Posted on November 4th, 2011
By DERON SNYDER
Bobby Mitchell paused and stared ahead for several seconds. Moderator Maury Povich had just posed a loaded question to the NFL Hall of Famer who integrated the Washington Redskins in 1962 and later served as the team’s assistant general manager for 20 years.
How come he never landed a top spot?
Several more seconds passed as Mitchell wrestled with his thoughts before finally giving an answer. “I never accepted the premise that I didn’t get the GM job because I’m black,” he said Wednesday night during the sixth annual Shirley Povich Symposium at the University of Maryland.
“From the start, I was handling all five departments in the front office,” Mitchell said. “I don’t know if anyone has ever done that. But this is a business. You have to be liked and you have to be wanted.”
Then he broke the tension with some levity: “I had the greatest job of anyone in football, because GMs get fired!”
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Posted on November 2nd, 2011
By DERON SNYDER
After he was selected with the No. 2 pick in the 2010 NFL draft, Ndamukong Suh didn’t waste time making his mark. Suh — whose full name is pronounced “En-dom-ah-ken Soo” — won multiple Rookie of the Year awards and All-Pro honors and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl.
But he has also gained a reputation for being a “dirty player,” although opinions vary on the label’s accuracy in his case. The issue has grown so fuzzy that Sports Illustrated this year changed the name of its annual poll on the “NFL’s Dirtiest Players” to the “NFL’s Meanest Players,” and Suh came in third. He has been fined three times for rough hits on quarterbacks since last season, and he has been drawn three personal foul penalties in eight games this year.
Suh finally had enough after the Atlanta Falcons accused him of taunting an injured player and the NFL billed Detroit’s next game as “Good vs. Evil,” featuring a picture of Denver’s Tim Tebow and Suh.
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Posted on November 2nd, 2011
By DERON SNYDER
Once again, it’s time to check off some items on my “TIDU List” – Things I Don’t Understand:
• Why the heat on Mike Shanahan has risen since Sunday.
Folks are aghast at the Redskins’ three-game losing streak and butt-ugly shutout against Buffalo. The 3-1 start is a distant memory, but Shanahan has instilled a professional atmosphere and upgraded the roster (though not enough). Coaches on five-year deals deserve an evaluation period longer than 23 games.
But since bad personnel decisions were his undoing in Denver, maybe someone else should handle those duties.
• How Kyle Shanahan can reclaim his label of ‘budding guru.’
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