Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, January 23, 1992 TAG: 9201230110
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK SPORTS COLUMNIST
DATELINE: ST. PAUL, MINN. LENGTH: Long
BILLS' SMITH BACKING WORDS THAT CREATED STIR
FORMER VIRGINIA TECH star Bruce Smith, last year's NFL Defensive Player of the Year, isn't backing away from his statements about racist letters he received in Buffalo as he recovered from surgery. As he prepares for Sunday's Super Bowl, he concedes that most fans have been supportive. "I have gotten thousands of letters apologizing for the few idiots," he said.\ Bruce Smith was losing his voice Wednesday. That was 24 hours too late for him to learn that talk isn't always cheap.
Super Bowl XXVI can't arrive soon enough for Smith, the Buffalo Bills' star who likely will find the thunder inside the Metrodome on Sunday night to have a quieting effect.
The Norfolk, Va., native and former Outland Trophy winner at Virginia Tech always has loved to talk. On Tuesday, he spewed forth on some ugly hate mail with racial overtones that he has received in Buffalo. Then, he fell into the media volcano.
During Tuesday's media session at the Metrodome, Smith - frustratingly sidelined for most of the season after training-camp knee surgery - dredged up a continuing story about the anonymous hate mail he receives.
Smith said the mail is "very racial. Imagine the worst possible thing you can say about African-Americans in our society and magnify it 10 times."
Smith wasn't backing away from his day-old statements Wednesday. The 28-year-old defensive end just didn't understand why what he said was such a hot topic.
"I didn't know I was going to be on the front page of USA Today," Smith said. "In my opinion, taking what I said, a few statements, and putting them on the front cover of USA Today is totally blowing it out of proportion."
In his remarks, Smith also intimated that he would consider asking to be traded. That remark has brought a backlash in Buffalo, where some of the large majority of fans who have supported Smith were calling for his exit on radio call-in shows Tuesday night.
"Bruce has gotten a few letters from bigots in western New York," Bills coach Marv Levy said. "He's also gotten a flood of letters decrying those few bigots. What I'm going to tell Bruce is don't let a bigot or two chase you out of town. You're bigger than they are."
Levy said Smith "wasn't going anywhere." Bills general manager Bill Polian said he "guarantees" that Smith won't be dealt.
Smith, who is under contract through 1993 on a five-year, $7.5 million deal, said Wednesday, "I didn't say I was leaving. I'm under contract. I can't go anywhere." He is earning $1.4 million this season.
A day earlier, he told reporters that "there are some options I'm going to explore" after the Super Bowl game, in relation to his future in Buffalo.
Smith, the first pick in the 1985 NFL draft, stressed that he isn't unhappy with the Bills' management, coaches or his teammates.
Smith's recurring hate mail is rooted in his four-game suspension in 1988 for testing positive for drug use. According to NFL rules, a player is suspended if he tests positive twice.
At the end of that season, it appeared Smith might pack his No. 78 and move to Denver when the Broncos offered a five-year, $7.5 million package. Buffalo matched it, so Smith stayed with the Bills.
Smith had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee at the start of the 1991 preseason. He missed 11 of the first 12 games because he continued having fluid on his knee joint. Finally, on Dec. 1, Smith came back for good, but Buffalo basically clinched the AFC championship without him.
Some Buffalo fans wondered on call-in shows whether Smith was goldbricking. The turbulence surrounding Smith heightened early in the season, when a Buffalo reporter asked Levy whether Smith's absence was related to a drug relapse.
Levy screamed denials at the questioner, and there has been no indication that Smith's absence was related to anything other than a balky knee.
"I'm disappointed the way everything happened," Smith said. "I'll take some of the blame for it, and the doctors should take some of the blame. But that's all water under the bridge.
"Let's face it. For the last four or five games, I haven't been 100 percent. I'm out there struggling. Right now, I feel pretty good. Even at the percent I am, whatever it is, I'm sure it's going to be a challenge for [Washington Redskins offensive tackle] Jim Lachey and a challenge for myself, in Sunday's game."
Smith's defensive teammates say his presence on the field has been meaningful, although the player who had 19 sacks last season has only 1 1/2 before he starts chasing Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien.
"He attracts people," linebacker Darryl Talley said. "It's like honey to bees. With him absorbing a bunch of people trying to double- and triple-team him, it makes it a whole lot easier for the rest of us."
All Smith has attracted the past two days is microphones and tape recorders. He expects the same today when the players of both teams meet the media for the final time before kickoff.
Asked whether white players don't receive hate mail as well, Smith said, "I haven't seen it on our team."
Smith said there's a difference "between hate mail and racial things." Asked if the unsigned correspondence is more caustic than "You stink," Smith said, laughing, "Oh yeah. I hear that every day."
Smith wasn't pouring coals on his personal fire, but he wasn't dousing it with the Twin Cities' melted snow, either.
"From my standpoint, I don't think an apology is in order," said Smith, whose toothy smile still flashed occasionally. "There's nothing I did wrong."
Smith conceded he couldn't be certain that he wouldn't get racial hate mail in other NFL cities. Told that Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon has gone through a similar situation, including threats to his wife, Smith nodded his head.
"This is a serious problem that we have all over the world," Smith said. "The only way we can do anything about it is to attack the issue head-on.
"You're not going to accomplish anything holding it deep down inside, because it's just going to tear and eat away at you. . . .
"If you don't stand up for it, if you don't mind it happening, then you're just as guilty."