Derrick Brooks Opens Up
June 10th, 2010
Not only was Derrick Brooks the best linebacker on the field, he was far and away the best Bucs player when it came to towing the company line to the media.
There was no tougher nut to crack than Brooks. He rarely, if ever, wavered from the cliches and didn’t speak candidy if it could remotely shine a negative light on the Bucs organization. For Joe, that was admirable but it made his weekly radio show rather maddening. Even after getting released, Brooks held his tongue quite well.
Until now.
Set your VCRs, DVRs and alarm clocks for Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. Electronic media czar J.P. Peterson, host of Tampa Bay Sports Central on WTOG-CW44, had a sit down with Brooks that will air on Sunday during the half-hour sports magazine show. Part I is Sunday, and Part 2 goes the following week.
Peterson says Brooks opens up about his disgust and disappointment about the way his Bucs release was handled, among other topics, including how he his pushing Florida State to move to the SEC.
Not much for overhype, Peterson says Brooks got on a roll and just kept on talking in a way he’s never seen before.
June 10th, 2010 at 8:35 am
I don’t agree with getting rid of Brooks, but I can understand why the team might of wanted to do it.
What I don’t understand is why they did not discretely give him options such as ‘would you like to retire’, ‘would you like to quietly test interest from other teams’ there must be a gazillion ways to let the guy go with some dignity.
There’s just no excuse for treating someone who meant so much to this franchise this way. It makes you wonder how much the Glazers really understand or care about what level of player and person Brooks is, or how in touch they can possibly be with the fan base.
June 10th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Scott,
They had to have wanted this to end gracefully. They are not complete morons, are they? Thats common sense. I’m sure they presented those options to Brooks, and he still thought he was his past self and deserved more. Thats what the problem was (I hope), because if they did just blindly cut him without any regard to who he was for us, that is truly sad and would be a huge mistake for Raheem & Dom.
I will wait to see how bitter he still is, but time heals all wounds. I’m sure it will all be water under the bridge when he gets honored by the team when he offically retires or accepts some sort of job with the Bucs.
June 10th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Let me put it this way.
Brooks would have performed in his linebacker position a hell of a lot better than the Head Coach performed in his.
Disgusting what they did to this guy. Totally disgusting and inexcusable.
June 10th, 2010 at 9:52 am
Joe will you be bringing this interview to us? I don’t live in the area and have no chance of hearing it live
June 10th, 2010 at 9:53 am
“They are not complete morons, are they?” Aaaaa, YES.
June 10th, 2010 at 10:04 am
Joe here,
MichiganBucsFan – Joe will bring you highlights, of course.
June 10th, 2010 at 10:37 am
Come on Louie/Eric!
You guys can’t actually believe they would purposely cut Brooks like that unceremoniously and piss off even more fans at a time when they knew there was a huge backlash.
Anyway you look at it, from a personal standpoint, financially, team moral, whatever… it makes more sense to do everything you can do end that the right way. I can’t think that they didn’t see that also.
June 10th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
“Peterson says Brooks opens up about his disgust and disappointment about the way his Bucs release was handled, among other topics, including how he his pushing Florida State to move to the SEC.”
Oh hell yeah! Can’t wait!!!
June 10th, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Tony Dungy or Jon Gruden would not have done this to him.
June 11th, 2010 at 9:05 am
If any of you think that Derrick Brooks was given an option – you are out of your minds. The release was a COMPLETE and utter shock to him. There were no discussions prior to it happening and it was completely Unceremonious – they have no class.