A REAL Football Hero

I didn't see then infamous towelscapade last week on MNF for the simple reason that I watch all games on tape and don't even start the VCR until 8:08 on Mondays.

(I can't take that Hank Williams Jr. even on fast forward where his sped up actions make him look even more like a wannabe cowboy but a very jerky in his movements. Gawd, I just thought of something to make me recant, I would eagerly watch him try bullriding especially if there were no rodeo clowns to save his sorry ass after he got tossed in less than 3 seconds.)

He does have big hats though. And, Nicollette Sheridan reportedly had a small towel and ABC had an even smaller sense of what was right as did Terrell Owens. No real player would let his team down just to get laid.

I did see the Friday basketbrawl game and I do have two comments on that. One, Ron Artest was clearly wrong but, please remember, he was lying down doing an impromptu interview when that liquored up nitwit threw the beer on him and then he snapped. Two, I can understand a little bit because I too have down bad things in competition. I was banned for life from my college's intramural program. Since it was my senior year and the last inning of the softball championship game and since we had an eight run lead the banning was pretty much symbolic but I was worried about suspension from school and finals. I was lucky, 22 and playing for fun; Artest was none of those three.

My point is simple; I can understand someone snapping. I had just charged a one hop single to center and uncorked a full velocity throw because there was a guy trying to score. I put the throw dead on the catchers' mitt - which was nice because when I threw hard it was about 50-50 that I'd clear the backstop - and our 280 pound catcher had the plate blocked perfectly.

35 years have passed and that runner still hasn't touched the plate.

Then the umpire called the SOB safe. I had followed through on my throw by trotting in and feeling pretty pleased with myself for having secured the third out.

Then the ump called the SOB safe. Something snapped in me and my trot became a sprint, as I was sprinting I also wound up and hit the ump with an overhand right that broke his nose and one tooth. If you've every seen the ugly footage of Kermit Washington almost killing Rudy Tomjanovich, you've got a good idea of what it was like.

I was wrong. I deserved punishment and knew it. As mentioned, I feared it would be worse. My point is that something inside me snapped and I was not rational so I can kind of understand Artest - not condone - but kind of understand.

So this week I decide to write about the opposite of almost all that is wrong in sports and tell you about a true sports hero.

Three years ago, fresh from leading the NFC in rushing Robert Smith retired from the Vikings with no second thoughts.

If Smith had his way, no one would care why he abruptly quit professional football three years ago. In his world view, people would focus on more critical issues than why a 28-year-old superstar gave up $40 million with no explanation.

Smith, who rarely gives interviews, spoke with a Twin Cities reporter recently to promote his autobiography. The former Vikings running back says society has gone too far in elevating athletes to celebrity status.

It is a central theme of his book, "The Rest of the Iceberg: An Insider's View on the World of Sport and Celebrity," and it represents a large portion of a complicated explanation for his departure from sports and public life.

"We raise athletes into that echelon without thinking of who they are as individuals," Smith said. "For me, it was flattering every time someone would say that their kid really looked up to me. But it was also embarrassing. I haven't always done the right thing. I have skeletons in my closet. The real heroes never get attention. The real heroes are the people who choose to be in those positions and deserve it, like teachers or members of the clergy. Not athletes.

"People have no perspective on sports. That's where the title1 came from: They only see the tip of the iceberg. I definitely got tired of participating in that."

Smith, an unusual player who read chemistry textbooks while trainers taped his ankles, retired in February 2001 after his most successful season with the Vikings. He returned to his home in Ohio rather than negotiate a new contract that would have doubled the $20 million that he had earned in his career.

(But football has never been the be-all, end-all of his life. He also quit the Ohio State football team his sophomore year when an idiot assistant coach gave him an ultimatum: either quit studying pre-med and switch to a PE major or face a lot of problems with the coaching staff who thought such a difficult major took too much time from football.)

Smith announced his retirement decision in a short e-mail to his hometown newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and he has since turned down almost all requests for interviews.

His mysterious departure sparked rumors and conspiracy theories, most of which Smith dismissed Thursday. He called former teammate Randy Moss "a young kid with a big mouth," but added: "I have a lot of respect for Randy and it's ridiculous to think I left because of him." Smith acknowledged that his history of injuries played a role in his departure as well, but he said he is healthy enough to have twice considered a comeback.

Grief fueled his first inclination to return. In August 2001, Smith said he gave thought to playing a final "tribute season" to the late Korey Stringer. "But I realized that Korey, of all people, would know that you don't have to be on the field to do that," Smith said. Stringer died of heat stroke at Vikings training camp in 2001.

The second instance came this year as former Vikings coach Dennis Green interviewed for head coaching jobs around the National Football League. Smith aborted the plan when Green joined the moribund Arizona Cardinals.

"If he had gone somewhere that had a chance to [win a championship] right away, I was going with him," Smith said. "I love Denny. He always believed in me and stuck by me during my career when people were probably telling him to get rid of me."

Otherwise, Smith said, he has had "embarrassingly little" interest in following the NFL since his retirement. He owns a construction company and also is involved with a group that creates computer software to manage health care networks. He also does research himself and through his foundation supports much more research dedicated to finding a cure for children with cancer.

Smith began putting together thoughts for his book soon after retirement but was unable to find a publisher or agree on an arrangement to write with a professional author. So during a vacation in Australia in December 2002, Smith began writing the book himself. He finished last summer, and has an agreement with Ink Water Books to print the book based on demand.

Excerpts and promotional materials indicate that Smith will detail the problems that caused him to sit out that year while at Ohio State, and it will provide a few non-damaging locker room stories from his days with the Vikings.

In the second half of the book, the materials indicate, Smith will decry the warped priorities of American sports fans. He said Thursday that athletes fall victim to a cycle based on false premises and misplaced adulation.

"People want to know everything about celebrity athletes," Smith said. "When they find out that they're human and not infallible, they become disenchanted and turn on them. Well, who says that athletes are supposed to be good role models just because they're athletes? Some of them aren't. Society has turned on athletes for being human."

Smith said he believes race plays a role in that dynamic.

"White America is conditioned to believe minorities commit more crimes and do more bad things," he said. "That might be true to a degree, but why can't there be more perspective than that? When a black athlete gets in trouble, it's easy for white Americans to believe it. That's what I get into in the book."

Writing the book, Smith said, has sparked "a change in my life." In researching the crime and race aspects, "I got disturbed by the level of education in this country and how it relates to crime." He plans to run for a school board position either in Ohio or Florida, where he also maintains a home.

"Basically, what I want to do is help overhaul the education system in this country," he said.

"I loved playing football and competing," he added. "But after a while, it took a toll on my body and mind. There comes a time when you've got to do something else with your life."