Fires a Reminder: What Happened to Aaron Brooks? Sign In to E-Mail or Save This Print Reprints ShareDel.icio.usDiggFacebookNewsvinePermalink By WILLIAM C. RHODENPublished: October 27, 2007Early yesterday afternoon, the National Football League announced that it had agreed to allow the San Diego Chargers to play at home tomorrow, as scheduled, in Qualcomm Stadium. Although the San Diego mayor told the N.F.L. as early as Thursday that the game could be played, the league took an extra day, deciding it was better to err on the side of caution. “Going through New Orleans and Katrina underscored the necessity to make sure you’re talking to all the people who may be impacted,” said Ray Anderson, executive vice president for football operations for the N.F.L. “From local and state government officials, to the participating teams, to the players and their families — and you have to consider the fans.”These wildfires in San Diego County, the relocation, the loss of property and lives all brought back memories of Hurricane Katrina; those memories, in turn, made me think of Aaron Brooks and the 2005 New Orleans Saints.Brooks was the starting quarterback for the Saints in that dreadful season, when everyone’s world was turned upside down. He got himself in hot water by complaining that the N.F.L. and the Saints’ owner had been lax in helping the team cope with a horrendous natural disaster.Brooks was released by the Saints after the 2005 season, when they went 3-13. He played in Oakland last season behind the worst offensive line in recent football history. So I thought Brooks had simply retired, disillusioned with the game. I figured he walked away and was living happily ever after with his wife and their daughter. Not exactly. “First and foremost, I definitely want to play,” Brooks said Thursday night from his home in Richmond, Va. “I am not retired. I’m not hanging up my shoes up.” If that’s the case, why isn’t he playing? With quarterbacks dropping right and left, and replacements like the 43-year-old Vinny Testaverde being taken out of the mothballs, I began to wonder why Brooks wasn’t on an N.F.L. roster. At 31, Brooks is still young by quarterback standards, and the handful of general managers I spoke with since Wednesday agreed that he was above average. So why? Brooks’s friends and family ask the same question. “They ask, ‘Why aren’t you playing?’” Brooks said. “They see all of these quarterbacks getting injured and want to know: ‘Why aren’t you getting calls? Why aren’t you in camp?’ I don’t know what to say, but yeah, it hits me from time to time.“I don’t know. Is it something I said?” Could be.Brooks may still be serving time for the comments he made in 2005 when the Saints, like New Orleans itself, were demoralized by unimaginable upheavals caused by Katrina. The Saints split their home schedule between Baton Rouge, La., and San Antonio, where the team set up temporary headquarters. They worked out on a high school practice field, used a high school baseball locker room and lifted weights in a makeshift exercise room in a tent in a nearby parking lot. Then the team was displaced from its headquarters by an N.C.A.A. volleyball tournament.Brooks had had enough. During an interview with CBS, he blasted the N.F.L. and the Saints’ owner, Tom Benson, pointing out that for someone who stands to make $600 million from the sale of the team, “I don’t think a couple million would hurt to make his team feel very comfortable every week.” Brooks added: “And for those who don’t understand, come down here to San Antonio and see what our conditions are like. It’s just bad.” Brooks said he felt the league politicized the Saints’ “home opener” at Giants Stadium and was angry when he saw Commissioner Paul Tagliabue and officials from New Orleans and New York City on the field before that game. He felt Tagliabue should have visited the Saints’ players in the weeks after the hurricane. In retrospect, Brooks’s criticisms in 2005 might have played a small part in the N.F.L.’s approach to the Southern California wildfires, if nothing else, by making the league conscious about putting players’ well-being first. On the other hand, I have no doubt that Brooks’s stinging criticisms played a role in his difficulty in returning to the N.F.L. “I can’t really think about that,” Brooks said. “All I know is that I watch the tube every Sunday and I miss the hell out of the game.” I’m not making the case that Brooks is the second coming of Johnny Unitas or Joe Montana; his career has been marked by high highs and bizarre lows. Brooks had better realize that if he wants back in, he’ll have to assume an unfamiliar mantle of humility and (gulp) gratitude. On the other hand, the gate keepers and decision makers should forget Brooks’s public criticisms of an owner and of the commissioner. Everyone involved with Hurricane Katrina should be granted amnesty for anything said and done during the 2005 season.Unprecedented circumstances deserve unprecedented levels of forgiveness and understanding. Aaron Brooks should be able to pull his career from the ashes as well.
Brooks isn't going to the Hall of Fame any time soon, but he should be on a roster.
Disclamer: Steve Smith Owner
Only if Brooks is also a time-traveler. The NFL had already dealt with one incident of Southern California wildfires prior to Hurricane Katrina. Of course, if he is a time-traveler, that opens up a whole new set of questions.
