On the TunneySide of Sports December 20, 2021 #879 Up next… ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy,’ Raider Style
After further review… ”Stompin’ at the Savoy” is a jazz standard composed by Edgar Sampson (circa 1933) and named after that famed Harlem nightspot. One interpretation is that it is a drama about four young Black women trying to achieve their dream of success. I know it’s a stretch, but that song struck me as I watched the opening of Sunday’s game when the Las Vegas Raiders took the field in Kansas City in Week 14. Before the game with the Chiefs, some of the Raiders went to the logo in the center of the GEHA field and stomped on the Chiefs’ logo. Were they trying to achieve their dream of success?
What is it about some of today’s professional athletes that feel they need to intimidate their opponents with words or actions versus play on the field/court? Of course, “jawing” at each other is not new. Being on the NFL field from the 1960s and beyond, jawing occasionally did occur but, in those days, a player would often step in to help his teammate “knock it off.” NFL Hall of Famer defensive end Jack Youngblood once told me “when trash talk or insulting remarks were directed at me, I would just laugh and walk away.” That usually settled things down.
In today’s NFL, the game officials are instructed to penalize the offending player by throwing the (yellow) flag and assessing 15 yards for what is called “taunting.” All too often the official only “catches” the second guy. Coaches can and should be responsible for controlling this kind of behavior. A 15-yard penalty hurts the entire team! And for what? An insult that gets one player upset? One has to be bigger than that. The team leader has to step in and help.
“I own you!” said an NFL player (certain-to-be in the Hall of Fame one day) toward an opponent, and later in his own stadium (about that same team) that his team has beaten twice this season. What does that player have to gain with that kind of talk? I’ve worked in that stadium many times yet never heard Bart Starr, Zeke Bratkowski, Lynn Dickey, or Brett Farve use that kind of talk to promote himself. Seems to me that’s the kind of talk you hear kids say on the playground. Wonder where they learned that?
P.S. About that gang that was stompin’ on the other team’s logo? That stompin’ team got beat 48-9!
Will you log in about foolish acts that have nothing to do with playing the game?
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