Put up and shut up
By Tom Curran
NBCSports.com
Posted: Jan.16, 2007, 12:48 pm EST
"We win, you guys lose! Thanks for coming, goodnight now! Buh-bye!”
An assistant coach from a winning team last weekend yelled that into the stands, grinding it into the face of the fans watching the teams leave the field.
A member of the allegedly low-class Patriots coaching staff? Nope. It was Colts defensive line coach John Teerlinck, who chortled his way off the field in Baltimore arm-in-arm with Colts offensive line coach Howard Mudd.
It wasn’t a polite thing to do. Funny. But not polite. Same as Rosevelt Colvin of the Patriots yelling that the lights were out permanently for the Chargers because they hadn’t paid the bill. And Pats corner Ellis Hobbs mocking the begging-to-be-mocked "Lights Out" dance of Shawne Merriman.
To the victors goes the immediate need to grind faces.
Last year, when San Diego hammered the Patriots in Foxborough, Chargers defensive coordinator Wade Phillips waltzed into the Gillette Stadium tunnel and said, "Now that’s an ass-whipping!"
"Bleep New England and their team,” Drayton Florence screamed after that game. Then, turning to those in the hall, Florence said, "Get the look of shock off your faces. Don’t be shocked. We beat your ass."
Look, this is the NFL. It’s not Gentleman Bobby Jones in knickers and a tie in Augusta, Georgia, in 1933.
A level of emotional animus builds during the week between teams, coaches and fanbases. In the hours before the game, players in particular enter a different place mentally in order to perform physically. Then, for more than three hours, these players do things contrary to every instinct we have for self-preservation. When it’s over, there is release before they re-enter society and adhere to its norms.
For me and so many other people I know covering the league, observing the players as they walk from the field to their locker room is a necessity. You’re getting raw, unfiltered footage before the 10-minute cooldown period they get before the media gains access.
LaDainian Tomlinson’s anger at the Patriots players mocking Merriman was understandable, especially in the raw moments after the game and his season ended. And it was excusable. Unfortunately, he’s probably too young and has been too deified to understand that, soon after the game, comes a time to bury the blind rage or risk looking like the jerk he currently appears to be.
But he’s not a jerk. He’s a bitterly disappointed 27-year-old who was caught in a moment of raw emotion and -- unaccustomed to controversy -- is having a hard time extracting himself from it. Some people won’t forget this. Some won’t forgive it.
The truth is, it happens all the time.
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