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Orlando Brown
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Most NFL players do not fear injury, they just expect it. They never know when and
always know if. The next player who gets out of the NFL without ever being injured will be
the first.
But Orlando Brown never saw this coming.
Not in a million years would you ever figure an official’s yellow flag could end a
career. They teach you to watch out for the crackbacks, the cut blocks, the chop blocks,
the seams in the artificial turf, but never has anybody cautioned: "Be careful of
those officials’ flags."
There is danger everywhere in the NFL, on and off the field. Seminars warn of greedy
agents and greedier wives, of drugs and alcohol, of fast food, fast women and fast cars.
Never has anybody thought to tell anyone: "And keep your head on a swivel when you
hear that whistle blow."
Brown a 6-7, 350-pound offensive tackle, got cut down at age 29 by an official’s
flag, the very thing designed to protect players from illegal acts and consequences.
It was like being run down by an ambulance, shot by a policeman, robbed by your banker.
Nicknamed Zeus — after the god who hurled thunderbolts from the top of Mount
Olympus — Brown just got struck by lightning.
The Browns released Brown nine months after a flag thrown by referee Jeff Triplette hit
Brown in the right eye, causing damage that still pains and haunts him.
Brown’s agent, Tom Condon, said it was the strangest thing he has encountered
since one of his former Chiefs teammates, Walter White, ran into a mobile television unit
on the sideline and blew out a knee, never to play again.
Compared to Brown, that doesn’t even register on the bizarre meter.
Maybe that’s why Brown has told Condon he is determined to play again.
He cannot believe this. He will not accept this.
He has retained O.J. Simpson’s lawyer, Johnnie Cochran Jr., to pursue a lawsuit
against the league, but money does not appear to be that important to Brown.
Condon thinks Cochran wouldn’t have taken the case if he didn’t smell
"substantial liability," but if Brown ever plays again, as he would like,
Cochran’s case would diminish.
You can almost hear the NFL now: "If he can hit, you must acquit."
Brown was in the second year of a six-year, $27 million contract. If he were a
basketball or baseball player, that contract would be guaranteed.
But that’s not the case in pro football, where the risk of career-ending injuries
just ratcheted up a notch.
Browns head coach Chris Palmer and Condon tried to rationalize with Brown that he was
paid more than $8 million last season alone, that he has three kids and a wife and
doesn’t really need to play football anymore.
"You know what he said? ‘To heck with that, I want to play some ball,’
" Condon said.
Brown is lifting weights but still experiences white spots and pain. He says he’s
improving; the Browns couldn’t wait. They released him Sept. 19.
Sad as the end was, the Browns cannot be painted as insensitive. To the contrary, the
Browns may be seeing more clearly than Brown.
After Triplette’s flag was thrown on a false start by Browns C Jim Bundren in the
Dec. 19 game in Cleveland vs. Jacksonville, Brown dropped to one knee, staggered toward
the sideline, then turned around and charged Triplette, knocking him to the ground.
Brown was enraged and frightened, he later explained, because his father had gone blind
from glaucoma. The league suspended Brown indefinitely for shoving the referee but lifted
the penalty in February. There was only one game left in the season.
Brown blamed the league for the accident.
"It wasn’t the Browns," he said. "I just hope they (the league)
take up their part of the bargain. I don’t think they can go around hurting people
and taking people out by hurting them and not want to take care of them. I don’t
think that's right."
The NFL had no comment on Brown’s release. The league did modify its procedure in
regard to officials’ flags this year in an effort to prevent a similar incident.
Flags are mailed to officials every year with the suggestion they be weighted with popcorn
kernels or sand. The flag that struck Brown was weighted with popcorn kernels. The flags
that were sent to officials for this season were already weighted with sand. Officials
also have been cautioned about throwing the flags directly at players, although they are
supposed to toss the flag toward the site of the infraction.
Palmer said he asked Brown periodically how he was progressing during the offseason.
"He said, ‘My doctors say that it wouldn’t be smart to play and
there’s a risk that I would lose my eyesight,’ " Palmer said. "I said,
‘Why would you play?’ And he said, ‘I know I’d have to sign a waiver
if I’m ever going to play again.’ I said, ‘Why would you do that? You have
three lovely children and a wife.’
"How do I look his family in the face if he goes out and loses his eyesight? What
kind of person am I? If a guy says, ‘I’ve got to sign a waiver,’ what does
that tell you? I don’t know that I want to be part of that."
By waiting for three regular-season games before releasing him off the physically-
unable-to-perform list, the Browns paid Brown three game checks ($374,000) and made him
eligible for an additional accredited season on his severance, insurance and pension
benefits.
Still, Brown cannot see his career ending this way, even while realizing he’s
lucky to see at all.
Don Pierson covers pro football for the Chicago Tribune |
