Tiger Woods is Plenty Active & Charitable [J. Mark English]

The other night on the HBO sports news magazine, Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, I caught a glimpse of his interview with Jim Brown and Bill Russell. Both players, fantastic in their day, were also vocally active in regards to the issue of race in the 1960's. They used their popularity as ball players to help advance civil right causes.

Today, Jim Brown acts disgruntled that current stars do not take the same opportunity to stand up against social injustice. In particular, he singles out Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.

Just google "Michael Jordan" and "charity" and you will find countless acts of decency by way of charity contributions from Michael Jordan. He spreads his money wide and far. What more would Jim Brown have him do in an age where a person of color is the President of the United States?

Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post, defends Tiger Woods in an article he wrote today:

Tiger Woods may not want to be defended on this issue; he certainly didn't ask to be defended. But he's going to be, in this space anyway, because Jim Brown's recent comments to HBO that Tiger's social contributions are inadequate are way off base, even inaccurate. Just because Brown perhaps isn't aware of the depth and range of Tiger's contributions, or that they differ from his own social agenda doesn't mean Tiger is lacking a social conscience -- because he isn't. Don't get me wrong, I've admired Brown's activism my entire adult life. One of the unforgettable experiences of my life came during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, when Brown, through his determination, concern and sheer force of personality, persuaded gang members from the rival Crips and Bloods to call a truce to the violence and talk out their differences at Brown's Hollywood home.....

....Totally misguided, Brown said to Bryant Gumbel recently that Tiger is "A monster competitor . . . he is a killer. He'll run you over, he'll kick your [butt], but as an individual for social change, or any of that kind of [stuff] . . . Terrible. Terrible. Because he can get away with teaching kids to play golf and that's his contribution."

....The Tiger Woods Foundation doesn't teach golf. Maybe Brown presumed it does because the Learning Center is attached to the course where Woods grew up playing as a kid....

....But it's not a golf academy. Brown should check out the list of courses kids can take there, such as engineering, robotics and marine biology.

A kid with a totally different orientation can get into animation and graphic art. There's an editing suite, a music studio, a computer lab for children who otherwise don't have access. It is technology based, also career and college based. The scope and effectiveness of this learning center ought to be praised, not wrongly dismissed as "teaching kids to play golf." And the learning center is just one part of Tiger's efforts.

When Earl Woods, Tiger's father, died a few years ago folks who wanted to do something were discouraged from, say, sending flowers and encouraged to make contributions to the Earl Woods Scholars program, so they did -- to the tune of $1 million. Tiger matched that with his own contribution of $1 million. The program has produced 25 scholars, 10 of them from the D.C. area, where Tiger is looking to expand his program. The foundation funds those students for up to four years. All 25 have mentors and internships guaranteed. They attend Georgetown, Florida A&M, Spelman, Penn State, UDC, Marymount, the University of Arizona, the University of Idaho.

Jim Brown might want to know they're not on golf scholarship.

The learning center in California, which opened in 2006, has had between 20,000 and 25,000 kids come through the doors. There are partnerships with schools that have come to depend greatly on the supplemental help the learning center provides. The one Tiger is trying to build here in D.C. can't arrive quickly enough.

Tiger Woods is too sophisticated a man to get into a public back-and-forth with the great Jim Brown. And beyond saying, "I think we've made our impact," Tiger doesn't attempt to specifically defend himself against the criticisms leveled by Brown and others. But I will....

But don't then demean the efforts and the results of a man who is answering the call already, in his mid-30s as Tiger Woods is. Brown should also remember, Tiger plays golf but he didn't grow up some kid who didn't understand the need for a conscience. As Tiger related to Charles Barkley and me for Barkley's book, "Who's Afraid of a Large Black Man?" in 2004, he became aware of his own racial identity on the very first day of school, kindergarten, when a bunch of white sixth-graders tied him to a tree, spray-painted the n-word on him and threw rocks at him when he was the only little brown child in Cypress, Calif. And his dad encountered a whole lot worse.

Just as important, Brown has to realize that the expression of social consciousness isn't a matter of people singing the same song. Jim Brown took on the Crips and Bloods, and a lot of other demons. Tiger Woods attacks the problem as he sees fit, through education, which has always been at the root of Brown's preaching anyway. And because men such as Brown and Earl Woods fought the toughest, bloodiest battles for decades, Tiger's approach to activism ought to be different.

Plowing the exact same ground would suggest Brown and Earl Woods made no progress, which we know isn't the case. We move on, probe for the newest ways to attack the old problems and new ones, too, using the most advanced methods we can find. People need to know that Tiger Woods's presence here in the D.C. area isn't only about golf. The moment Tiger announced he was hosting a tournament, the AT&T National, at Congressional Country Club , I suspected I knew why he wanted it here, specifically.

