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Guess all that research and common sense
Nebraska connection: bitches out Rathman, Niners promised they wouldn't babysit like Rams, but Roger Craig
August 23, 1999 (NHS) -- When the 49ers signed the thug, Lawrence Phillips, it was expected there would be a backlash. After all, despite having more than their fair share of accused rapists, drunks, guns and whorehouse visits (see: the crime blotter), the 49ers have spun themselves a fictional squeaky-clean choirboy image of which all 49er fans and the media are proud. Thus, you would think the signing of a convict like Phillips would be greeted with the same type of reaction if, say, the Vatican decided to employ Larry Flint.
Instead, as you leaf through your local paper getting your news on your favorite team, getting ready for upcoming season, take a moment to notice something missing: nowhere is a critical word being printed in the media about Lawrence Phillips or the 49ers for signing him. In fact, some fans far away from "the Bay Area" are noticing something quite the opposite: the media's blatant attempt to spin the issue into a positive for the 49ers.
Now don't be insulted, but let's imagine that you are a Rams fan (as unpleasant as that may be). You direct your web browser to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch "Rams Extra" section. Among the Rams news are tidbits from around the NFL. One such story is about Lawrence Phillips. Upon further inspection, you find that the story was written by the San Jose Mercury and distributed by the Knight-Ridder news service, thereby landing among your Rams news. You read it and discover that it has nothing negative to say about Phillips or the fact that the 49ers signed him (no surprise considering it was written by 49er ass-kisser extraordinaire Clark Judge). Instead, it's a listing of all the supposed "research" the 49ers engaged in before signing him. The gist of the story is that the 49ers didn't do anything sleazy by signing Phillips because they conducted such an expert, thorough investigation of his past. It says, "Common sense is what the 49ers exercised when they looked into acquiring Phillips."
Okay, you're a little pissed. Research? The only research needed about Lawrence Phillips is what size to make his orange prison jumper suit. Common sense? Are you kidding me? Are they really trying to sell me on the notion that there is some sort of "common sense" or "skill" in signing convicted women-beaters?
But what's even more infuriating is the realization that this is a Rams newspaper -- why are they playing along with the 49er spin machine? You write a bitter letter to the editor telling them they can't just print 49er propaganda from the mouth of the San Jose Mercury, the biggest 49er butt-smooching paper in the country -- they need to give the other side of the story, too.
The next day you are greeted with another Lawrence Phillips article entitled, "For 49ers' Phillips, the past is forgotten for now". It's reprinted from the Seattle Times. Hey, maybe they read your letter and are printing the other side, and eagerly you click on the link, salivating while imagining all the great insults and barbs that are going to be flung at the thug and the 49ers "classy" signing of him.
Instead, the article is even worse. It claims there is "a truth confirmed by dozens of NFL scouts," that Lawrence Phillips is "a great player".
Great player? The same guy you watched average 3 yards a carry with the Rams is now magically a great player? Okay, so he gained some yards at Euro-Disney or wherever the hell it is that World League plays -- but now that makes him suddenly great? And what about the scouts that don't think he's great? Exactly who are these "dozens"?
The article goes on, saying the 49ers are "normally an organization that shies away from troublemakers." Huh. Didn't William Floyd get busted for carrying a concealed handgun? Didn't they just sign Charles Haley, the guy everyone made fun of when he was on the Cowboys, the guy famous for urinating on a teammate's car?
But finally, the point of the article is that "hypocrisy" is everywhere. "And here [in 3Com Park], as in every other stadium in American sports ... If the player can play, who cares about anything else? There is a reclamation project like Lawrence Phillips in every city, in every sport. Name the town, and you can name the player who is trying to rebuild his tattered name."
