See Deion Sanders. See him smiling wheeling his daughter in a stroller in those sneaker commercials. See him play two sports. See him bask in the glow of positive publicity.
Now see and hear this. You already know Deion Sanders is not a man of his word. You should also know he is a thin-skinned, vindictive jerk. He proved this Thursday night. Sanders, who had little do to in a game for the ages, turned a wonderful celebration into an ugly attempt to get even with Tim McCarver.
For this attempt, National League President Bill White now must do the right thing. White must hand down some kind of suspension to Sanders. The World Series would be nice, but we’ll take a week of games in ’93. Sanders already has deemed himself bigger than the game. Now White must cut this me- me-me guy down to size.
During Saturday’s NLCS telecast on CBS, McCarver said Sanders, who told the Braves he would be theirs exclusively during the postseason — before deciding to maximize his endorsement income by playing football, too — was “playing both ends against the middle” for the love of money. “Why should the income from the shoe contracts take precedence over the allegiance to the ballclub?” McCarver asked. “… I guess (his actions) could be, possibly, construed as a breach of contract…”
McCarver’s mind wasn’t on those comments as he stood on a platform Thursday night interviewing Bill White, Ted Turner and Stan Kasten in the jubilant Braves’ clubhouse.
“I sensed something was happening behind me,” McCarver said. “Somebody was doing something and, all of a sudden, someone dumped a bucket of ice water on me. The cold feeling shocked me. I jerked and pulled a muscle in the right side of my back.”
Sanders was the “somebody” with the water. He wasn’t finished. He dumped another bucket of water on McCarver after T-Mac finished an interview with an emotional Otis Nixon.
“Sanders dumped what seemed like a tub of ice water on me. You must understand, I’m in a vulnerable position up there. I holding a microphone and I have a wire with an IFB (earpiece) in my ear,” McCarver said.
Now, McCarver was off the air. He went looking for Sanders. “I’m walking in the middle of the clubhouse looking for Deion and I hear him yelling ‘Where’s McCarver? Where’s McCarver?’ I said, ‘I’m right here,”‘ and he throws another bucket of water at me.
“I said, ‘You know, Deion, you’re a real man,”‘ McCarver said in a disgusted tone. Sanders, showing no guts, walked away.
We won’t attempt to get into Sanders’ mind, but it’s clear he was looking to tango with McCarver on Sunday night. Sanders approached a CBS employee and unloaded a string of obscenities all directed at McCarver. “Yes, I was told he made some unsavory comments,” McCarver said.
McCarver is a rational man. He had been highly critical of the Mets this season. But never had any of his sensitive targets reacted like this. The thing here is Sanders didn’t have the guts to get in T-Mac’s face. This was a sneak attack.
Sean McDonough, McCarver’s broadcast partner, was equally upset. “Sanders should be embarrassed and ashamed,” he said.
McCarver, who said he was so upset by Sanders’ actions he didn’t sleep Thursday night, already has spoken with White. So has CBS production boss Rick Gentile. “This was a ridiculous act and we would like to see some sort of punishment handed down,” Gentile said. “Tim is insistent on that.”
Thursday, McCarver must have been holding back. He didn’t run to bring up his confrontation with Sanders until we asked him about it. McCarver is what’s good about baseball. As a player, he made the most of his skills, putting the team ahead of himself. As a broadcaster, he’s always put the fans’ interests first.
Listening to this, we thought of the fawning coverage (including CBS’) Sanders got during his two-sport day last Sunday. It was anything but objective. We thought of ESPN’s Chris Berman painting a heroic portrait of Sanders, saying the man was living some sort of American Dream and saying, “Go get ’em, Deion.”
Maybe now these tapeheads, and others who canonize Sanders, will dig a little deeper. Maybe now they wake up and realize greed and vindictiveness are not heroic qualities.
