Leon’s Verbal Benders Leave Us Intoxicated

As a parent, I applaud Mike Price’s insistence that his Washington State Cougars be respectful of their opponents. It is sport’s lost art, and certainly among the most difficult lessons to impart to young athletes weaned on the boorish posturing of Dennis Rodman, Keyshawn Johnson, Venus Williams, et al. Price’s hard line is moral support for us old fudds furiously sandbagging the dike of dignity against this Niagara of insolence.

As a sports writer, I can only add this:

Free Leon Bender!

We’re still waiting to see whether Judge Price finds it necessary to impose a gag order on the silver-tongued devil who holds forth from the Cougars’ defensive line, causing his coach and his publicist - a redundant accoutrement in Leon’s case - to wince each time they find him quoted in the prints.

Which, if we may confess an excess, is inching up on daily.

As of Tuesday, Bender was still available and in possession of his First Amendment rights - though those rights tend to be modified when you’re a member of an athletic team.

And in the matter of Leon Bender, it seems to be Price’s stand that if the player won’t modify them, the coach will - in the name of respect, professional courtesy, you name it.

“Sometimes,” Price said this week, “you just can’t say what you feel.”

Just what has Leon Bender been feeling?

Well, after the season-opening victory over UCLA - you know, when Skip Hicks took a powder on the play of the game - it was Bender’s feeling that players “become soft” when they sign on with the Bruins. After beating USC and suspecting that Trojans coach John Robinson snubbed his offer of a handshake, it was Bender’s feeling that J.R. was “a punk.” He didn’t seem to have one feeling or another after the Cougs dumped Illinois, but in the wake of a 58-0 whitewash of wretched Boise State, Bender felt that the “only reason I sweated was because I had my pads on.”

No, Leon’s assessments have not been generous, but they beg for some context.

Start with UCLA. Just last week, a story in a Los Angeles paper noted that coach Bob Toledo is employing more contact drills and emphasizing increased strength to address the very issue that Bender raised - the perception that the Bruins’ always high-profile recruits often fail to develop into warriors.

John Robinson? Well, his resume is unassailable and he probably didn’t even see Leon extend a hand. But those of us in the media - OK, media punks - who have spent entire careers trying to wrangle an audience with His Student Body Leftness have come to agree that J.R. is a bit of a punk himself and a snooty one at that.

Boise State? C’mon. Leon Bender didn’t schedule this game. That wasn’t Leon letting in fans at five bucks a head because no one had been breaking a sweat hoofing it to the ticket window. Heck, the school made its pronouncement about Boise State long before Leon did.

“I thought I was doing good last week,” Bender said. “I commended their team and everything.”

But we can understand why it all leaves Price squirming.

He’s the guy who has to make nice with Toledo and Robinson. Any insults leveled now go into accounts payable on the bulletin board - in the future when there may be a callow freshman where Leon Bender now makes his mayhem.

And just last week, we witnessed the flip side - Boise State kicker Todd Belcastro’s hilarious screed about Price not recruiting him and just how badly the Broncos were going to take it out on the Cougs. It was sorely needed comic relief in advance of a game that had absolutely nothing compelling going for it.

Later, we learned that the reporter who first used the quotes had been dressed down by Broncos coach Houston Nutt for “not protecting a 19-year-old kid.”

Horseapples.

What had Boise’s Nutt in a bunch was that the writer didn’t protect the program. It had nothing to do with Belcastro, who surely knew the minute he opened his mouth what the consequences might be. And for the rest of the week, we’re told, Nutt stood with arms folded to monitor every interview the writer conducted - the message being that the players had to protect themselves. From the coach’s wrath.

Houston, podna, you have a problem.

The funny thing is, after the blowout - which included a 57-yard field goal by WSU’s Ryan Lindell - Price himself joined in the fun. He rubbed it in wryly about making the right recruiting call on a kicker - an entirely appropriate zinger for an entirely ridiculous situation.

And a refreshing departure. If there’s one thing coaches steer clear of, it’s dead-on, unvarnished assessments. They tell the truth, but rarely the whole truth. So when a player does, it can trigger all sorts of angst.

Bender is no innocent, but neither is he a mean-spirited, trash-talking goon. He is not a me-first sniveler in the mold of Chad Davis, nor does he tackle microphones just to hear the sound of his own voice, a la Chad Eaton. Somebody asks Leon a question and he answers it, as forthrightly - and entertainingly - as he knows how. Fact is, he’s harder on himself than he is on any opponent.

“Leon Bender hasn’t done the things he’s set out to do,” he said Tuesday. “Myself and the whole front four, we can play a hell of a lot better than we have.”

Perhaps the Cougs could just have Leon read a disclaimer before any press briefing. “The following views do not necessarily reflect those of WSU coaches, players or the administration,” or something along those lines.

But in the matter of respect, a little goes a long way. And it’s obvious from their 4-0 record - their huge wins over UCLA and USC and the taking-care-ofbusiness victories over Illinois and Boise State - that the Cougs have approached each game with just the proper amount of respect in their hearts. That’s a credit to Price and the players, Leon included.

It’s made the season, to this point, a blast. And Bender’s blasts have made it better.

You can contact John Blanchette by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5509.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = John Blanchette The Spokesman-Review