During Saturday night’s NFL Wild Card playoff game between the Ravens and Steelers on NBC, you could hear Cris Collinsworth signing the praises of Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs. In addition to praising his play on the field (which was sensational) Collinsworth also referred to Suggs as a “jokester” off the field at one point.

During commercial breaks, NBC (and all networks carrying the games) are running NFL PSA spots on domestic violence under the slogan NO MORE.

This week, Suggs will be in demand from many in the media as they hope to get juicy quotes from him in the run up to Saturday’s divisional playoff game against the Patriots. They’ll laugh at his proclamations and say how great he is. They’ll call him “Sizzle” and the Ravens notoriously tone-deaf Twitter account will continue to deify him.

Meanwhile, “Sizzle” is playing in the NFL despite having a much worse track record in the domestic violence department than former teammate Ray Rice, who lost his job this season following a well-publicized disgusting incident at a casino in which he knocked out his then-fiancee.

Back in September, Josh Levin in Slate had a column entitled Why Is Terrell Suggs Still in the NFL?

Dennis and Callahan and Minihane spent a good deal of time this morning going over the details in this column, specifically the 2009 incident in which Suggs pinned his then-girlfriend, now wife to the floor and poured bleach over her and their son.

    When she turned around, according to her complaint, he knocked her to the ground and sat on top of her, grabbing her neck and holding an open bottle of bleach over her.

Williams wrote that Suggs used an obscenity and said he was going to “drown [her] with this bleach.”

She put her hands over the cap, but the cleaner spilled onto her and their son, she wrote. He then told her to get out of the house, dressed and left for the game, she wrote.

She also reference a history of previous incidents. Over the next few years there were at least two protective orders filed against Suggs. In 2012, Suggs was ordered to hand over his seven guns, including an AK-47 after the following incident:

Terrell Suggs’ longtime girlfriend claimed in a protective order filed last month that the Ravens’ Pro Bowl outside linebacker punched her in the neck and drove a car containing their two children at a “high rate of speed” while she was being dragged alongside.

The Levin article shows that no action was ever taken by the NFL despite their assertion that they would “look into it.”

Despite this history, Suggs continues to be popular with many in the media, who run to him for quotes and look forward to what he’s going to say next.

Not all media seem to be as enamored with Suggs and how he is regarded, especially by those in Baltimore:

It’d be refreshing if some might actually use their influence and position in the media to tamper down the glorification of such a man. Are they afraid of him?

If Dan Shaughnessy is actually the bravest columnist around, as his boss claims he is, maybe he can ask Suggs why he is free to play in this game while Ray Rice sits at home unemployed, and Greg Hardy (whose history is very similar to Suggs) sits out while the Panthers head to Seattle this week.

If Shaughnessy wants to make himself a national story as he often does, this is the perfect opportunity for him. He won’t though. He loves Suggs, as evidenced by this line in his column today: Wacky Terrell Suggs loves to get in the face of Brady…

Yeah, wacky. That wacky, jokester Terrell Suggs.

I’m sure Shaughnessy would rather sit back and take shots at the likes of the menacing Rajon Rondo instead anyway.

********

A few media items:

Inside ESPN’s tribute to late SportsCenter star Stuart Scott – Richard Deitsch looks at the ESPN staffers who worked on the tribute they hope would never air to the iconic anchor who passed away from cancer yesterday at the age of 49.

ESPN feels the loss of Stuart Scott – Chad Finn looks at the heartfelt tributes from Scott’s colleagues.

Stuart Scott’s Legacy is Far Greater Than Just Memorable Catchphrases – Finn also blogged about Scott and his legacy.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

28 thoughts on “The Media And That “Wacky” “Jokester” Terrell Suggs #NoMore”

  1. I don’t follow Balitmore media, but is it so incestual that you’re drummed out of the core if you question the team there? I thought it was a big enough city that you’d have some alternative voices there, where it’s not like a Tuscaloosa-esque town. I get the Superbowl but the last 3-4 years alone with that team just screams toxic.

    At least we have a mixture of Shaughnessy-like to fanboi-like media here.

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  2. Reader’s Digest version of sports talk (for some) this week:

    – Brady and the Patriots suck against the Ravens
    – Only time you won is because Evans dropped a sure TD and Cundiff missed a chipshot.
    – Other variations.

