Turning that mess in Atlanta into a positive.

**Shas** · 06-18-2013, 12:23 PM

No, I'm not talking about Ray Lewis and Atlanta--I'm not going for a Mike Florio white-suit joke here.

No, but speaking of tasteless jokes, I'm referring to the story that most everyone has by now heard, about those clowns who host the Mayhem In The AM morning AM radio show in Atlanta, who got themselves fired for incredibly insensitive remarks about Steve Gleason while attempting to be funny about his ALS.

I guess they thought that if it is a rival Saints player who was the target of their joke then it's no-holds-barred. They found out otherwise.

Of course, from a Ravens perspective, we all know about OJ Brigance's situation and I can only imagine the reaction in Baltimore if a Pittsburgh radio station made fun of his disease.

I don't want to start a debate about whether these jokesters should have been fired. I'd rather see this turned into a positive and ask everyone to read Gleason's very good piece that appeared in Sports Illustrated. Gleason was asked to fill in for the vacationing Peter King for his MMQB column. It's pretty compelling to sense how he communicates in a completely normal even, even with sharp humor, who just happens to give a very different outward appearance, which these asses chose to poke fun at.

(I could go off on another tangent here on a related topic that many NFL players are now championing -- bullying of those who are different.)

Anyway, Gleason's piece is a good reminder that the disease, perhaps cruelly, does not strip people of their cognitive abilities, just the ability of their nervous system to function.

By the way, 30,000 Americans are currently diagnosed with ALS. 60% of these people are men, mostly over 40. So figure that's 18,000 men out of approximately 50 million American men age 40-64. That means for the average man age 40-65 the chances of having ALS is .036%.

In the story Gleason notes that there have been 27 former NFL players diagnosed with ALS -- that's out of 13,000 retired players. So by my calculation the rate of retired players contracting ALS is .2%. Meaning ALS would appear to be six times more prevalent among former NFL players than compared to their non-pro-football playing peers, by my rough math.

You start thinking about that, and then you take a look at the studies on cognitive dysfunction among retired players (four in ten may be impaired according to one study), or dealing with a litany of health issues (here's another good, recent story from the Post).

It really makes you wonder how different the game will become, whether they figure out how to change it from within, or whether the lawyers force them to change it from without.

**HoustonRaven** · 06-18-2013, 12:30 PM

I had not heard a thing about this so had to look it up ....

http://deadspin.com/heres-the-steve-...-rad-513889322

**esmd** · 06-18-2013, 12:48 PM

I rad the column yesterday. It was well done, and very emotional. People like Gleason and Brigance demonstrate every day how strong we can be. They're role models for the rest of us.

**RavenScallywag** · 06-18-2013, 12:59 PM

that's not even poking fun at ALS...it's poking fun at ANYONE who has to use an augcom device to speak. My brother in law has Cerebral Palsy and uses one. He and my in-laws are all Redskins fans, but gave a lot of respect to seeing OJ be able to present the Lamar Hunt trophy using his augcom device.

It's just ridiculous. Not even funny if you look past what they are making fun of. It's just downright drivel. One of the guys even realizes at the beginning it's wrong, saying "I don't know if I can play (along)", which one guy turns into a joke by pretending in the augcom voice to say (as Gleason) "I wish I could play"

They deserved what they got, not even for political correctness. They just suck as radio hosts.

**s.r.genovese** · 06-18-2013, 01:14 PM

Raunchy comedy can sometimes be forgiven if it is actually funny.

They weren't even clever. It was cringeworthy.

**NCRAVEN** · 06-18-2013, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by RavenScallywag

that's not even poking fun at ALS...it's poking fun at ANYONE who has to use an augcom device to speak. My brother in law has Cerebral Palsy and uses one. He and my in-laws are all Redskins fans, but gave a lot of respect to seeing OJ be able to present the Lamar Hunt trophy using his augcom device.

It's just ridiculous. Not even funny if you look past what they are making fun of. It's just downright drivel. One of the guys even realizes at the beginning it's wrong, saying "I don't know if I can play (along)", which one guy turns into a joke by pretending in the augcom voice to say (as Gleason) "I wish I could play"

They deserved what they got, not even for political correctness. They just suck as radio hosts.

I agree, the joke aside they sucked at what they did.

**ballhawk** · 06-19-2013, 01:22 AM

ALS is the single most devastating disease known to man. The suffering it inflicts on both the afflicted and their loved ones is second to none. Go on any ALS forum and you will see that most with this awful disease could only wish that they had cancer or a brain tumor. At least then you have hope.

I, for one, in no way buy into this new PC world, where it almost seems like a felony to offend someone. But these guys deserved to get fired. Idiots!

**Raven Werewolf** · 06-19-2013, 09:41 AM

Very nice piece. He has a great outlook about this and seems to be a pretty witty dude to boot. Really hope a cure or at least some kind of breakthrough is found. He and O.J. are as good as any ambassadors you can possibly have at the forefront of this heinous disease. Also while I am not a big fan of his I have always appreciated Curt Schilling's efforts to raise awareness about this.

And I know shock jocks have been the in thing for who knows how long..... but those Atlanta radio guys are punks plain and simple.

**GOTA** · 06-19-2013, 10:30 AM

Gleason is a real icon in New Orleans. We all remember when the Saints came back to the Super Dome for the first time after Katrina and stunned the heavily favored Falcons. It was Gleason who blocked a punt that was recovered in the end zone for the 1st Saints score of that game. That was one of those incredible emotional moments that you always remember. It was very similar to Jermaine Lewis with his 2 return touchdowns against the Jets in game 16 of 2000 as he pointed to the sky in tribute to his deceased son.

Gleason off the field has been just as impressive. He's very active and always increasing awareness of ALS. He even turned their apology into forum to get more attention for ALS. This is one smart dude. He and OJ have a lot to be proud of.

**TheSpiderWebb** · 06-19-2013, 10:40 AM

Not only was this disgusting and in incredibly poor taste, it wasn't even slightly funny. Even if you find that kind of humor acceptable. Obviously this hits a bit closer to home to us in Baltimore than most other places because of O.J., but regardless they deserved to fired. At least one of the guys pretty early said he wasn't going along with the jokes anymore, but he still could have stopped it at any time.

The bright side though is like they say, no publicity is bad publicity. ALS is on the minds of a lot of people who probably don't think about it regularly, and I'm sure not just Steve's foundation, but most ALS-related organizations around the US got a bump in donations this week.

**alien bird** · 06-19-2013, 04:22 PM

Gleason has so much class that he accepted their apologies as sincere and said he hoped the forthcoming focus and awareness would be on ALS and not on what these guys said that got them fired.