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March 01, 2005
A DISGUSTING DOUBLE STANDARD
Last week, frustrated by what he felt were illegal screens not being called on St. Joseph's University, Temple coach John Cheney ordered one of his players -- 6'8", 250 pound Nehemiah Ingram -- to "send a message" by deliberately committing hard fouls on St. Joe's players. Cheney said he was sending in his "goon." True to his orders, Ingram committed a flagrant and hard foul on St. Joseph's senior forward John Bryant. Bryant fell to the floor and broke his arm -- ending not only the young man's season, but his basketball career (on Senior Night next week, Bryant will not be able to take the floor).
So we're clear here, here's what happened: a college basketball coach not named Bob Knight sent a player into the game to deliberately play dirty, and the result was that a player was hurt seriously enough to end his basketball career.
Chaney has a history of unstable behavior; in 1984 he grabbed the neck of rival coach Gerry Gimelstob in a fit of anger... and no one did anything. In 1994, Chaney burst into then-Massachusetts coach John Calipari's press conference and stormed the stage threatening to kill him... and everyone looked the other way. If John Chaney's name were Bob Knight (or Jerry Tarkanian, or Jim Harrick), he would have been fired for his loose cannon misconduct long before he sent a player into a game specifically to play dirty and potentially hurt people. But John Chaney isn't any of those men. And John Chaney has been allowed to stay in his position despite his numerous and reprehensible trangressions and flaws. Excuses are made for him... he's just "John being John."
Chaney has spent the last week apologizing and making a show of punishing himself; he has offered to pay Bryant's medical bills, has met with Bryant's family to apologize, and has suspended himself from coaching for the rest of the season.
It's not enough. Chaney should lose his job, and frankly should be prosecuted for conspiracy to commit assault just like Jeff Gillooly was when he ordered his friends to assault Nancy Kerrigan, or like Todd Bertuzzi when he blindsided Steve Moore and broke his neck during a hockey game. Chaney should be involved in the sending of a message, all right. It's just that the message should be that there are some lines that still cannot be crossed, not even in today's era where there is no such thing as sportsmanship. John Chaney went too far -- and this time, no one should be making excuses for him.
Unfortunately, many are. The excuses are myriad; most center around the young men whose lives were turned around because Cheney took them off the streets and into his program, or about his 'contributions to the game' (read: winning). As Stephen A. Smith wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer,
I don't know about anyone else, but I can't think about Chaney (or other illustrious black coaches like Clarence "Big House" Gaines, John Thompson or the late John McClendon) without thinking about his past. His character. His contributions to the desolate, the disenfranchised, and all those Prop 48 kids and others who were able to make a life for themselves because Chaney's conscience wouldn't allow him to stop fighting.
Okay, Mr. Smith... but didn't Chaney let all those Prop 48 kids down by tarnishing all of them with his broad brush? Anyone associated with Chaney now inherits the reputation and inherent accusations or judgements that come along with being one of Chaney's. It seems to me that those kids are the ones Chaney let down most of all.
But Smith alluded to something else in his defense -- something that William C. Rhoden in the New York Times came right out and flat out said.
The governor of Pennsylvania, Edward G. Rendell, made the silliest statement. He said that if Chaney were Bob Knight, people would have called for his head. People are calling for his head, and beyond that, Rendell shouldn't be playing those silly double-standard games. Chaney grew up during an era when African-Americans were routinely denied opportunities while their white counterparts thrived.
If Chaney were Knight, he could have played in the N.B.A. and not had to scrounge for a career in the Eastern League while the N.B.A. maintained segregation and then racial quotas. If Chaney were Knight, he probably would be on his third major coaching job. If Chaney were Bob Knight, he could have been the governor of Pennsylvania by now.
In other words, according to Rhoden, John Chaney shouldn't be fired... because he's black.
That's the most demeaning, the most infuriating, the flimsiest defense I've ever heard. I disagree vehemently with Stephen A. Smith and Dick Vitale, but I can at least see their point -- that Chaney has earned a second chance with the good things he's done for his kids, his school, and his sport. (I'd argue that Chaney is on at least his fourth chance, though -- after choking one rival coach 20 years ago and threatening to kill another 10 years later.) I'd argue vehemently against it, but I can at least understand the argument.
But Rhoden is not only wrong, he's insulting every sports fan and every person of color in America. Haven't we been fighting for decades -- centuries, even -- to ensure that every single person out there is held to the same standards, regardless of their race? To make true Dr. King's dream that every man will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character? It is insulting, demeaning and wrong that Chaney was denied the chance as a young man to play in the NBA due to his color. But isn't it just as insulting, demeaning and wrong for Chaney to keep his job due to his color?
Rhoden accused Gov. Rendell (and others making the "if this were Knight he'd have been fired by now" argument) of playing "silly double-standard games." The sad irony is, Rhoden and others making his argument are the ones truly employing double-standards.
Bob Knight was fired at Indiana for putting his hands on one of his own players (and verbally threatening IU students who didn't play basketball). John Chaney ordered one of his players to deliberately play rough with another team's player, and the result was that the opposing player's career was ended. If Knight lost his job for yelling at a couple of kids that they should call him Mr. Knight and for choking one of his own players, what do you think would have happened to him had he ordered the deliberate attempt to hurt an opposing player?
John Chaney's defenders will tell you that he's spent his entire career fighting to make sure that the kids he recruits and coaches have the same chances as everyone else. If his message is to be truly heeded, John Chaney must also face the same consequences as everyone else.