Now, you are seething. For the last two decades 49er fans have strutted around with their noses in the air claiming they and their team were holier-than-thou, the "classiest ever". They sipped their wine perched high above in their crappy stadium and snootily denounced all the underlings around the NFL, such as the "Dallas Convicts" or "Oakland Gangsters". When the Rams drafted Lawrence Phillips, all the 49ers scoffed in their righteousness. Now, they are just your average American sports fans and your average American franchise? How did they make this transition with no comment?
Then it clicks. Now you see what is happening. It's all a scam. It's spin. Instead of talking about how the 49ers are in the gutter for signing Phillips, we are ALL in the gutter. Instead of talking about how it's wrong for Phillips to have abused women, we are ALL trying to rehabilitate something. Somewhere, you realize Johnnie Cochran is proud, because it's not the 49ers fault they signed Phillips, it's society's fault! And finally you see the beauty of the 49er-media spin machine -- it prevents the 49ers from ever receiving what they have so sorely deserved for many, many years --
Direct blame.
Once again, when all the fun is said and done, there is a serious problem here that needs to be addressed. The double-standard being played out in the media is beyond disgusting and reprehensible. For example, if the Cowboys signed Phillips, you think the media would be wasting time talking about all the research they did or how everyone does it, or do you think the Cowboys would be lined up facing a morally indignant media firing squad? At this point, it is clear the 49ers can do anything and never draw a negative comment from the media. It is clear the media will make sure they always have their cake and eat it, too. And it is even more clear that you, the legitimate football fan, cannot enjoy your favorite team without the unwanted 49er Problem thrown in your face.
July 9, 1999 (NHS) -- The career of Garrison Hearst may be over, prompting the 49ers to begin a maniacal manhunt for a starting running back just weeks before the NFL exhibition season begins. And what better result of a manhunt than to turn up a convict like Lawrence Phillips?
Hearst has been recovering from a leg injury suffered in the playoffs last season, yet it's been discovered that he has lost blood circulation to a bone in his injured leg and that the bone may be dying. His condition is being compared to that which prematurely ended Bo Jackson's career. Even though Jerry Rice could command the bone to heal on its own in three hours, men of medical science have indicated that a mere mortal like Hearst probably will not be available to play for the 49ers all or part of 1999.
All kidding aside, we are saddened any time a player is injured, even Hearst. That's not to say we haven't been expecting this for this for a long time. Way back when the 49ers originally signed him, the NHS proffered the nickname "Garrison Hurt" to warn folks of Hearst's propensity to be injured. After all, he only started five games in his first two years after being plagued by injury. But true to typical 49er luck, in two years with the 49ers, he started all but three of 32 regular season games. Sure, he bowed out of the playoffs both years due to injury as a reminder of reality, but last year, he magically transformed into an Iron Man by setting a career high for rushing attempts.
The point is while 49er fans and the media are going to treat the loss of Hearst as unfortunate bad luck, a better description is that the 49ers were extremely lucky to have had Hearst last even this long. The typical 49er arrogance didn't see anything wrong with vesting the starting role in an injury-prone player, and when that arrogance finally backfires -- as it should have long ago -- there is a tinge of justice to the situation.
Moving on to the possible signing of Lawrence Phillips, the instant question popping into everyone's minds is, "Are the 49ers really going to sell out and sign the convicted thug?"
Guess what, kids? There's nothing left to sell out.
Yes, he has savagely beat women on two different occasions, such as the time he smacked around his ex-girlfriend, pushed her down a flight of stairs then shoved her into a locker as she bled from her head. He punched a lady because she refused to dance with him. He has violated probation and spent 23 days in jail. He is a convicted drunk driver. What does it all mean?
It means that Lawrence Phillips is already an honorary 49er.
Check the 49er Crime Blotter -- you'll see former 49ers like Tim Harris, Dana Stubblefield and William Floyd smacking women around, toting guns and drinking and driving. You'll see Junior Bryant's DUI and Jim Druckenmiller accused of rape. Check the resume of their owner-in-exile, Eddie DeBartolo -- he's a convicted felon, too!
