capital letters, 'cause it's more serious

::Hugs:: for Joey Harrington.


Exercpts from Joey and the Fat Man, by Free Press sports writer Curt Sylvester:

Mild-mannered, speak-no-evil Joey Harrington fired back Monday at the Fox broadcasters -- most notably Tony Siragusa -- who referred to him as a "champagne and caviar" and "strawberries and chocolate" type of player.

Siragusa belittled Harrington, the Lions' starting quarterback, during an exchange with announcers Dick Stockton and Daryl Johnston.

"He seemed a little different than what I expected," Siragusa said. "I thought he was a little bit too overconfident in the meeting. Just a different kind of guy. Not a meat-and-potato guy but a very sophisticated man. That's as much as I can go into right now."

Johnson: "More champagne and caviar than meat and potatoes?"

Siragusa: "Yeah, I wouldn't see him going out and ordering a beer any time soon to tell you the truth."

Stockton: "In other words, he may not be your kind of guy, Goose?"

Siragusa: "He's the kind of guy that's on the other side of the club than I am. He's over there with the champagne and caviar. And also the strawberries and chocolate, you know?"

Stockton: "We get the idea."

Harrington, 25, showed so sign of anger, but he seemed annoyed by the comments, which apparently stemmed from the time he spent with the Fox broadcasters during a production meeting Friday.

"If he's got a problem with the way I play, then go ahead and say it," Harrington said. "But if he looks at how I play, I don't think he'd be making those comments.

"If he looks at how I work, I don't think he'd be making those comments. If he came to the parking lot and checked to see whose car was the last one out of here each day, he wouldn't be making those comments."

Harrington did take one shot at Siragusa, though.

"It's nice playing in front of the best linebacker in the history of the game, isn't it?" he said, a reference to Siragusa's NFL career, which was relatively undistinguished until he landed on the defensive line of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens, with All-Pro linebacker Ray Lewis making plays behind him on the way to a Super Bowl title.

Harrington indicated that the production meeting with Stockton, Johnston and Siragusa was routine, and there was no indication Siragusa was critical of his play or his personality.

"I don't know where the comments came from. I don't care where the comments came from," Harrington said. "He didn't ask anything. He just sat on the other side of the table and sat there."

He said he probably came into the production meeting in a good mood, but he wasn't sure how it could be interpreted as overconfident.

"I'm a guy who enjoys what I do, and I'm sure I came off the practice field smiling," he said. "And I'm sure I came into the production meeting in a great mood. I do remember a question, he asked me if I was -- how did he phrase it? -- if I was worried about any of the corners in this league.

"I told him I'm not going to be worried about anybody in this league. I'm not going to back away from throwing at anybody. That's the kind of attitude I've got to have. If he thinks I'm overconfident by that, then so be it. Maybe I'm an overconfident guy, but you've got to be confident in this league. If you're not, you're going to get waxed off the table, and you're not going to be here next year."

Exercpts from No Excusing What Fox Insinuated, by Free Press columnist Mitch Albom:

Tony Siragusa, the beefy, ex-NFL lineman, was asked by his Fox colleagues what he thought of Detroit quarterback Joey Harrington, whom he had only met Friday night at a production meeting.

"He seemed a little different than what I expected," Siragusa said. "I thought he was a little bit too overconfident ..."

"He's the kind of guy that's on the other side of the club than I am. He's over there with the champagne and the caviar and also the strawberries and chocolate, you know?"

Well, no, we don't know. But if that's how a guy you just met slams you, why wouldn't you be on the other side of the club? And what club would that be? The Neanderthal Society?

First, where does Siragusa come off talking about Harrington as if his manhood were in question? And let's face it, that's the implication of this, intended it or not. "Other side of the club?" "Sophisticated man?" "Chocolate and strawberries?" "Champagne and caviar?"

Next he'll have Joey offering fashion tips on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy."

That's patently unfair, derogatory and false.

I happen to know Siragusa's broadcast partner, Dick Stockton, one of the most decent people in all of TV broadcasting. So I called and asked him about the sideline rant. At first he laughed.

But when I told him how the talk shows in Detroit were buzzing with the innuendo of Siragusa's comments, he got serious.

"I don't think (Siragusa) has an agenda. We were all impressed when we met with Harrington. Nothing unusual was said in that meeting. I think what Tony was trying to say was that Harrington is not your typical jock."

Well, yes, that's true, if by typical jock you mean a guy who signs footballs during the game, like Terrell Owens, or who pulls out a cell phone after a touchdown, like Joe Horn, or who makes filthy comments to media in the locker room, like Randy Moss, or who thumps his chest and celebrates his greatness like half the "superstars" in the NFL, then yes, he's not your typical jock.

And what? That's a bad thing?

I spoke to Joey on Monday. He tried to wave the whole thing off.

"My dad taught me to look people in the eye, to be articulate, to say hello, to try and smile and enjoy the work I do," Harrington said. "If I'm too sophisticated for him, so be it. It's one thing to criticize my play. But to make comments like that. That's absurd ...

"I know what kind of guy I am. The guys on my team know what kind of guy I am. As long as I'm OK with the guys in my locker room, that's all that matters."

So if no one else is going to stick up for Harrington as a guy whose behavior ought to be held in higher -- not lower -- regard than your average brewski-hoisting Troglodyte, we will. He may not be Siragusa's kind of guy, but since when was that a prerequisite for success?

"I'm sure if Tony knew it would cause this" type of reaction, Stockton said, "he'd apologize in a heartbeat."

Good. He can do it today. And next time he comes to Detroit, all will be forgiven.

We'll have a brontosaurus burger and a can of motor oil sent to his room.

Fox needs to fire Siragusa, for saying such stupid shit. And the the human race needs to fire Siragusa, for being a complete *jackass*.


So who CARES if Joey's notentirelystraight? Certainly not me. He's a great football player, and he seems like a pretty nice, classy guy. Personally, I think he's more metrosexual than anything.

Also, there's a statistic that says something like 20% (I don't remember the *exact* number) of the population is gay. Not "20% of the population except for NFL players." There *are* gay guys playing professional sports. They're just not out.
And that's sad, that we still live in that kind of world, where OMG!Gay=bad.
And I feel sorry for those NFL players who *are* gay. This kind of thing probably makes them cringe, big time.


Joey: you rock.