Thread by @fishsports

On the subject of #AntonioBrown accuser, if I may. A thread.

Your average sportswriter is not qualified to comment on 'how a rape victim should act.'

This is especially true of your below-average sportswriter.

Any journalist should know better than this. Just as we all mourn in our own way, or celebrate in our own way (AB's video 'I'm FREE, Grandma!' seemed off-key to me, but I don't know AB or Grandma, but why does my opinion matter?), a victim of any crime can react uniquely.

Anyone with a journalistic megaphone should understand - no, MUST understand - that the accuser and the accused each have a STORY. (As a journo, how does one forget that?)

And yes, even in a #MeToo time, we are obligated to BOTH assume the innocence of the accused AND assume the credibility of the accuser. The journalist who cannot fathom that should forfeit his credential. Or ...

Or ... #StickToSports ... When should we 'Stick to Sports'? When we're faced with the reality that we are qualified (if we're lucky) to write about X's-and-O's but NOT qualified to write about the tragedy of sexual abuse (and the tragedy of too-often false accusations.)

The journalist who called attention to himself today, thus exposing his lack of credentials, at one point tweeted, 'I'm entitled to my opinion.' I've done this job for 35 years and have NEVER used that phrase. Why not?

Because it's a lame path to firing off lazy and stupid opinions. Everybody is NOT 'entitled to an opinion' - not if the opinion is uninformed, purposely incendiary or just plain ignorant.

The damage done by today's rampage on common sense is not deleted because the tweets are deleted. There might be one more victim who now assumes 'They won't believe me.' There might be one more predator who now assumes, 'That sportswriter empowered me.'

If you are a journalist of my generation, you likely entered this field for one of two reasons: One, you understood and love sports but were not good enough at them (me). Or ...

Two, you thought Woodward & Bernstein were American heroes and you thought, 'Journalism looks like a harbor for the best and the brightest! I wonder if I could fit in there?'

Sadly, my generation was wrong. Too many of us have become hot-take artists, TV screamers and egomaniacs who believe that because 1,000 Dolphins fans want my take on the game, they MUST desire my thoughts on a rape case.

Too many of us in my profession are not the 'best and the brightest.' We're classless ill-mannered dullards empowered by an NFL credential to think we're 'experts on stuff' when in fact, with or without sports, we are oafish and doltish. And for that, I'm truly ashamed.