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Footballguy
Tank is a walking joke.January 31, 2007 BY JAY MARIOTTI Sun-Times Columnist MIAMI -- So now, absurdly, it's about racism. Given a chance to paint a remorseful self-portrait on a global stage, Tank Johnson again shamed himself, the Bears, the NFL and anyone who felt like giving him a second chance -- no, fourth chance -- in life. I thought he might apologize for the .44-caliber Magnum Smith & Wesson revolver, .50-caliber Desert Eagle handgun, .45-caliber handgun, .308-caliber Winchester rifle, two assault-style rifles and more than 500 rounds of ammunition found in his home within sight of his two daughters. Instead, Tank dropped the R-bomb, bringing a sickening thud to what otherwise was a festive Super Bowl media day for the Bears. A man arrested three times in 18 months believes he isn't the problem as much as critics he views as racist. Consider it ample proof that the Bears should have left him at home, even if it cost them a vital defensive presence against the Indianapolis Colts. It's better to allow rushing yardage than hear a man on a court-approved work leave spew misplaced anger. ''A lot of people are demons,'' said Johnson, who was ringed by dozens of reporters and cameras. ''You've got to look at it like that. A lot of people are out to get people just to hurt people. I never thought about racism in my whole life. I've never had a person come to me and say anything racist. Now I look at it like, 'Wow, is it because I'm certain things?' I realize people buy into stereotypes. I'm young, black and have tattoos, so it's easy to stereotype me and put me in a category. I've learned a lot about people. When you learn about people, you learn to stay away from some of them. ''It's easy to clump somebody. When you see me walking down the street, I don't look like you, I don't talk like you, I don't walk like you. It's easy to say, 'He's just like the other people who we see all the time.' I've given you guys opportunities to stereotype me like that. It's unfortunate.'' Specifically, who are these demons? ''They come in so many shapes and sizes,'' he said. ''Sure, they're in the media; they're walking around out on the street. They're everywhere. God has showed me what a lot of the demons look like. God shows me myself every day. He shows me I'm his child. He has a plan for me. He loves me unconditionally. I love him unconditionally.'' Out on the town This is not about racism, of course. This is about a man with serious issues who evidently doesn't think he has serious issues. Several times, Johnson was asked if he was sorry for any of his misdeeds. He refused to answer every time, literally turning his back on one persistent columnist. Somehow, he still doesn't realize what's wrong with having such a staggering array of firearms in his home -- some loaded -- while not bothering to register them. That is why he's facing 10 firearms charges, just as the rest of us would for the same allegations, regardless of race, color or creed. The difference between Johnson and Joe Blow is that he was handed a break by a judge to spend a professional week in Miami, where, oddly, he has spent nights on the town. Why the Bears are letting him out of the Airport Hilton, I have no idea. Even if he's just eating at restaurants -- he refused to answer questions about rumors that he has visited a Miami club -- it's a bad idea that doesn't jibe with his court restrictions in Illinois. Back home, Johnson is confined to his Gurnee house and permitted to leave only to attend practices and games. Shouldn't his leash be tighter on the road, not looser? ''I've definitely had to tighten it down a great deal,'' Johnson said. ''I don't want to give anyone the impression that I'm out here free. I might go to dinner, go to Subway, do things I haven't been doing the last month and a half. I just want to enjoy this experience.'' But what if being out, in a freak-show town, exposes him to a jerk who wants to cause an episode? ''You couldn't possibly bait me into something right now,'' he said. ''If you punch me in my face, I'm walking away. But I am free to do what the Super Bowl allows.'' In Tank's world, he is the good guy and we're the bad guys. In Tank's world, he can have enough weapons in his home to take on an army and, somehow, vie for Hypocrite of the Year honors by decrying violence. We're supposed to believe the Rambo of the north suburbs actually can't stand guns? Then why did he have them in the first place, before his close friend, Willie Posey, was shot dead at Ice Bar last month? Still doesn't get it ''I don't even want to be out,'' Johnson said. ''Too many people are cowards, just murdering people senselessly. People are killing people -- it all stems from violence on TV and in music. All you hear in music is killing, killing, killing. And people think it's OK. It strikes a personal chord now. I've lost a few friends who've been murdered. ''I don't like violence in the world. I can't stand it. I've never been a violent person.'' So why have loaded guns in the house, peace man? ''It doesn't mean everyone who owns guns is bad,'' he said. Again, the thread of logic is tangled in knots. If Johnson abhors violence, why go with Posey that horrid night -- after he had been warned hours earlier to stay clean by general manager Jerry Angelo -- to a club that routinely checked for guns at the front door? Something doesn't jibe, leading to a thought that Johnson might be ''attracted'' to gang life. ''I am attracted to being a good father,'' he shot back. ''Where I grew up [in his early-to-mid teens], I didn't even know gangs existed. Phoenix, Arizona -- 3 percent black -- I wouldn't say I was attracted to gang life.'' And to think the hourlong session started so well. When asked if he's seizing a second chance, Johnson called it ''my last chance, an opportunity I don't want to squander.'' He raved about his two daughters, saying they loved their daddy and likely were watching a TV children's band, the Wiggles, when police conducted the house raid. Here is where he blows it again. ''My little girls are young and don't understand a lot of stuff that happened or why,'' he said. ''I don't think that's really important.'' Uh, it's not important when the girls -- ages 3 and 1 -- have to be led from the house by police? Tank, naturally, blames those demons. ''Having my kids on the front page of the paper, seeing them taken from the house, that bothered me the most,'' he said. ''People don't understand what kind of man I am, how much I love my kids. I know there's a lot of love in my house. The most danger they're in every day is running full speed into a wall.'' No, Tank, the most danger they faced were loaded weapons. And until you begin to grasp it, you are a threat to society. ''I can't be a normal person,'' he countered, ''not in Chicago, where they hold professional athletes to such a high standard.'' Actually, only in Chicago could an athlete be allowed to play in a Super Bowl with so many demons in his own head.
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Poor guy. People just don't understand that he needs to have loaded guns in the house (with kids around no less) even after he's been arrested for have guns illegally.
I wonder how many people even know this song was "ripped off" of a Stevie Wonder song... (Pastime Paradise, I think it was.)
TO was benched after week 8 (7 games) in 2005. McNabb played two more games before he was out for the year.
...but Obama's not the kind of guy with a history of crime, aggression, and basic thuggary. Tank does have that AND he apparently hasn't cleansed that history out of his system yet.
