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By TOM ROBINSON, The Virginian-Pilot
© August 9, 2005
This is what Joe Gibbs should have said:
“I apologize to anybody who may have misinterpreted my recent comment about Dallas Cowboys fans being 'the ugliest people in the world.’
“What, exactly, about 'ugliest people in the world’ didn’t you understand? Let me know and I’ll be happy to clarify. Hee hee hee.”
Think that might’ve gotten a little festering going on? Might’ve put some teeth back into a — cough, cough — “rivalry” that’s turned to pudding thanks to Washington Commander ineptness?
Think that might’ve drawn otherwise disinterested eyeballs to the second “Monday Night Football” date of the season, the Skins’ visit to Ugly-ville?
Instead, this is what the Commanders coach felt compelled to say the day after he delighted Skins fans with his impromptu zinger at training camp:
“I was joking. It didn’t come out probably like a joke or like it should’ve. I hope all my buddies in Dallas — because I’ve got a lot of buddies down there — took it the right way ... I apologize to anybody that might have taken it the other way.”
Well, gag me with a political-correctness stick.
Apologize? Apologize for obviously kidding around with needy, yet still loyal, constituents who have celebrated precisely one victory in 14 games against the Cowboys since 1997?
Retreat from a harmless ad lib that needed no explanation in the first place and certainly no frantic damage control?
Who knew Gibbs was going to run for mayor of Dallas when he burns out again on the Commanders job?
You were kidding again, right coach Joe?
Gibbs is a Hall of Famer, a famous kind soul and all that. But he loses huge points here for being a humorless fraidy cat unable to stand up for the inalienable right to poke fun at an opponent.
And worse, for being unwilling to give fans, even ones in Dallas, credit for knowing and appreciating a good tweak when they hear it. Anybody seriously offended by Gibbs’ little needle needs to turn in their sports fan card at the door.
It’s enough to make you miss, if only fleetingly, Steve Spurrier, who coached the Commanders miserably but never minded setting off a flare for the fun of it.
At his hiring even, Spurrier promised owner Dan Snyder the game ball from his first Dallas game, a presumed victory. Spurrier couldn’t deliver, but big deal? He put something interesting out there.
It’s only pro football. Only entertainment.
Now, any way you slice it, ranting about “brain-dead Carribean hitters” on the Giants’ baseball team, as a presently suspended San Francisco radio guy just did, is ignorant and regrettable.
Reasonable people, however, can separate fooling around from hurtful intent, and if they can’t, forget them.
Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, sucking on sour grapes over losing a free agent, calls Yankeedom “the evil empire” and a tradition grows richer.
Gibbs gives his people what they want — and then scrambles to take it back.
Please.
What those people really want, of course, besides a recognizable offense, is for Cowboys-Commanders to matter again. The NFL wouldn’t mind, either; its desperation to resuscitate a dormant vein shows by the placement of Washington at Dallas in prime time almost immediately.
But so much has changed since Gibbs’ original tenure with Washington, and here’s something else: Gibbs was 12-12 against Dallas, a slate befitting the once-great dueling franchises.
However, since Gibbs’ departure after the ’92 season, the Commanders have won just six of 24 games against the Cowboys, including a pair of three-point losses last year.
Did somebody mention ugly?
Reach Tom at 757-446-2518 or tom.robinson@pilotonline.com
© August 9, 2005
This is what Joe Gibbs should have said:
“I apologize to anybody who may have misinterpreted my recent comment about Dallas Cowboys fans being 'the ugliest people in the world.’
“What, exactly, about 'ugliest people in the world’ didn’t you understand? Let me know and I’ll be happy to clarify. Hee hee hee.”
Think that might’ve gotten a little festering going on? Might’ve put some teeth back into a — cough, cough — “rivalry” that’s turned to pudding thanks to Washington Commander ineptness?
Think that might’ve drawn otherwise disinterested eyeballs to the second “Monday Night Football” date of the season, the Skins’ visit to Ugly-ville?
Instead, this is what the Commanders coach felt compelled to say the day after he delighted Skins fans with his impromptu zinger at training camp:
“I was joking. It didn’t come out probably like a joke or like it should’ve. I hope all my buddies in Dallas — because I’ve got a lot of buddies down there — took it the right way ... I apologize to anybody that might have taken it the other way.”
Well, gag me with a political-correctness stick.
Apologize? Apologize for obviously kidding around with needy, yet still loyal, constituents who have celebrated precisely one victory in 14 games against the Cowboys since 1997?
Retreat from a harmless ad lib that needed no explanation in the first place and certainly no frantic damage control?
Who knew Gibbs was going to run for mayor of Dallas when he burns out again on the Commanders job?
You were kidding again, right coach Joe?
Gibbs is a Hall of Famer, a famous kind soul and all that. But he loses huge points here for being a humorless fraidy cat unable to stand up for the inalienable right to poke fun at an opponent.
And worse, for being unwilling to give fans, even ones in Dallas, credit for knowing and appreciating a good tweak when they hear it. Anybody seriously offended by Gibbs’ little needle needs to turn in their sports fan card at the door.
It’s enough to make you miss, if only fleetingly, Steve Spurrier, who coached the Commanders miserably but never minded setting off a flare for the fun of it.
At his hiring even, Spurrier promised owner Dan Snyder the game ball from his first Dallas game, a presumed victory. Spurrier couldn’t deliver, but big deal? He put something interesting out there.
It’s only pro football. Only entertainment.
Now, any way you slice it, ranting about “brain-dead Carribean hitters” on the Giants’ baseball team, as a presently suspended San Francisco radio guy just did, is ignorant and regrettable.
Reasonable people, however, can separate fooling around from hurtful intent, and if they can’t, forget them.
Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, sucking on sour grapes over losing a free agent, calls Yankeedom “the evil empire” and a tradition grows richer.
Gibbs gives his people what they want — and then scrambles to take it back.
Please.
What those people really want, of course, besides a recognizable offense, is for Cowboys-Commanders to matter again. The NFL wouldn’t mind, either; its desperation to resuscitate a dormant vein shows by the placement of Washington at Dallas in prime time almost immediately.
But so much has changed since Gibbs’ original tenure with Washington, and here’s something else: Gibbs was 12-12 against Dallas, a slate befitting the once-great dueling franchises.
However, since Gibbs’ departure after the ’92 season, the Commanders have won just six of 24 games against the Cowboys, including a pair of three-point losses last year.
Did somebody mention ugly?
Reach Tom at 757-446-2518 or tom.robinson@pilotonline.com