Last Tuesday, ESPN aired a special called “Face to Face with Hannah Storm” in which Storm sat down with Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh.
During the interview, Storm and Suh discussed the controversial season Suh had with the Lions where he was labeled as a ‘dirty’ player by fans, players and media alike. Storm even brought up the possibility of anger management for Suh who at times this season seemed to let his emotions get the best of him.
“It’s funny to me. Like I said, I don’t have issues of beating up people in bars. I know it’s not right. And that just doesn’t make sense to me. But I think people try and make their own opinion and I think it’s a storyline. It’s a great storyline. I’ve understood this year that a lot of people see, I guess me being a dirty player as a fun storyline to have and that’s what it is to me. It’s kind of comical to me to keep saying something and really don’t have any substance behind it.”
Yahoo! Sports’ football blog Shutdown Corner didn’t quite agree with Suh’s claims of there being no substance to him being dirty…
I’m not saying that Suh does need anger management ‒ I don’t know him, I’m not around him, and I’ve never given him a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation. However, what’s more comical than saying that he needs anger management classes is saying that there’s zerosubstance behind a claim that he has anger problems.
It also doesn’t have anything to do with how nice a guy Suh is. I believe that he’s a sweet man with a big heart and a charitable streak wider than Vince Wilfork. But a guy can be all those things and still not know where to draw the line on the playing field. It’s not about how nice he is. It’s about how far he dials up the intensity when it’s game time, and when he’s in that state, whether or not he can control himself.
I’m not going to go ahead and say that Suh needs anger management either. However I’m not going to deny some of what Suh did this past season though can be construed as being dirty. Stomping on a guy on the ground is never justified even if they’re untying your shoes.
It seems as though the biggest problem with Suh is immaturity.
He came into the league with a lot of hype and a lot of expectation. He was also drafted by a team that was only a couple of seasons removed from going 0-16. So it’s understandable that he would try to establish himself as a guy that’s trying to chance the image of team known more for futility than success.
But like any young player in the league, he’s going to have to mature and for Suh he may have more work to do in the department than most players in his position.
Ref: Yahoo! Sports, ESPN.com, Getty (image)
