Flanagan: LJ rips Vermeil in HBO interview

[tk13]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...s/16118327.htm

JEFFREY FLANAGAN TOP OF THE MORNIN’
Kansas City Star

Johnson tuned out when Vermeil talked

Larry Johnson, appearing in a feature with Cris Carter on HBO’s “Inside the NFL” this week, makes it clear again that he really wasn’t all that interested in playing for Dick Vermeil.

“I wouldn’t pay attention,” Johnson said of playing under Vermeil. “My eyes, I would be up in the sky. You know, I would be sleeping in my locker. I wouldn’t carry my playbook because I was just trying to get away from this building, you know, when Dick was here.”

(It should be interesting when Vermeil calls the Chiefs-Oakland game for NFL Network Dec. 23.)

Carter’s interview with Johnson, which appears at 9 tonight, also focuses on LJ’s relationship with Herm Edwards.

Carter asked LJ, “Do you think Herm Edwards, being an African-American and you being raised, of course, by an African-American, that you see a lot of similarities in Herm that you saw in your dad that made you open up to him?”

LJ’s response: “I think so. I could relate to Herman. I couldn’t do that with the other coaches I had because they had not done it. You know, they haven’t put those pads or they haven’t been in the situation as a young black athlete and know what we had to go through.

“You know, when we go out, you know, we like to go out. You know, we like to hang out. We like to have fun. But then you got to worry about the guy around the corner with the gun. You got to worry about this girl on the block. You got to worry about, you know, your parents. You got to worry about your homeboys taking advantage of you.

“There’s so much things you got to worry about being a young black athlete. And to be able to have a father like mine and have a coach like Herm, I was able to escape a lot of those realities and find myself in a new ray of light.”

Edwards also contributes to the show.

“First time I saw (Johnson), I said: ‘Are you ready? Are you ready to touch the ball 30 times a game?’ ” Edwards said. “And he kind of looked up at me, and he probably thought, ‘I haven’t even met coach yet, and he’s — what, is he messin’ with me?’ ”

[patteeu]

“I wouldn’t pay attention,” Johnson said of playing under Vermeil. “My eyes, I would be up in the sky. You know, I would be sleeping in my locker. I wouldn’t carry my playbook because I was just trying to get away from this building, you know, when Dick was here.”

Looks like Vermeil had it right. LJ *did* have a diaper on.

[leviw]

Originally Posted by frazod

My thoughts on this:

1. I don't blame him for hating Vermeil. I hate him too.

2. Carter kind of led him down the race path. It is ever possible for one black man to interview another black man and NOT mention race? Sure doesn't seem like it.

3. That said, it's not like Larry grew up in the projects dodging machine gun bullets. Give me a fucking break.

4. I love Larry as a Chief. If he played for anybody else, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't.

1. I don't hate Vermeil, but it was obvious there was a mutual distain for each other. Vermeil had no choice but to play LJ. LJ had no choice but to run hard --for himself, mind you, not for Vermeil.

2. It was going to come up. I don't see anything wrong with what LJ said, though.

3. No, he didn't grow up in the projects. But he did grow up in a upper-middle class college town that is 85 percent white. I'm sure he dealt with a fair share of race issues, which probably coincides with his on-field aggression.

4. If LJ played for anybody else, we sure as hell wouldn't like Vermeil.

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by frazod

My thoughts on this:

1. I don't blame him for hating Vermeil. I hate him too.

2. Carter kind of led him down the race path. It is ever possible for one black man to interview another black man and NOT mention race? Sure doesn't seem like it.

3. That said, it's not like Larry grew up in the projects dodging machine gun bullets. Give me a fucking break.

4. I love Larry as a Chief. If he played for anybody else, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't.

These are some very good points.....and I'll add:

I dont see why it comes down to race and that only young black male athletes have to:

1) watch out for their money
2) watch out for their friends taking advantage of them
3) watch out for gold-digging women
4) watch out for bad people trying to harm them
5) look for a mentor or role model who has previously "put on the pads"

It's a shame it went down this road....and I'm tired of hearing about "the struggle"....I bet over 3/4 of pro athletes (white and black) have pretty much had the easy life ever since their late days in high school (when colleges took notice and threw scholarships/full-rides - and probably money - at them).

