BUCKSHOTS

Who's giving you a rash this week? Overpaid player? Underhanded agent? Obnoxious team owner? Some other sports wretch? Well, take your best shot. Sign your name, if you dare.

Just remember, Ray Buck, CBS SportsLine national columnist, has the last word. E-mail your comments to: rbuck@sportsline.com


Blasting away in defense of Barry, Allen


By Ray Buck
CBS SportsLine National Columnist
Aug. 9, 1997

E-mails over cocktails, while wondering what's in the water in Big D? To wit: Bonehead Barry develops brainlock at DFW, and suddenly everybody is Johnnie Cochran.

"FIRST OF ALL, I THINK THAT YOU are a total moron," e-mails cowboys@doitnow.com. "On second thought, you're beyond a moron, you're a complete idiot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! "How can you ever compare Barry Switzer to Allen Iverson?"

BUCKSHOT: I stand corrected. There is no comparison. Iverson has some talent.

"FEELING REALLY SANCTIMONIOUS RIGHT NOW, aren't we?" asks Larry Godwin of Dallas. "Found yourself an easy target, a real fish in a barrel? Are the cheap shots easier when the target's more visible? When the deer's frozen in your headlights? "No one can deny it was a bonehead thing to do. No one can deny the man deserves punishment ... (but) the real punishment is having to endure blathering drivel from parsimonious hacks such as yourself. "I'm confident Barry will endure this as he has other attacks, to be around long after you and your supercilious, thinly-veiled attempt to advance your career on his bones have been deservedly forgotten."

BUCKSHOT: I'd say you put me in my place, Larry, except you just described "writing a column." Thanks for your keen interest.

"I THINK YOU ARE TOTALLY WRONG about Iverson," writes Drew Willison, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency worker. "My roommate at college grew up with him and I have been around him on numerous occasions. "I think you need to check yourself when you call someone a thug. And in '93 it was some white racist rednecks taunting all of his friends with racial slurs. They deserved to get their butts kicked! Try getting to know a little bit about someone before you question their character."

BUCKSHOT: I appreciate your having an association with Iverson, but I never called him a "thug." I called him a "punk" -- there's a difference -- who has whined for months about being miscast as a "bad guy," then goes out and carelessly puts himself in the company of others who are reckless, law-breaking ... and dumb enough to get caught.

"I THINK THE BEST THING THAT could happen to Barry Switzer would be getting fired by his boss," opines Joe Keeney. "Because sooner or later, Jerry Jones will use him for a goat anyway!!!"*

BUCKSHOT: Old goat to scapegoat. Could happen.

"YOU ARE THE IDIOT!" agrees The Yarrishs -- Al and Joanne "In Texas, guns are in almost all homes, and most cars. That goes for Oklahoma and Arkansas. The three states (Barry) lived."

BUCKSHOT: I, until just recently, lived in Texas for 15 years. Secured guns in homes and cars were never a problem. Nitwits setting off airport security with loaded guns always troubled me, though.

"I SUPPOSE YOU HAVE NEVER done anything stupid in your adult life, have you?" asks Ric Zahourek "Barry made an honest mistake, and you guys in the media can't wait to jump on him and call him names. Please, get off his back!

"After seven years and three Super Bowls, the only one who gets credit is Jimmy Johnson. Suddenly, he's a genius, but old Jerry and Barry are still idiots or, as you put it, lightweights.

"Get over your childish tirades and start reporting the news and assessing everyone by the same standards. You think Jimmy is going to win in Miami? Want to put some money on it? He won't even get the Dolphins to the Super Bowl, much less win it."

BUCKSHOT: Of course, I've done some stupid things. Betting on any AFC team to win another Super Bowl in my lifetime would be one of them.

"WHY DID BOZO BARRY HAVE A loaded gun at home where (children) could easily find it?" asks Dave Betterton. "He even had it on the bed!

"I'd say make the pair of them (Switzer and Iverson) work every Friday and Saturday night in an inner-city ER room for at least a year, maybe they'd learn both humility and what guns are used for."

BUCKSHOT: Good idea, Dave. But that makes far too much sense to be considered in this country.

"IT SEEMS THAT DALLAS COWBOYS are exempt from the laws of the United States of America," writes Donalee Small. "Instead, the Grand Inquisitor Jerry Jones metes out punishment to the Court Jester Barry Switzer."

BUCKSHOT: Don't insult court jesters. It was a very honorable trade, or so I hear.

"AS A LIFELONG COWBOY FAN, I'm ready for this team to be retired," warns Willard Mills, also speaking on the behalf of his wife, Sally. "Jerry Jones lost me as a fan because he should have stood up for his man.

