Book rips DeSean Jackson, labels him a 'jerk'
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Book rips DeSean Jackson, labels him a 'jerk'
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
A recently-released book slams Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson and ranks him No. 86 among all-time jerks in sports.
Michael Freeman, CBSSports.com columnist and author of The All-Time Biggest Sports Jerks: And Other Goofballs, Cads, Miscreants, Reprobates, and Weirdos (Plus a Few Good Guys), rips Jackson for letting go of the ball before crossing the goal line in a game which we all remember last year against the Cowboys.
Writes Freeman:
Sadly, Jackson is likely a lost cause. He clearly doesn't listen to anyone and could give a damn about how he's viewed, which are two dangerous aspects of his personality. He's practically destined to jackass himself out of football (yeah, the Jerk Council used jackass that way). Then he'll look back and wonder what the hell happened.
According to amazon.com, the book was released in late May so maybe this is old news. But we don't remember hearing much about it until about a few hours ago. If you click on the link above and are a customer, you can read the chapter on Jackson online.
Freeman, who is African-American, said Jackson degrades himself by his actions:
There's no difference between Jackson's actions -- and the cadre of fools like [Terrell] Owens and his ilk -- and those African Americans who once debased and degraded themselves because that's what they believed whites wanted to see.
Rich Quinones of 1290 The Ticket in Delaware had Freeman on to discuss the book and his chapter on Jackson. He said he stood by what he wrote, but he didn't really slam Jackson on the air as he did in the book.
"Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he's not a lost cause but I think he had done that in college [celebrated before crossing the goal line] so I think that's why I wrote that he's a lost cause," Freeman said. "He's young so he could easily prove me wrong but he doesn't seem interested in proving me wrong. He seems interested in doing that kind of stuff so that's what makes me a little worried about him."
My problem here is that Freeman used Jackson as an example about what he described as a larger issue. That doesn't really seem fair, considering there was no indication in the book or radio interview that Freeman had ever even talked to Jackson.
Back in June, I linked to a video with Jackson in which he discussed the death of his father, Bill, in the offseason. Click on the link, and tell me if that sounds like the same guy Freeman is describing. There are only 85 people in the history of sports that are bigger jerks than him? Because he celebrated early before crossing the end zone?
I'm not buying it.
Maybe I'm wrong, but Jackson seems to be generally liked by teammates, coaches, the media, and well, pretty much everyone here who watched him last season. Just earlier this week, Rich Hofmann of the Daily News wrote about Jackson's intelligence and how his hard work off the field and in the film room enabled him to have such a stellar rookie season.
Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and Freeman has a strong one, but I think he's off-base with his assessment of Jackson here.
Thanks to the folks at 1290 for the heads-up on the book and the interview.
Update: Just figured out that much of what Freeman wrote about Jackson in the book was originally published in an online column last season.
Well, if he is a jerk, he fits right in with this organization.— UncleEddie- I could robably name 85 Philadelphia players who are/were bigger jerks than Desean— mikeyhigs
- Freeman seems like another journalist trying to make a name for himself by putting others down. Sad.— Theo1980
- Freeman probably had DJax on his fantasy team and lost because of the boneheaded play. Now he's getting some payback. Sounds to me like he's the jerk.— StopThePanic
- These comments by Freeman are absurd and harsh for someone who probably has never met Jackson and is making these comments only from observing a few plays— Lemur
- Jackson let the ball go. He didn't go stand on Dallas' star, pull out a sharpie, grab pom-poms, flap his arms like a bird (although I would've personally like that one), jump into the stands, riverdance, give the ball CPR...am I missing any? You either drop the ball, or hand it to the ref; He dropped the ball without even a legal spike ...what a jerk (if you can't tell........im being sarcastic. Mr. Freeman...give the guy a great...pick on T.O.— rammbinc
- Its an african american non athlete jealous of the fame,youth and athleticism of Desean Jackson. Jackson probably snubbed him for an interview attempt. The writer has no basis in fact.— igglegreen
it's crazy that a man would rip into another man of his race, and then proceed to basically call him an Uncle Tom when Desean is nothing but a credit to his race & the human race in general. I'm mean the guy has worked hard to where he has gotten, and in every sense exemplifies what determination can do. and I think he does with class.- He was just a little arrogant but that comes with being young...no big deal really...— MFPhils
what a joke— MPatt24- on another note...StopThePanic, I sh* t you not, I WAS playing D-Jax that week on my fantasy team. I seriously wanted to go to Dallas myself & throw the TV set on top of his head. I lost that week by 4 stinking points...100% true story so help me god.
- First of all, Freeman sounds like a jerk...takes one to know one, right? More importantly, Freeman bases his entire opinion of Jackson on that one play? He doesn't appear to know anything about Jackson or have talked to Jackson or anyone who knows him. Anyone who tries to sum up someone's entire character and life on one play like that is a moron.— JimG
- Amazing, that Freeman could publish a book calling Jackson a jerk, and then say, "Maybe I'm wrong." Hey, cement-head, why are you calling him a jerk and then admitting you're wrong?— J H
- My brother and I have started calling him "1 Yard" because of that stupidity, but he was in his 2nd professional game and got a little excited. He won't do it again, but we like to have a good laugh at his expense. But he is going to be a special WR, the way he works with the d-backs in practice to learn his tells says alot about his workethic, maybe this arthor should do some work on that too.— Bleue
- Freeman has been a reverse-racist jerk for many years on that site. Most have his articles have racial overtones. Desean was a rookie, he gets some slack— duffers
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