Star Athletes Fizzle on the Way Out the Door [J. Mark English]

Tom Oates of the Wisconsin State Journal writes:

Brad Childress has warned everyone to “stay tuned” and Brett Favre, who hates even the thought of surgery, has submitted to an operation on his sore shoulder...

...If you must worry about something, worry about whether Favre is overstaying his welcome as a football player. He will turn 40 in October and wouldn’t be the first iconic athlete to hang on long after the skills that made him great have faded away....

...Indeed, for every superstar who exits on his own terms — Jim Brown, Barry Sanders and Sandy Koufax come to mind — there are a dozen who don’t know when to quit. Usually, they end up playing in some strange city and looking very old while doing it....

....Yes, Favre’s annual waffling on retirement has grown old. But those who accuse Favre of being a hopeless diva must have forgotten that Denver’s John Elway, the poster boy for going out on top, didn’t make up his mind to return until June after winning his first Super Bowl at age 37. Even after winning a second Super Bowl, Elway kept the Broncos in suspense until May before announcing his retirement.

Even Reggie White once retired for 48 hours when he was with the Packers. White later retired “for good,” then came back after a one-year absence for an embarrassing five-sack season with the Carolina Panthers.

At least Elway went out a winner. Many others were a pitiful shell of themselves while trying to milk another season or two out of their Hall of Fame careers.

No one who saw it can forget the image of Hank Aaron batting .232 in two seasons as an overweight, 40-something designated hitter for the Milwaukee Brewers. Or Willie Mays, the greatest center fielder ever, dropping fly balls in his 40s with the New York Mets. And did you know that a 40-year-old Babe Ruth hit .181 playing for the Boston Braves?

Come to think of it, did anyone like seeing Magic Johnson as a backup power forward when he returned to the NBA at 36 after a five-year absence? And though Michael Jordan was still a decent enough player, there was no joy in watching his two-year comeback with a Washington Wizards team that had no hope of making the playoffs.

Nothing was more painful than watching the NFL’s ultimate winner, Johnny Unitas, throw three touchdown passes and seven interceptions in five games with the San Diego Chargers. Ditto for Joe Namath, who had three touchdown passes and five interceptions in four games as a creaky-kneed starter for the Los Angeles Rams.

And surely Packers fans haven’t forgotten Bart Starr’s final two limp-armed seasons, when he thew eight touchdown passes and 16 interceptions. Even Fran Tarkenton, who seems to know more about Favre’s intentions than Favre, threw 32 interceptions for the Vikings at age 38.

It’s not just quarterbacks, either. It was no fun watching O.J. Simpson average 3.8 yards per carry for the 2-14 San Francisco 49ers in 1979. And when all-time receptions leader Jerry Rice, then 42, went from Oakland to Seattle in a mid-season trade, few people even noticed.

LT is the Best [David Stefanini]

What else is their left to say? It seems every time LT touches the ball recently there is a new record he is breaking. Whenever you start breaking records at this rate the question of all-time greatness can be asked? With that said where does LT rank among the best of all time? In my opinion he is the best player in the league by a mile, but all time RB's he has 3 guys in front of him.

1) Barry Sanders

2) Jim Brown

3) Walter Payton

Barry Sanders had no offensive line in front of him, no QB behind him, and no defense to get him the ball. With that said he was the most explosive runner of all time. To try to tackle him was a complete mystery. He would make cuts that would injury the opponents if they tried to tackle him. Watching highlights and live games of him is simply amazing, LT has several years to go before he catches Barry.

Just look at the numbers and Jim Brown is considered one of the top 3 RB's ever. He has the most yards per carry, and most yards per catch of any running back. He would score touchdowns left and right (though LT is on a better pace than anyone in history). Jim Brown retired in the prime of his career and still had very gaudy numbers to put up. He was a great RB.

Walter "Sweetness" Payton is the second leading rusher in NFL history, behind Emmitt Smith. Watch Payton run is like watching an artist paint. He saw holes that weren't there and hit them perfectly. His speed and athleticism made him a great player for many years.

So LT has some work to do to catch these guys. If he can keep this pace up for several more years, then LT will be the best to ever wear a uniform, as his coach proclaimed earlier this week. There should be no doubt at all he is the MVP (I've been saying that for the past 2 months) and Offensive Player of the Year. With those two titles under his belt and several more records along the way when his career is all said and done I think there is no doubt LT will be considered to be the best Running Back of all time.