"There is a difference between illicit behavior and what Switzer did. If Jones really wanted to clean up the team, he should have found a way to rid the roster of Erik Williams."

BUCKSHOT: Williams, character aside, is a 328-pound offensive tackle. Switzer is a poor excuse for an NFL coach. Now what's your question?

"COME ON BIG GUY, GIVE US Cowboy fans a break," pleads Joan Craig, aka, Bleeding Cowboy Blue. "We know Barry is somewhat of a bonehead, but go pick on another team for a while.

"Start with Bam Morris and the Ravens. By the time you bleed that one dry, maybe someone else will screw up for you."

BUCKSHOT: Switzer is like your eccentric uncle whom you only see at Thanksgiving and Christmas -- two days that you make sure none of your friends are around.

"YOUR ARTICLE WAS RIGHT ON TRACK. I detest Allen Iverson and everything he stands for," writes "Plexus" Nick of Minneapolis. "He is a punk, gangster-wannabe. Kick his ass out of the league!

"As for Switzer, what can you say? Oklahoma in the NFL. Flush him and get a coach worthy of the Pokes!"

BUCKSHOT: You're possibly a bit rough on our "Twin Whinos of the Week," Nick. But I do like a man with solutions.

"THE MAN MAY BE A GOOBER, but even he isn't foolish enough to intentionally carry a gun into an airport," write Bill & Danelle Brown.

BUCKSHOT: The man did what he did because he's a goober.

"PROFESSIONAL SPORTS ARE GOING to the dogs," observes Derek Rose of Maryland. "Unfortunately, college and other "amateur" ranks aren't far behind. Whatever happened to dignity, honor and class?"

BUCKSHOT: I had to look those words up, Derek. You don't see them anymore. I think they went out with three-cornered hats and powdered wigs.

"WHAT KIND OF MORON FORGETS where his 'heat' is?" asks Eric Davis. "Barry should have the book thrown at him.

"He has blatantly violated NFL policy and whether, knowingly or unknowingly, committed a felony offense. If he walks, I will lose what little respect I have for the Dallas organization and the policies set forth by the governing agencies of professional sports."

(Editor's note: Switzer was charged with the lesser of two crimes: a Class A misdemeanor for carrying a handgun without a permit, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $4,000 fine; whereas, he could've been charged with a third-degree felony, punishable up to 10 years in prison and up to $10,000.)

BUCKSHOT: Ever play Monopoly, Eric? Barry used that neat little "Get out of Jail for $75,000" card.

"I HAVE BEEN A COWBOY FAN FOR 20 years now," writes The Nielsen, calling himself a Cowboy Fan Through Thick and Thin. "And I have never heard of such an idiotic mistake."

BUCKSHOT: Stay tuned. Switzer still has a job, which is a crime in itself.

"GIVE US SOME REAL HEROES!!!!!" pleads Chuck Kosel of Winona, Minn. "I grew up with Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Bobby Allison, Jim Kaat and many other good guys to look up to. Now look at the crap our kids have to face.

"Last weekend, out of disgust for the sports scene, I watched a NASCAR race for the first time. You know what? I really enjoyed it. I have not seen any of these guys names on the police blotters.

BUCKSHOT: My theory on that is that everybody has an urge to break the law. NASCAR drivers satisfy theirs through legalized speeding.

"I AM A PASTOR AND THERE ARE a lot of things that I don't approve of about the Bootleggers Boy," admits Pastor Ridge LaMar. "But several years ago I did exactly the same thing Barry did at the same airport. I checked my luggage through DFW with a .357-caliber Magnum in it. I did not remember it until I had already passed inspection. I nearly passed out.

"You may or may not agree with carrying a gun, which I no longer do, but his mistake is something that could happen to anyone. Matthew 7:1-5 (The Living Bible):

1 "Don't criticize, and then you won't be criticized.
2 For others will treat you as you treat them.
3 And why worry about a speck in the eye of a brother when you have a board in your own?
4 Should you say, 'Friend, let me help you get that speck out of your eye,' when you can't even see because of the board in your own?
5 Hypocrite! First get rid of the board. Then you can see to help your brother."

BUCKSHOT: Thank you for the confession and scripture. But with all due respect, I think Barry Switzer is going to have to take a number. In Dallas, "God's Coach" will always be Tom Landry.

FINALLY, THIS E-MAIL FROM BIGBONE111@aol.com: "Cowboys will be cowboys!!"

BUCKSHOT: Yes, Boneman ... and boneheads will be boneheads.

Sorry, Pastor.


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