When I heard former linebacker Lavar Arrington's rant in response to comments current Redskin Clinton Portis made about him on NFL Network, the passion and honesty he spoke with literally (and I'm at risk of sounding corny here) sent shivers down my back (yep, sounded corny).
For those of you who don't remember Lavar Arrington, he was a star at Penn St. for Joe Paterno where he earned the Butkus Award (given to top collegiate linebacker), Chuck Bednarik Award (given to top collegiate defensive player), and was a two time All-American.
He was drafted second in 2000 by Washington where he played for six seasons. After just four seasons he was rewarded with a 68-million dollar contract making him the highest paid 'backer in the game (the dude is paid as he'll inform you in just a bit). He was also the man who [unintentionally] ended Aikman's career. His skill-set was a great combination of speed, strength, size, and manic recklessness. Unfortunately, the latter resulted in a series of injuries that forced his prime way too early (unbelievably, this was the only video I could find of his pro career).
Some of you may remember his final playing days rocking number 55 for Big Blue back in 2006 (in week seven against Dallas, in a game he tore the Achilles tendon that ended his career, he went "retro-Lavar" for a final moment and recorded his only two sacks of the season).
A couple days ago, Clinton Portis was on the NFL Network and was asked what has changed about him since his early days in Denver. He responded with this (props to Dan Steinberg at DC Blog for the transcribed lunacy): "The Clinton Portis in Denver was young and fun, not a care in the world, 20, 21 years old, I was having fun," Portis responded. "I had Shannon Sharpe, I had Rod Smith, I had Ed McCaffrey, I had Al Wilson, John [Mobley], I had all these guys who showed me the ropes and brought me along and carried me and helped me out.
"And coming to D.C., it was like all of the sudden in D.C., some of the players feel like it was a money situation, who getting the money is a captain," he continued. "LaVar Arrington was the man in D.C. when I arrived, and all of the sudden LaVar felt like it was competition, and he left D.C. He didn't want to be in D.C. any more. He gave back $15, 20 million to leave D.C., because he felt like he wasn't the main money guy, because everybody was getting [paid]. Laveranues, myself, Deion was still getting paid, so he even had input. So I think it was just the wrong attitude, and I think for some of the beliefs that was funneled through, it was like whoever gets the money was the captain."
Now these days, Lavar Arrington runs a sport management company (his biggest client being 2009 draft Bills draft pick and personal pupil of his, linebacker Aaron Maybin) and he hosts a radio show on 106.7 "The Fan". He used "The Lavar Arrington show with Chad Dukes" as his pulpit to respond:
If you follow sports as much as I do, you've grown weary and sadly accustomed to the "taking it one game at a time", politically correct comments that spew from our favorite athletes mouths and become filler for the airwaves. So when something like this takes place; when a player with solid playing credentials speaks out in manner that it touches upon all of the NFL's looming problems in such an articulate, blunt, and adrenaline filled fashion, you have to stop and appreciate.
If you think I'm speaking in hyperbole, consider that Lavar addressed: What's wrong with players' priorities today, collective bargaining agreement concerns , and the handling of concussions by players and coaching staffs alike.
Hearing what he was willing to sacrifice for his team by going out concussed, right or wrong (read: WRONG) is chilling in itself. Simply unfathomable that anything like this would be said by currently in the game today or anyone as closely related to it like Lavar still is, and we applaud him for it . He referenced the concussion he spoke about to being in a game against the Panthers early in his career and the trigger of a winning streak. We were able to pin point it to a game at the end of the "Marty-Ball" era in 2001.
While Portis has done a lot in terms of production (6,597 yards and 44 six pointers) for the Redskins organization, he is on the quick decline and his disrespect of his teammates (current and former) makes him less of an asset.
I think he'll spend a final season in DC and even if his tires haven't completely blown off by
then, it won't matter because the only form of pro football being played at this time next year may be the United Football League (But that's another topic for another time, stay tuned.). And considering they don't have much money, and that seems to be important to Clinton, he might be forced to hang up his costumes (you know, till he needs some money down the line. I hear the signing booth next to Mercury Morris is free).
Which brings me to my final point. I want to note that as much as I enjoyed Lavar's schpiel, I don't condone one of Lavar's final comments, one about Portis dressing "like a fairy" in reference to the absurd costumes Portis wears to his pressers.
If he has a problem with the lack of professionalism Portis carries himself with, that's a fair qualm, but expressing it using a gay slur continues to perpetuate the homophobic perspectives intertwined with the sport he gave so much for and wants to change for the better. Where Portis's comments cast a negative light on football players lucky enough to earn such high salaries and who are placed in a category of reverence in our society, Arrington's use of one word helped continue to demean a group of people that same society has had such trouble accepting, and has no place being belittled in the first place.
Other than that comment, his response has to go down as one of the better look-ins we as fans have gotten into the psyche and culture that surrounds the game from a player perspective.
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