There are a lot of REAL, hard-working individuals who face struggles in their daily lives who dont have the luxury of full-ride college scholarships, women (or men) worshiping the ground they walk on, and the comfort of a nice fat signing bonus that gets them the cars, houses, photo-ops with Beyonce, etc. etc.

I like LJ for what he does for the Chiefs......and that's it. Part of the blame is with carter's line of questioning.....but c'mon...we're not talking about people curing cancer, or that "secret santa" guy who's actually done some real good things for people in his life....these are professional athletes making a LOT of money to score TD's, hit home runs, etc etc

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Originally Posted by frazod

My thoughts on this:

1. I don't blame him for hating Vermeil. I hate him too.

2. Carter kind of led him down the race path. It is ever possible for one black man to interview another black man and NOT mention race? Sure doesn't seem like it.

3. That said, it's not like Larry grew up in the projects dodging machine gun bullets. Give me a fucking break.

4. I love Larry as a Chief. If he played for anybody else, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't.

I agree with everything you mentioned.

BTW, did anyone watch NBC this past Sunday night? Bettis and Sharpe were taking up for Vick's finger flipping extravaganza, while Costas and Collinsworth were not and saying there is no excuse and he's a professional and shouldn't do it. Why do some black people take up for their "homies" even when it is blatant that it is wrong? It's sad. Some keep race #1 and have logic #2. I know everyone has bias, but it is sad when you let race overpower logic.

[InChiefsHeaven]

Not surprised by the comments, either the ones about Vermeil or the racial ones. As someone else said, this is pretty much a common line of questioning. What I don't like is that it seems that the black athletes have the market cornered on their personal struggles. Apparently all white athletes had everything handed to them and never had to work hard, struggle, deal with hardships or anything. I wish LJ would have said something along the lines of "It's not so much that Herm is a black man, but that he has played the game and understands what it is like for a guy like me." But, he said what he said, and he meant it. I like the way LJ seems to be coming around, like the press conferance where he made fun of Herm. That seemed to me to be a bit of growth, that he could loosen up like that. But you can't expect that all the conditioned angst and victimhood will just go away once he has a coach he likes.

*edit* He IS a big fan of Che after all...

It's ingrained into our culture nowadays. No stopping it.

[InChiefsHeaven]

Originally Posted by Vanilla Thunder

I agree with everything you mentioned.

BTW, did anyone watch NBC this past Sunday night? Bettis and Sharpe were taking up for Vick's finger flipping extravaganza, while Costas and Collinsworth were not and saying there is no excuse and he's a professional and shouldn't do it. Why do some black people take up for their "homies" even when it is blatant that it is wrong? It's sad. Some keep race #1 and have logic #2. I know everyone has bias, but it is sad when you let race overpower logic.

I noticed that too. It's like they are programmed never to criticize one of their own, lest they be called a traitor.

[DJJasonp]

Originally Posted by InChiefsHell

I noticed that too. It's like they are programmed never to criticize one of their own, lest they be called a traitor.

Sharpe and Irvin are the kings of this practice........

I think they were on the OJ Simpson defense team......

[Redrum_69]

This media coverage will just piss off LJ more....


Mad LJ > *


I hope vermeil says something stupid like "I knew the kid never could run, thats why we took him, we felt sorry for him" or some shit


That will light a fire under LJ and he'll run for 300 yards and 5 td's

[Chiefs Pantalones]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

Sharpe and Irvin are the kings of this practice........

I think they were on the OJ Simpson defense team......

BTW, Tom Jackson is the same, but he wasn't like that until Irvin came in. I guess Jackson got brave when anotha' brotha' was hired to do the show.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Vanilla Thunder

BTW, did anyone watch NBC this past Sunday night? Bettis and Sharpe were taking up for Vick's finger flipping extravaganza, while Costas and Collinsworth were not and saying there is no excuse and he's a professional and shouldn't do it. Why do some black people take up for their "homies" even when it is blatant that it is wrong? It's sad. Some keep race #1 and have logic #2. I know everyone has bias, but it is sad when you let race overpower logic.