Yet, here we are embroiled in some supposed "controversy" because the 49ers are considering signing Phillips. Obviously, the fictional, romantic image of the 49ers as an organization of "class" has survived the facts. People still cling to the notion of the 49ers being among the good guys fighting against evil like the Dallas Cowboys, even if the facts show the 49ers are and have always been just as bad (or, given the cover-up, worse) than the Cowboys and every other team. Perhaps it's just 49er fans trying in vain to cling to hopes of the 49ers being on a pedestal above. Heck, after they signed Charles Haley, you'd think even 49er fans would understand the team has no scruples or morals.
In short, it's no surprise that the 49ers organization is embracing a felon and that Bill Walsh is embarking on a public relations campaign to talk about the charming, warm and lovable Lawrence. The 49ers sold out long ago.
The press conference and subsequent interviews held by Walsh on the Phillips issue once again has 49er-Haters everywhere wondering, "Do people really buy into the crap that comes out of Walsh's mouth?"
Somebody out there must, because once again, the media is happily playing their part in the little 49er spin game. In this case, the media is shoveling Walsh's spin that there is something different between the 49ers signing Phillips now and the act of the St. Louis Rams originally drafting him. This quote appeared in the San Jose Mercury, offset in large font for public consumption with no editorial comment: "I was very critical of the Rams for signing him because there was a criminal element to it,'' Walsh said. "Since that time, there has been a change."
Walsh's gall is so outlandish it's hard to describe. Walsh is speaking of this "change" as if a lifetime has passed since Phillips engaged in any wrongdoing. Checking the calendar, Phillips' latest violent outburst was June, 1998 -- LAST YEAR. It's like when Eddie pled guilty to a felony, walked outside the courthouse and said to reporters minutes after becoming a convicted felon that everything was behind him and that he's ready to get back the 49ers. That mentality is at work again. According to Walsh, there is no more "criminal element" to Phillips. The Rams were a bunch of dirtbags, but now the 49ers can sign him without impunity because now Phillips' slate is completely clean.
Walsh went further in his P.R. dance, describing Phillips as having a "disarming, pleasant personality." Disarming? Yes, the violent convict should remain disarmed, but pleasant isn't the first thing one pictures as he's shoving a bleeding woman down the stairs. Guess that didn't come up in your interview, Bill?
The signing of Phillips would once again be a no-lose proposition for the 49ers. Already the press has jumped on the chance to defend the 49ers. "Phillips is back again, because this is pro sports, where virtue took a back seat to winning years ago," Mercury columnist Bud Geracie profoundly stated.
Note the clever use of "pro sports" instead of blaming the 49ers for placing virtue in the back seat. Hey, Bud, if your statement is true, how do you explain the 49ers "winning with class" slogan? The 49ers (and their willing accomplices in the media) have claimed virtue all along, yet now all the sudden they don't have it? Or does their virtue simply turn on and off when circumstances dictate? And is it just the media's right to ignore such things?
To further show this is a slam-dunk for the 49ers, let's imagine that the 49ers sign Phillips. Let's imagine he ends up a dismal failure. The reaction? "Well, at least they gave the guy a chance." Now let's imagine he succeeds. The reaction? "Bill Walsh is The Genius, and the classy 49ers reformed him as no other team could."
Certainly, if this hypothetical took place, the NHS and sane fans everywhere would fume at such absurdity, point out that his reform -- according to Walsh's present comments -- occurred in Europe before Walsh or the 49ers had anything to do with it. Do you think the fact or fiction would be embraced by the giddy media?
Finally, don't think the 49er P.R. department hasn't noticed the good fortune that the Hearst situation has wiped out the headlines mentioning the Druckenmiller and DeBartolo trials. But instead of letting the public happily forget that unpleasantness, in a radio interview following his press conference, Walsh once again showed his love and support of Eddie. "I hope he comes back," said Walsh plaintively. Guess Walsh figures if you endorse one felon, you may as well endorse 'em all.
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created: July 9, 1999
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