The New York Urban League and the New York Jets held a press conference Tuesday, February 22, 2005, on the steps of City Hall to announce the return of the Urban League’s annual football game, the New York Urban League Whitney M. Young Jr. Football Classic, which pits two historically black colleges every September, to New York City upon completion of the Sports and Convention Center in 2009.

In attendance were Jay Cross, president of the Jets, Larry Dais, New York Urban League Board Member and Chair of the Football Classic Committee; and Darwin Davis, CEO of the New York Urban League and Maria Castro, President and CEO of the Manhattan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Former Jets all-pro running backs Emerson Boozer and Freeman McNeil were also in attendance, as well as several elected officials and civic and community leaders.

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I spoke with Freeman and Emerson before the event, and we spoke about, of all things at these events, football. It hapens to be unusual on these occasions to talk football. And what did these two great running backs talk about? Blocking backs! Here were two great running backs, talking about blocking. Freeman surprised me when he told me who the best blocking back was that he’d ever run behind: “Dwayne Crutchfield. For two years. If I’d had him blocking for me throughout my career, I could’ve had 2,000 yards rushing yards a season.” But after Crutchfield’s second season, a tragic death in Crutchfield’s family shook him to the core, and he was never quite the same.

I reminded Emerson of that magical season early in his career when he was to the American Football League what Gayle Sayers was to the National. “You were right up there with Sayers,” I said. “Until I tore up my knee” he responded.

The way he said it reminded me…I recall years before Arthur Ashe passed away, speaking with him at a charity function in Manhattan . I told him that I’d seen his classic match with John Newcombe at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium. The two men had battled back and forth for hours, neither man giving an inch, back in the days when there was no cutoff in the number of games that were needed to be played in a set before a winner was decided, leading to sets with scores like 16-14. The match between Ashe and Newcombe was mesmerizing, one of the most gripping, dramatic sporting events I’ve ever seen in person. Ashe’s response to what I’d said was surprisingly wistful. “Yes, but I lost.”

“The agony of defeat” is no cliché with most great athletes; it is something that stays with them for a long, long time, perhaps forever.

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The press conference began with Jay Cross speaking. “We are proud to announce that the New York Urban League will bring the Whitney M. Young Jr. Football Classic from New Jersey to New York City ,” said Cross. “This classic represents the type of event that will generate significant revenue for our City and bring thousands of new visitors to enjoy all that New York has to offer.” Cross reminded the audience that this announcement follows the creation of the Big Apple Bowl – a new annual post season college football game which will be held at the NYSCC as well. Both events will bring the city tens of thousands of visitors and millions in additional tax revenues. Further, he promised in the weeks and months to come, that there will be more announcements of this nature.

I caught up again with Freeman McNeil, later in the day via telephone. “Look at the Super Bowl,” he said. “That is corporate America’s week. There are more hand shakes, more deals made that week than all the rest of the year. An event like this,” he said, referring to the New York Urban League football game, “could have the same impact” on Black America, serving as the platform for a week in which “groups from Atlanta and Detroit and Los Angeles, from everywhere across this country can network. This will create new opportunities to build our community.”

It is not possible to be around Freeman McNeil without catching a good dose of his enthusiasm.

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Had a very pleasant talk with Charles V, Bagli today. I must admit, it was a bit disarming when we first met. After all, we have been criticizing the coverage by The Times for the past year. I felt compelled to ask him if he thought his coverage was biased in light of the editorial stance of the paper, but he reminded me that he’s been covering the stadium issue for more than ten years, since the possibility of George Steinbrenner building a new stadium for the Yankees on the West Side first emerged back in the ‘90’s. He did acknowledge that the headlines have not always accurately reflected the content of the articles that they cover.

The question of bias is always a sticky wicket for a reporter. After all, we all have a point of view. It is idiotic to expect a reporter to be a cipher on any issue of import, further more, would you really want to get your information from such a person? So, if there is a slight predisposition in any one direction, a reckless headline or two might push the reader over an edge.

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Memo to David Oates: You’re a nice enough guy, David, I’m happy for you that you are getting your name in the papers again by presenting the IOC with a letter that they couldn't care less about, with no backing and no standing, an act which can not create anything but only destroy, I'd still love to have a beer with you and shoot the breeze, but would you please, please restrain yourself for the next couple of days.

-Tom McMorrow, Jr.