RIP Jim Brown

[Scoe]

Two best football players to me were always Lawrence Taylor and Jim Brown. I only got to see one of them. They both were so dominant they completely changed how the sport was played.

I was obsessed with sports since I was a kid. The two book reports I remember doing were on two athletes. OJ and Jim Brown. Both had crazy childhoods that they rose from to conquer everything.

OJ was larger than life and the world was his oyster. OJ is a sociopath.

Jim Brown, insane childhood fraught with racism and what turned into black empowerment. He was so dominant in lacrosse they changed the rules of the sport because of him (Gary Gait was still the best IMO) Was so good in football he changed the way that sport was played before he conquered it and retired as a young man. Kicked butt in every single sport he ever played.

Acted his butt off in the Dirty Dozen and fought side by side with the Civil Rights leaders when it all mattered and he was the guy people listened to. When he was an older man, he brokered peace between the Bloods and the Crips. The guy was a giant. His track record with women, not good. Not 100% I can separate truth from fiction but at best it wasn't so good IMO.

Complicated giant and uniquely an American story. He's up there with Muhammad Ali in terms of legends and is right there for greatest athlete of all time.

LT and Jim Brown were total bad asses in Any Given Sunday.

 

[jibsey]

Jim Brown was a very violent man on the football field. Not a surprise. He definitely could get rough with both men and probably women who crossed him off the field. Love him or hate him that's who he was 50-60 years ago. As to anger, it is a human emotion which is not a criminal offense as far as I know.

To be clear, he was never convicted of anything other than assault on a golfer for which he served 1 day in jail. The incident was thrown out because the prosecutor asked the judge to throw out the charges due to inconsistencies in her statements and testimonies. But that is what has stuck with him even to this moment. No one is saying he was without mistakes. We all make them.

Wait a second. 6 arrests for violence against different women is a “mistake” even without convictions? These wives and girlfriends living with him maybe pulled their charges after he “talked” to them? Where have we seen this before? The lack of conviction on 1 or 2 times, maybe but 6? Cmon.

 

[Palatine]

There's an old story about Sam Huff (NY Giants) and Jim Brown. Early in a game Huff, a Middle LB, shot a gap and tackled Brown in the backfield. As they got up Huff told Brown, "You stink."

Later in the game, Brown scored a TD. Then walked past Huff and said, "How do I smell from here?"