Cris Carter last night at the beginning of ESPN's "Monday Night Countdown" addressed the comments he made at the '14 NFC Rookie Symposium about players finding a "fall guy," saying that is "not the type of advice that I would offer young people." ESPN’s Chris Berman introduced his co-hosts on the show, going to Carter last and saying, “You've been in the news. A lot of people know this video surfaced. ... Take us through your thought process from that day and then moving forward.” Carter said, "It's really hard to go through my thought process. The Rookie Symposium 2014 is something that I'm invited to by the NFL. I’ve probably done it 15 to 20 different times. I donate a lot of my time to young people because I believe it's very, very important. I can't make any excuse for what my mindset was. My heart was in the right place. I didn't use words that I was very, very proud of." He added, "I would never tell young people to break the law to avoid prosecution. It was bad advice. I really, really regret my words when I heard them come back to me. More importantly, it hurt young people. It hurt them and their approach to the National Football League, so I take it very, very seriously. I do regret that day. I hope moving forward that the NFL still has enough trust in me and has me connected to their young people for that" ("Monday Night Countdown," ESPN, 8/24).
ENOUGH CRITICISM TO GO AROUND: In Minneapolis, Chip Scoggins writes Carter's message "was absurd and repugnant and so plain dumb that it felt like a bad skit." Scoggins: "Except this wasn’t a comedy. Wasn’t even remotely funny." What the league "didn’t divulge is why it left the video on its website for more than a year" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/25). In Boston, Ron Borges notes former NFLer Chris Borland brought attention to Carter's message when he "told ESPN the Magazine in its most recent issue he was appalled by what he heard." Borges: "How could an organization as large as ESPN not find out who it was?" It would have taken "little effort." All one had to do "was go to NFL.com, and the video was on the site ... until it was hauled down once this became public." Meanwhile, if the NFL "was so concerned, why was the video on its website for more than a year?" (BOSTON HERALD, 8/25). The NFL said that the advice was "edited out when Carter addressed" AFC rookies in a subsequent session. But in Utah, Amy Donaldson writes the fact that the league "did nothing more than tell Carter to drop that from his speech is evidence that the problems with which the sport struggles ... cannot be solved by the league without outside help" (DESERET NEWS, 8/24). In Colorado Springs, Paul Klee wrote the video "was quite telling, an inside look at how the game operates when the actual game isn't going on" (GAZETTE.com, 8/24).
FAIR POINT, WRONG WORDS: On Long Island, Bob Glauber writes Carter's underlying message "did resonate" with at least some of the players "for all the right reasons." Glauber: "Too bad Carter couldn't find the right words to make his point." Instead, he used a "horrible lack of judgment and wound up clouding an important subject by sending a completely inappropriate and reckless message" (NEWSDAY, 8/25). In Minneapolis, pop-culture columnist C.J. writes Carter "is in hot water for telling the truth." Perhaps it is a "good idea to have Hall of Famers who have overcome personal problems talk reality to the rookies." A drug and alcohol problem "got Carter bounced by the Eagles." C.J.: "But I would think, given the NFL’s new sensitivity to abuse, that [Warren] Sapp wouldn’t ever make a sanctioned NFL appearance around rookies. ... I rather doubt either Carter or Sapp will be invited to tutor rookies again, despite Carter’s belated regret on Twitter" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 8/25).
DID NFL FOLLOW UP ON THIS? USA TODAY's Chris Korman notes the NFL "has issued all the standard denouncements of Cris Carter’s comments," but what is "not clear is whether they ever said anything to the impressionable rookies who happened to be listening." If Goodell "even pretended to care about the players, he’d speak out against what Carter said and take real action to ensure that his league fully supports the long-term health and stability of its players." He would "treat them like peers in the business of football, not cogs in his machine" (USA TODAY, 8/25). Meanwhile, The Nation's Dave Zirin said, "What’s so sadly ironic about this whole discussion is that right now Cris Carter is the fall guy for a National Football League that has no sense of accountability, that operates with scapegoats on a constant basis and is constantly looking for fall men and fall women for every scandal” ("OTL," ESPN, 8/24).
POTENTIAL RAMIFICAIONS FOR CARTER: SNY's Jonas Schwartz noted Carter's comments should "affect his future as a broadcaster.” SNY’s Marc Malusis said the comments “hurt his credibility because he was playing the moral compass identity on ESPN.” Carter has a “real issue now moving forward of reconnecting with people believing exactly what he’s telling them.” The N.Y. Daily News’ John Harper said, “I don’t know how this guy doesn’t at least get suspended by ESPN, if not fired. That’s a joke” (“Daily News Live,” SNY, 8/24). In Baltimore, David Zurawik wrote despite the regular season being three weeks away, he already is "sick of the ex-jock mindset that dominates and pollutes the studio shows and broadcast booths of all the networks and cable channels that do business with the NFL." Even after a "lame apology, it appears ESPN will stand behind you." Zurawik: "Sure it will, as long as you don't do something truly reprehensible like criticizing NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell the way Bill Simmons did last September in a podcast" (BALTIMORESUN.com, 8/24).