    If they win, “well you should have beat that AFC Tomato Can.”
    If they lose, “Time to question BB the GM? Brady done? Recycle W1-4 topics.”

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    1. yep… saw the idiot Shaugnessy tweeted, > “Tomato can theory out the window. Pats will have to play “big boy” football vs. Ravens”….. of course we all know if the Pats beat the Ravens within seconds Shank will tweet he was wrong, The Ravens were just another tomato can all along……….. SUPER TROLL

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    2. You missed one. Today I got back in the car around 3 . The squeak was talking about Brady’s contract… how he never….. station changed

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  3. Bruce:

    How is the Baltimore medias lack of coverage or for that matter out rage any different than the apathy shown when Ray Lewis murdered someone or when Ray Rice beat his wife (prior to the release of the video). Since the Colts left Baltimore and the city stole the Modell Browns the fear that something bad might taint the franchise and therefore make it leave has far out weighed any modicum of moral indignation, expectation of better, or for that matter any sort of common sense approach that puts right above wrong. The Ravens owner sets the tone…just win…the rest he sweeps under the rug because it is inconsequential unless it effects his teams ability to win.

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  6. Anyone else think that Felger must be annoyed with his clones? Guys like Minihane have stolen his act and have put Felger in a weird spot this week.
    I could hear it in his voice yesterday. He so wanted to taunt Patriots fans but you already have his spawns out there doing that already. So he’s left in this weird spot where he kinda says it but then says they should win. It doesn’t sound sincere. He so desperately wanted to still be the only guy to go against the tide.

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  7. I love how everyone is trumping up the Ravens based on playoff games from the 2012, 2011, and 2009 seasons while conveniently ignoring the game played just over a year ago. In Baltimore. Patriots 41 Ravens 7. They were 8-6, defending SB champs, on a 4 game winning streak, and it was a game they HAD to win. And they were NEVER in it. Now which team do you think this current Ravens squad would most closely resemble? The ones from 2, 3, and 5 years ago? Or the one from last year?
    But let’s leave history out of it. Let’s judge the Ravens solely on this season. 10-6. 4 of those wins coming against the NFC South, 1 against the Jags, and 1 against the Titans. 4-6 in their other 10 games. 2-4 on the road in those match-ups. But they’re probably rolling going into the playoffs, you say? Nope. They lost in week 16 at Houston. With the immortal Case Keenum helming the Texans offense.

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    1. I can almost buy the argument that 2012 has SOME relevance to this year’s matchup; however, can someone out there tell me what the 2009 Wild Card game has to do with anything? Here are the Patriots currently on the roster who were also on the 2009 team: Brady, Vollmer (rookie), Chung (rookie), Wendell (promoted from practice squad right before that Wild Card game), Slater, Mayo (inactive this week, of course), Edelman (rookie), Arrington (promoted from practice squad a month before that playoff game), and Connolly. Unless I’m forgetting someone, I count 9 guys, about a third of whom were just rookies back in ’09 and weren’t playing all that much (Edelman had to step in for the injured Welker in the slot for that game, and played quite well if I recall correctly). I mean, seriously, 2009 has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with this year. At least Ray Rice ain’t taking the opening handoff 80 yards for a touchdown on Saturday like he did in that game, I know that for certain.

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      1. Sorry…I forgot Wilfork and Ninkovich. So that makes 11, which represents about 21% of the current Pats’ roster. That’s still not a heck of a lot.

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    2. Agreed. Last time the two teams met, the Pats demolished them. Are the Ravens better than they were last year? Yes. But look who is on the Pats team now who didn’t play in that game last year. Gronkowski. Revis. Browner. Wilfork. Lafell. And so on. And let us not forget that while the Ravens won on Wild Card weekend, they beat a team that suddenly lost its best offensive player. The Ravens are a house of cards this season, built up on playing mediocre and in some cases absolutely pitiful competition. I get it, the media loves Baltimore and will do anything they can to pump them up (even though they’ll call them tomato cans immediately after the game is over if the Pats win). But the Ravens are getting far too much credit. Pats will win by 10 at least.

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    3. I seem to recall the 2006 (Jan 2007) AFC Championship Game against the Colts. The Pats had lost two in a row in the regular season to the Colts. Everyone was trumpeting the Colts as the favorite based upon that, not the two previous playoff games where the Pats pretty much had their way with the fighting Polians.