Actually, when it comes to Vick's finger, I'm with Bettis and Sharpe on this one. So Vick flipped some people off. BIG fuckING DEAL. I flip off a dozen people every day of my life. He was/will be fined - why must everybody make such a big deal over it?

I don't care about Vick's race or Vick; indeed, he's an overrated piece of shit. But in an age when we can see all types of carnage on TV, I really think it's kind of reeruned that they blur out Vick's extended digit and talk about him like he just smeared poo in the First Lady's face. Get over it.

[Wile_E_Coyote]

What matters is what your peers think. What do other millionaire athletes who rub elbows with the rich & famous think? Not the people wanting autographs

[Mr. Kotter]

Originally Posted by Wile_E_Coyote

What matters is what your peers think. What do other millionaire athletes who rub elbows with the rich & famous think? Not the people wanting autographs

So, what are you saying?

I don't understand your point....but, I hope it's not that, "well, black athletes have a right to embrace the victim mentality as an excuse for their issues and immaturity, and I think it's okay for them to play the race card....cause their homeys understand. And that's all that matters."

Cause if that's your point...it's messed up, IMHO.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by DJJasonp

I like LJ for what he does for the Chiefs......and that's it. Part of the blame is with carter's line of questioning.....but c'mon...we're not talking about people curing cancer, or that "secret santa" guy who's actually done some real good things for people in his life....these are professional athletes making a LOT of money to score TD's, hit home runs, etc etc

Tony G. saved a guy's life a while back.

Did anyone else see that little feature on NFL Network? I remember the story back when it happened. Tony caught a pass, fell out of bounds, and nailed a photographer who went down and got knocked out and had a seizure. They took him to the hospital, and then discovered that he had a brain tumor, and they got to it while it was still treatable.

Tony G. seemed like he was a very nice guy about the situation. During the play, he immediately bent over the guy and was concerned about him, and he called the guy's family and sent flowers to the hospital and other stuff. He handled the situation well.

However, the story kept referring to Tony and the brain surgeon as "the two men who saved the photographer's life". Okay, Tony handled it well and all, but truthfully, all Tony did was lay the guy out and knock him unconscious and into seizures. I question the ethics of saying that he saved the guy's life.

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Duh, Macaca.

Good job, jAZ.

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by tk13

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...s/16118327.htm

“I wouldn’t pay attention,” Johnson said of playing under Vermeil. “My eyes, I would be up in the sky. You know, I would be sleeping in my locker. I wouldn’t carry my playbook because I was just trying to get away from this building, you know, when Dick was here.”

Carter asked LJ, “Do you think Herm Edwards, being an African-American and you being raised, of course, by an African-American, that you see a lot of similarities in Herm that you saw in your dad that made you open up to him?”

LJ’s response: “I think so. I could relate to Herman. I couldn’t do that with the other coaches I had because they had not done it. You know, they haven’t put those pads or they haven’t been in the situation as a young black athlete and know what we had to go through.

“You know, when we go out, you know, we like to go out. You know, we like to hang out. We like to have fun. But then you got to worry about the guy around the corner with the gun. You got to worry about this girl on the block. You got to worry about, you know, your parents. You got to worry about your homeboys taking advantage of you.

“There’s so much things you got to worry about being a young black athlete."

WTF?!?! First of all I dont care that DV didn't start him or how stubborn he was at times etc, thats just disrespectful to any coach. Now wonder he said take the diapers off, LJ was really acting like a ****ing baby. He gets the chance to play in the NFL, make millions, and live a dream playing a GAME you love and getting paid for it. LJ just lost some credibility with me IMO.

First of all this isn't the 1960's or 70's. I would really like to know what LJ really had to go through, you know, being a black athlete in the 90's where every HS team has black athletes and being that his dad was his coach. Gimme a ****ing break LJ. No one feels sorry for you. Talk to Tamba Hali for a reality check. He had it rough. Being raised in a middle class community is NOT rough unless you make bad decisions with the wrong group on YOUR OWN TERMS. He says theres so much to worry about because he likes to go out. That has nothing to do with being black, he just needs to make better choices. If he likes to go out on the streets and party with his "homeboys", then hell yeah theres gonna be trouble but he put himself in that position.