Hammock Parties
05-25-2010, 07:14 AM
http://chiefsblog.kansascity.com/?q=node/1321
Protection of Bowe doesn't mesh with Chiefs' emphasis on accountability
Dwayne Bowe wasn't made available to reporters after Monday's offseason practice, and the fourth-year wide receiver had left the locker room by the time media were allowed inside.
As has been the case after past infractions by Bowe and others, Bowe avoided discussion of his latest brush with negative attention. It's unfair that players such as Jamaal Charles and Chris Chambers were left to speculate on Bowe's words -- and the attention those words have generated -- while the player who said them is elsewhere. It just doesn't jibe with the team's new emphasis on accountability and character, and it could send the message that if a player makes a mistake, others will bail him out.
Bowe told ESPN the Magazine about the practice of "importing," in which attractive women were flown in by Chiefs veterans during a 2007 road trip to San Diego. The women know all about players, Bowe was quoted as saying.
“This one girl was talking to me like she'd known me for years," Bowe told the magazine.
Regardless of where you stand on whether Bowe's words or the practice he described, the Chiefs are sending a bad message by allowing Bowe to escape the locker room and having his teammates answer for him.
"I’m not really comfortable talking about it," Chambers told me Monday. But when Bowe remains in hiding, it's his teammates who will be approached.
If the Chiefs are serious about being accountable, what could be a more effective response than having a player stand in front of his locker and publicly face the repercussions of his words or actions? Not only would it send a strong message, it also would immediate defuse the situation, instead of having it percolate until Bowe is finally ready to answer questions. When Bowe decides to speak, whether it's three days or six months from now, the subject will come up. Avoiding the topic now only makes it more tantalizing as time passes.
It's possible that the team did force Bowe to discuss the matter with his teammates, but the matter will remain a source of public discussion until Bowe, and Bowe alone, puts the subject to rest. The Chiefs are trying to take an early stand and teach their young players that character counts. Allowing a veteran player to hide while his teammates face reporters in his absence, is in direct conflict with that message.
Protection of Bowe doesn't mesh with Chiefs' emphasis on accountability
Dwayne Bowe wasn't made available to reporters after Monday's offseason practice, and the fourth-year wide receiver had left the locker room by the time media were allowed inside.
As has been the case after past infractions by Bowe and others, Bowe avoided discussion of his latest brush with negative attention. It's unfair that players such as Jamaal Charles and Chris Chambers were left to speculate on Bowe's words -- and the attention those words have generated -- while the player who said them is elsewhere. It just doesn't jibe with the team's new emphasis on accountability and character, and it could send the message that if a player makes a mistake, others will bail him out.
Bowe told ESPN the Magazine about the practice of "importing," in which attractive women were flown in by Chiefs veterans during a 2007 road trip to San Diego. The women know all about players, Bowe was quoted as saying.
“This one girl was talking to me like she'd known me for years," Bowe told the magazine.
Regardless of where you stand on whether Bowe's words or the practice he described, the Chiefs are sending a bad message by allowing Bowe to escape the locker room and having his teammates answer for him.
"I’m not really comfortable talking about it," Chambers told me Monday. But when Bowe remains in hiding, it's his teammates who will be approached.
If the Chiefs are serious about being accountable, what could be a more effective response than having a player stand in front of his locker and publicly face the repercussions of his words or actions? Not only would it send a strong message, it also would immediate defuse the situation, instead of having it percolate until Bowe is finally ready to answer questions. When Bowe decides to speak, whether it's three days or six months from now, the subject will come up. Avoiding the topic now only makes it more tantalizing as time passes.
It's possible that the team did force Bowe to discuss the matter with his teammates, but the matter will remain a source of public discussion until Bowe, and Bowe alone, puts the subject to rest. The Chiefs are trying to take an early stand and teach their young players that character counts. Allowing a veteran player to hide while his teammates face reporters in his absence, is in direct conflict with that message.