      Fast forward to 2015, it is the exact opposite. The most recent game means nothing, but the previous playoff games are the end all be all.

      So typical…

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      1. I think there’s a little bit of an overreaction to what the media is saying…I’ve not heard anyone claim the Ravens will win, just that it should be a tough game and that Indy or the Bengals might be easier.

        I’m as big a Pats fan as anyone, but I’m not expecting a blow out..

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  8. So, Pedro gets elected to the Hall of Fame today, and Felger immediately, and once again, starts questioning if he played “clean” during his career. Unreal. I guess we’ll never know. My thoughts are that a guy who appeared to be reed-thin throughout his career doesn’t exactly fit the “juicer” profile; the fact that he got worse as a player as he got older (which ran in direct contrast to the juicers, like Clemens, who inexplicably got BETTER as they got older), also makes me think that Pedro did it clean. But, again, we’ll never really know. I’d just like to know why Felger always has to pull this crap — peeing down the legs of fans who just want to take this one moment to celebrate the fact that the greatest pitcher most of us ever saw in a Red Sox uniform will be officially enshrined in Cooperstown next summer, literally just a few hours after the votes were tabulated.

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    1. Came here to talk about this same thing. Listen it’s probably a valid conversation to have at some point.

      Like, I get it. Your tremendous ability to troll and find the cruddy side of every coin is rivaled by none, Felger. But maybe sometimes it’s an ability not worth wielding? It didn’t get me incensed to the point of hanging on to your every contrived (and tired, he’s said this so many times) word. Or call in. I just put Spotify back on.

      But like — can Boston sports fans just enjoy something *nice* once in a while?

      (No.)

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      1. He didn’t stop with Boston players. Did you know that Craig Biggio MIGHT have been a PED user too?

        I saw a ton of negativity on twitter and heard even more on the radio today. This is the achievement of a lifetime for these four guys yet people can’t let them enjoy it without jumping all over them.

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    2. My general question on this, since I fall under the “I think many people were dirty”, is there a proper way to address this with fans or radio hosts?

      I get the pitfalls of my assumption. I have no problem admitting it. But, I hate the Tom “Only a few guys in the 90s and early 2000s juiced” Verducci approach where you just try and nullify it all.

      This, again, brings up the different approaches with media and fans relating to each sport and PEDs. NFL? Ah, hey, whatever. MLB and people make it seem like these guys dump used motor oil in the pond next to the daycare.

      I don’t have an answer here but it seems to shape both the discussion and reaction. Some hosts, regardless of their position (many juiced, few juiced) won’t touch it because of the reaction. Others will just go in, guns blazing, as you said above, having no problem torching sacred cows (Pedro). Would Felger, or someone else here, garnered the same reaction if he replaced Pedro with Jeter (which he’s done)?

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    3. He does it for the reaction. Seriously, that’s it. Just stop listening and hit ’em where it hurts; the ratings. I usually listen to D&H, PFW in Progress… lots of options nowadays 🙂

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  9. Wow read the article. Sad for him. Drug abuse runs thru many families that have to endure and help there fam mem.

    On to Mr F. I think a good name would be….Propaganda Minster Flger. And …

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  11. In the last game I ever went to see with my dad before he dropped dead, I saw Ernie Whitt hit a 9th inning go-ahead grand slam OFF OF ONE KNEE off the piss-horrible fastball Lee Smith threw him.

    THAT’S why we don’t talk about the impact of the Lee Smith to Boston trade anymore, son.

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  12. So Felgy was riding his “Brady MAY have used PEDs…” crap the same day, as well. Look, I don’t mind asking the question; I just think that’s a healthy trait to have in life. But so is balance. Felger has no balance. I defend his “keeping teams honest” approach, but he has become nothing more than a toxic spewing troll.

    Michael Holley put it best today. You can ask the question, but the way Felger coats it is in this weaselly, I’m going to give myself an out by saying ‘Im just asking the question’ so I won’t get in too much trouble, approach. If you think he used, than say he used. Stop trolling. I’ve all but stopped listening to that show. It’s all Dale and Holley for me. Felgers approach to radio is just not healthy.

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