For the past week, Browns fans have been guessing which player or players that running back and team leader Jamal Lewis had in mind after lamenting some of his teammates should “check their egos at the door” and not give up when the going gets tough.
Football “is a man’s game,” a disgruntled Lewis told the media following the Browns loss to Denver — Cleveland’s second loss within four days in which the team blew 14- and 13-point leads respectively.
The story of Browns Quit picked up steam when nationally syndicated broadcaster Jim Rome (who routinely picks and chooses the kind of facts that please his clones), concluded Browns Head Coach Romeo Crennel could not control his players, and thus should quit, himself.
The story grew legs well into this week after running back/receiver Joshua Cribbs backed up Lewis, adding some guys quit in the fourth quarter of both losing efforts.
Romeo Crennel tried to put an end by announcing that neither Lewis or Cribbs actually saw a Cleveland player quit during a game.
But the media and Browns fans were still playing the name game, when an obscure Web site reported that the quitting culprit was Shaun Smith.
Who?
Apparently the poster of the Web site which Midnight Writer will not cite, stated that an unnamed “source” told him that the slacker Brown was Shaun Smith. In fact, that so-called “source” did not mince words, referrring to Smith as “that f…ing guy.”
Apparently, no one bothered to check with Shaun Smith first, before posting it on the Internet.
Shaun Smith told ESPN affiliate WKNR 850 AM Friday afternoon that he was aware of the unfounded accusation, but that things like that don’t really bother him.
Smith also said his mother taught him to always do his best, and that he was totally focused on Buffalo, Monday night.
Ironically the same Web site that threw Smith under the bus after the Jamal remark, also reported that Browns tight end Kellen Winslow’s “undisclosed illness” that had him hospitalized at Cleveland Clinic last month was actually a sexually transmitted disease (STD).
However, Winslow actually was being treated for a staph infection that he initially agreed to keep under wraps.
WKNR talk host Mark “Munch” Bishop had suggested the swirling rumors of have STDs bothered Winslow, a married man, and was partially responsible for breaking his promise to Browns General Manager Phil Savage and reveal his staph infection to the media.
Maybe the author of the unnamed Web site needs to check his ego at the door. If he is writing fiction in the guise of facts just to get more hits to his site, whatever.
Just don’t call yourself a sports writer.
It hurts the reputation of the rest of us who care about the game of football and the men who play the game.
[tags]cleveland browns, nfl[/tags]
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