With Signing Day approaching, I'm reminded of the first time I witnessed the outright foolishness that is Kellen Winslow.... I remember two years ago on signing day, FoxSportsNet was doing their marathon special on recruiting. That was the year LSU landed Micheal Clayton, Marcus Spears, Ben Wilkerson, etc. Anyway, I remember that their big feature was that Kellen Winslow II (what a joke name that is) was going to announce his decision with his dad at the end of the show. Honestly, I had no idea who the kid was at the time (other than his father's son), but I kept watching just to see. He comes on the show and he was just as cocky then as he is now. He says that his final three schools are Miami (just coming off the "we were cheated by the BCS" year), Washington (coming off a Rose Bowl year) and Michigan State (coming off a 5-6 year after Saban left). SO, him and his dad go on and on about the benefits of each school. Miami was rising. Washington was closer. Michigan State had an African-American coach. In the end, Kellen Sr says that he wants his son to wait to make a decision because he doesn't think that he's ready.... HE WASN'T READY? What's the whole recruiting period for? Did he not have time to think about college while he was watching his daddy and that know-nothing "talent" on Fox? This is when I started to despise the kid and his father. Granted Signing Day is just the FIRST day that you can sign a letter or intent, but most kids do it then. Learning from the way LSU has to juggle commits this year, I'm sure all three of those schools (or at least two) had the same problem at that time. This jackass just makes it worse by holding out. Anyway, the rest of the story is that he signs with Miami and I just naturally hated him for real then. The End. P.S. And while I'm at it, what's with parents putting roman numerals behind their kids' names? Is it not enough that you have to show the world you can't think of an original name? Do you have to make the kid's name look like the title to a Rocky movie?
Actually you missed a huge part of that story. It was on behind the lines on ESPN. His father demaned he went to a school with a Black Head coach (At the time he wanted him to go to MSU) His father, basically told his son, he will attend only a school with a Black Head Coach. His son not having the grades to get into Stanford at the time. He was supposed to announce on T.V. and his father gave him a glare and he said he was not ready to announce because he wanted to go to Miami and his father forbid him to. (this was all happening DURING the taping, they were fighting over it)So there was the whole on television thing of him saying he is not ready. He wanted to go to Miami and his father was not going to allow him so the whole behind the camera thing happened where his dad was very upset with him because he did not chose a school with a black coach. Jr, was very upset because he did not want to go to MSU, and his dad was basically saying he had to. It was a crazy scene, that is why the whole, I am not ready thing happened. So you should really hate his dad, not Junior. Junior wanted to go to Miami from the beginning but his father would not allow it, because the coach was white (Sounds racist to me, but that is another thread) It was a great story on ESPN.
That really pisses me off. I can not stand crap like that. If a kid came out and said "I am only playing for a white head coach." That crap would be all over the news and he would be tabbed as the nest John Rocker. I am glad most kids don't act like this and just want to play football no matter what color the coach's skin is.
it was a great show, The original purpose of its taping was to cover a Blue Chip recruits recruiting saga. The whole famous father thing, etc etc. Then it culminated on the air with the whole "I am not ready" because he was going to basically go against his dad. Then the cameras went back stage when his father was yelling at him for not committing to MSU. They shut the cameras off and then later he committed to Miami, then they did an after the fact story and Senior said he "Let him go to Miami" because the Offensive Coord, or WR coach was Black (I cannot remember which coach) One time during the show he said "My son can only play for a Black Coach, he is going to MSU" and he went on this tirade about Racism in College Sports (Although the African Community is only 12 percent of the population, so I guess we need hispanic, asian, etc etc coaches as well) If you ever get a chance to see it, it is worth an hour of your time
here is a blurb on it on ESPN. Of course Senior is singing a different tune. http://espn.go.com/ncf/s/2001/0501/1189879.html
I remember..... I remember during the championship game, everytime Kellen Winslow caught a pass or did something good, that Dan Fouts would take every chance he got to kiss his Dad ass I mean nose in deep sh!t ass kissing. I know they were team mates but damn enough is enough you think he was his booty buddy or something.
I thought he wanted to go to Washington, but his dad woudn't sign the paper, because they didn't have a black coordinator. BigJ4LSU, that is such a ridiculous comment. If a kid came out and said that he was only going to play for a white head coach, yea, he would be made out to be a racist, and he would deserve it. In case you didn't realize this, there are something around 4 black head coaches in college football, one of the only ways to rectify that is for the players to say something about it, and make decisions based on it. Kellen Winslow maybe didn't go about it in the best way, but at least he was trying to make a differance in a problem that he saw.
Screw that you have to hire a black coach crap. You hire the best person for the job black, white, whatever. Johnnie Cochran should get back to helping killers get off the hook instead of sticking his nose in the NFL. It is not a matter of color so don't make it out to be.
BigJ4LSU, you just made my, and Kellen Winslow's arguments for me. Kellen Winslow is not trying to sue anyone, he is not trying to force schools/teams to hire people they didn't want to. It is important to him to see blacks in positions of power in College and pro football, and a way to do that is to steer top talent away from schools that don't have black coaches and administrators. He has not tried to get schools to hire people they didn't want to, he has just said that if you don't have blacks in big time coaching positions, then my son won't be coming to your school, and hopefully other top black players will follow suit. He is just trying to affect change in a practical, effective way. Although I don't think forcing his son to go where he didn't want to go was very fair, he was trying to make a difference in a problem.
While we're on the subject, the NFL is considering what punishment to mete out to the Detroit Lions for hiring Mariucci without giving equal opportunities (interviews, etc) to Black candidates. They say that, even though it's clear the only reason they fired Morningwehg was because of Marriuci's availablity, they still should have given black candidates a chance by opening up the process to all and conducting meaningful (read not token) interviews with qualified minority (read African American) applicants.
