AUBREY BRUCE WITH DAN ROONEY (Photo by Thomas Sabol)
This weekend I attended the annual NFL Fall-of-Fame game in Canton, Ohio. I have lost count of how many of these “skirmishes” that I have witnessed but this particular “celebration of greatness” was a lot more personal to me.
I was humbled because I sat with the fans and watched the game from Section 15, Row RR and believe me it wasn’t my choice to view the game seated among the “common folk” (laugh) but that is what happens at the last minute when one decides to cover the game and no press box credentials are available. (I did receive a post-game locker room credential which to me is another story but I will get to that before I conclude this column.)
I would like to begin by providing to you some of the more memorable quotes from a few of the 2013 inductees (not all of them are going to make this column). Here are their names; Larry Allen, Cris Carter, Curley Culp, Jonathan Ogden , Bill Parcells, Dave Robinson and finally Warren Sapp.
Let’s begin with the colorful and sometimes controversial former Tampa Bay Bucs’ and Oakland Raiders defensive lineman Warren Sapp. “Being the last of 12 that Henrietta Bruce carried around for 9 months, I am surprised that I even made it to the delivery room,” Sapp said. (I, myself, was a seven month baby born in 1953 which in itself is a miracle of survival.) “Being the baby of six kids, you get treated real bad, even by your sisters (laughing). Lisa, you were my protector, my rock. Whenever I need you, baby, you were steady, ready and willing. I love you. Lisa, you were my protector, you taught me how to love and you taught me to fight like hell, and I love you, baby. Punchy, you showed me what another sport was. I still hate baseball (laughing). Arnell, you’re not here with me tonight, and I know you’re at home right now. But you were my first superstar. I watched you run for 348 yards and five touchdowns in a high school football game, and then I went out on the playing field and watched my friend grab a football and say, I’m Arnell Lykes, and we all stopped and said you can’t be Sapp’s brother.”
My superstar was Stan (the man) Bruce who purchased my first football from the proceeds from his job at the Davidow factory in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. I have covered the Baltimore Ravens since their late owner Art Modell decided one day at the crack of dusk to give up the catfish of Cleveland and go for the crab cakes of Baltimore. Ogden was the first pick of the Ravens and they really “done good” when they chose him to be the cornerstone of their organization.
According to the press release issued by the HOF; “The Baltimore Ravens used their first-ever draft pick, fourth overall of the 1996 NFL Draft on highly touted Outland Trophy Award-winning tackle Jonathan Ogden out of UCLA. For the next 12 seasons, Ogden was the main cog of the Ravens’ offensive line.” Ogden was always a very intellectual player and that intellect was on display even as he christened his “bust” into eternity.
Ogden said; “I’m just thankful to be here along with these other gentlemen, Larry, Cris, Warren, Bill, Curley and Dave, what a tremendous new class. To be up here with these luminary Legends of the game, to be inducted into the Hall of Fame with these guys is just unbelievable. As I examine my career, I look back and I kind of say this is where it was supposed to end for me, but not because of arrogance or cockiness, but it’s because I was taught lessons. Yes, I was blessed with tremendous God given talent, yes, but talent isn’t enough. A lot of people have talent, but they don’t always live up to it.”
I listened to and analyzed the acceptance speeches of the 2013 inductees and heard about their trials and tribulations; I shed a few tears of my own. Since I couldn’t play in the NFL I have fulfilled my other dream and I have covered the NFL. I have sat up in “peanut heaven” with the “salt of the earth” and rubbed elbows with and dined with Dan Rooney. Steelers defensive back Ike Taylor allowed me to stay with his family and chronicle his life after the football season ends. Very few journalists have even been afforded that opportunity.
However, I am more saddened and shocked by what Black media has endured and continues to face on a daily basis in regards to being granted press box credentials to cover national sporting events.
Except for my local affiliates and media reps from the Steelers, Pirates, Penguins and Power there has been and continues to remain a natural disdain for Black men who cover sports but no longer participate. However, there are a few exceptions such as the African-American journalists’ that represent national outlets such as ESPN and other syndicated networks and of course the ex-jocks who lend credibility to some of the nonsense being transmitted over the television and radio airwaves as well as what is printed in traditional newspapers.
I was forced at age 60 to walk around the stadium and was turned away and given faulty information, not once, not twice but three times. False information the first time means, there is a foul odor in the air. False info the second time means that you must get the pooper scooper because Fido has had an accident in the yard. When someone hoodwinks you the third time around should indicate that you must change clothes and shower. My father often said that “sometimes any view beats no view at all.”
(Aubrey Bruce can be reached at abruce@newpittsburghcourier.com or 412-583-6741)
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