It’s Time To Stop Dumping On D-Bowe

There has been a lot of hate flowing in the direction of Chiefs WR Dwayne Bowe in the last few days. Some of it is deserved and some of it is absurd.

As you have likely heard, Bowe has made some comments recently that have ticked some people off. It all started a couple of days ago when Pro Football Talk reported some quotes of Bowe’s that will appear in the next issue of ESPN The Magazine. In the report, Bowe basically spills the beans on some former and possibly current teammates. He told the magazine that in 2007, some Chiefs players “imported” women from around the country and put them up in the team’s hotel.

Since Bowe’s words have gotten out, everyone from former Chiefs coach Herm Edwards to Bowe’s former teammate, Jimmy Wilkerson, have weighed in. Herm basically said Bowe should have kept his mouth shut. The former coach also said that if players were bringing girls to the hotels in 2007, he didn’t know about it. Wilkerson flat out called Bowe a liar and claimed that security at the hotels was too tight for the type of behavior Bowe mentioned.

The fallout from this has led to a lot of criticism of Bowe. Some are questioning if he could be punished by the league or by the team. Others are saying he could be talking his way out of Kansas City.

To me, this entire episode is a circus filled with hypocritical ringmasters.

And I’m already over it.

Guess what? The rich and famous sometimes use their riches and to their advantage. They use it for things like getting in to restaurants, clubs and yes, to meet girls.

What Dwayne Bowe said shouldn’t be a shock to anyone except for the fraternity of football players who might have expected him to leave what happened on the road, on the road.

Perhaps Dwayne shouldn’t have run his mouth. Perhaps his friends and teammates on the Chiefs will find it harder to trust him if they can’t break team rules and cheat on their wives and girlfriends without Bowe going to the papers. This could cause a wedge to come between the players in the locker room and contribute to poor team chemistry. No Chiefs fans want that.

But you know what?

It could be way worse.

Dwayne Bowe has been guilty of a lot over the last few years. He has been guilty for dropping too many passes and for showing up to camp out of shape. He is guilty of taking a banned diuretic while trying to take the easy way out to lose weight. Now he is guilty for talking too much.

Oh, yeah, and now that everyone is piling on Bowe for saying “No homo” in an interview.

Bowe is learning a lesson here. It is a tough lesson to learn and in many ways, it is unfair. Bowe is learning that the words that come out of his mouth carry weight. Words can hurt people, words can cause controversy and words can impact how people perceive you as a person. For years, Bowe has received training on how to perform on the football field but I doubt he has had many classes on how to deal with life in the spotlight. They don’t teach you how to deal with slick reporters in school.

I’m not making excuses for Bowe’s loose tongue, I am just pointing out that most of us don’t have reports on our every word. . We don’t have to talk daily to people who make money off our slip-ups. We don’t have to constantly worry about saying the wrong thing.

The hypocrisy is that we have all, at one time or another said something that we simply shouldn’t have said. We have all made boneheaded decisions. We have all shown poor judgment. We have all picked up something we heard other people saying, whether it was out friends or something we heard on the radio. “No homo” is hate speak and you will find it in just about every other rap song on the airwaves today.

How many people have you heard say it? Better yet, how many people have you heard say “that’s gay!” Hardly does a day go by where I don’t hear someone say “that’s gay” or read someone write it in a comment, sometimes on this very site. I myself used to say it in high school. It was a habit. I didn’t say it with intent to harm anyone but I still did it.

The only difference is that Bowe is in the public spotlight. He represents not just himself, but the Chiefs organization and those of us who root for him. He makes millions of dollars for his talents on the field but these days, in a world where the famous can’t do or say anything without the entire world finding out, PR is a big deal.

Bowe is 25 years old now and he really can’t play the “stupid, young kid” card for much longer. It isn’t ok for him to go around saying “no homo” in interviews. He will hopefully learn from these incidents and will take steps to be more careful when he speaks. He owes the Chiefs organization and the fans at least that much, considering the blessed life he is leading.

But we owe it to Dwayne to be fair.

The only thing Dwayne Bowe is really guilty of is loose lips and a little immaturity. He hasn’t broken any laws that we know of and by all accounts I have read, he is a pretty good guy. He has just shown some poor judgment at times. Just like you. Just like me.

Yet people are circling Bowe like a bunch of vultures.

Why don’t we turn our attention to some of the things going on in the NFL that really matter?

How about we focus more on the fact that Ben Roethlisberger has twice, TWICE been accused of raping a woman. Why aren’t we talking more about the fact that he bought an underage girl drinks and had sex with her in a bathroom at a club? Where are the questions and articles asking why he wasn’t at least charged with providing alcohol to a person under the age of 21? They may not have had enough evidence to prove he raped the girl but why did Georgia ignore the other laws he broke?

What about LT? I haven’t heard much more about LT raping an underage, prostitute in a while. You know what I have read? After the initial reports? Stories about how the girl told LT she was of age.

Yeah, cause I am sure he asked.

I’ve read stories about how he didn’t even have sex with her. I’ve read that he just “pleasured himself” while she watched.

Disgusting.

Dear LT,

This is your defense? You expect us to believe you called a pimp and had him send a girl to your room so you could pay her $300 to “pleasure yourself” in front of her?

Even if that ludicrously unbelievable lie is the truth, the girl was still under age, you still exposed yourself to a minor, you still engaged in prostitution and you are still a scumbag.

Kind of creeped out that I stood so close to you at the draft,

Patrick

We, as sports fans and sports media, have our priorities seriously mixed up sometimes. Far too often, we come down harder on the whistle blower than the people actually committing the offenses.

That is the story here, isn’t it? That folks are more concerned with what Bowe said than what the others did.

Dear Dwayne Bowe,

Be careful what you say. Think before you speak. You have to be a more responsible. Please do a better job catching the ball this season.

I’m still a fan and I would much rather cheer for you than men like Big Ben and LT.

Go Chiefs,

Patrick

Yes Addicts.

It could be worse.

You can always count on us here to bring you any relevant about the Chiefs but unless there are any major developments, this is the last you will hear about this tabloid crap on Arrowhead Addict. Bowe isn’t going to get in trouble from the league or the Chiefs. He may take some heat from his teammates and he may be told by Scott Pioli to stop giving interviews but that is it.

We’re going to get back to football.

But feel free to sound off and close the book on this molehill mountain in the comments.