. He’s held various jobs including a bartender and painter.
He has rarely been stopped. He’s paid many fines through the help of his friends who have bailed him out of jail or paid them outright. His friends have paid Roberts’ way into sporting events on their credit cards, but they haven’t told their wives about it.
Roberts’ mom she just laughs whenever she sees him. He has his own website that sells advertising and has even had gambling sites painted on his back when he streaks at events. He’s even starred in a clothing ad of all things.
Since the story aired, Roberts went to the Super Bowl in Houston dressing like a referee to get on the field and he danced naked on the field. It was his greatest accomplishment. But he went to jail for a night. Now he can’t enter the US after that arrest.
Roberts says he’s semi-retired. Every now and then, he returns to the scene and got naked at the Cannes Film Festival. And he got naked last year at the first NFL regular season game at Wembley Stadium.
Bryant says Roberts wanted to retire at the 2006 World Cup final in Germany by running nekkid on the field and score a goal, but he was stopped before entering the stadium. The guy is nuts, but he’s funny. Give the story a B+.
Bryant’s Last Words – Super Bowl
Bryant says the media is going to focus on a variety of topics ad nauseum. But the NFL hype machine will be in its full glory. And while the Super Bowl is more about American excess than a football game, it’s still a game. Bryant’s done better. I give his words a C.
Overall grade, a solid B.
