http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_5684047,00.html
Back in 1998, the news that basketball star Shawn Kemp had fathered seven children by six women was considered quite scandalous. Sports Illustrated put it on the cover. Next to a picture of a little boy holding a big basketball was the headline: "Where's Daddy?" Well, as you know, sports records are made to be broken.
Meet the new record holder, Broncos running back Travis Henry. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday that court documents in a Georgia child support case show Henry has fathered nine children by nine women across four southern states.
Nine. A baseball team.
Henry has not denied the report. Monday, he said through a team spokesman he would take only football-related questions. I contacted his Atlanta lawyer and left messages for his agent, asking both for any mitigating factors that might be mentioned in Henry's defense. Neither offered a comment.
Of course, I don't know what Kemp has been up to lately, so I can't say for sure that nine kids by nine women is the current record for reproductive irresponsibility by a pro athlete, but I'm going with it until I hear different. I am aware Wilt Chamberlain claimed many more conquests, but we are talking about the end result.
As a public service to the Broncos, I would list every available method of birth control if I had the space. Since I don't, I have one word for Henry: condoms.
Broncos coach Mike Shanahan was naturally very pleased that I brought it up.
"I don't ever talk about someone's personal life," he said. "I've talked with him, but the conversations that I have about his personal life will stay between us."
Leave it to Shanahan to get right to the papoose of the matter, which is: Is this really any of our business?
I mean, I'd write about it anyway because sports are all about records. Assuming Henry didn't use steroids to achieve this one, it counts.
But seriously, is it any of our business?
If you have a Libertarian side, it says no. Being free means doing what you like, so long as you aren't hurting anyone.
Ah, but there's the rub, although I wouldn't use that expression around Henry. The reason we know about his off-field productivity is that judges keep ordering him to pay child support and, in at least one case, to establish a trust for a 3-year-old because of past failure to pay child support.
Failure to support your own kids makes you a deadbeat dad, and deadbeat dads are an epidemic in America. At the very least, this makes Henry part of that problem. Being a deadbeat dad when you make millions is even worse.
It doesn't help that the Georgia court documents show him spending nearly $250,000 of his Broncos signing bonus on a Mercedes and gold jewelry. Self-absorbed much?
One of the few conclusions most people can agree on in post-Darrent Williams Denver is that parenting is the single- most important factor in how kids develop and whether they end up susceptible to the street gangs that killed Williams.
No matter his time in the 40, Henry can't run fast enough to play daddy to nine kids in nine households across four states.
Perhaps his kids will be lucky enough to have good stepdads. Then again, perhaps they'll join the legions of the American fatherless, a profoundly sorry legacy for a man of Henry's gifts.
I asked Shanahan if Henry's off-field activities - football's catch-all euphemism - were part of the calculation when he signed him as a free agent in March.
"You talk about everything," he said. "You talk about all those scenarios, situations that are in somebody's background. But I would never share that, obviously, with anybody outside."
I am told the Broncos were aware Henry had multiple child support responsibilities, not uncommon among pro athletes, but were unaware of the magnitude of the multitude.
Finally, I asked Shanahan if Henry's proclivities are part of "character" as he defines it. I asked this because if and when the Broncos come from behind to win a game in the fourth quarter this year, their coaches are certain to attribute it to "the character on this football team."
And I wonder how a man who makes babies and leaves them strewn across the countryside can become a man of character by putting on a football uniform.
"Everything's part of the evaluation process," Shanahan said. "I'm not going to get into detail, but when you make a decision, you weigh everything. So, do I weigh that? Sure, I do."
For coaches, this ranks well down the list of bad behavior, certainly below domestic violence and dog fighting and drunken driving.
But if you're a parent and you picture those kids scattered across the South while Henry runs for glory on the gridiron, you might just find it a little harder to think of him as your hero.
Back in 1998, the news that basketball star Shawn Kemp had fathered seven children by six women was considered quite scandalous. Sports Illustrated put it on the cover. Next to a picture of a little boy holding a big basketball was the headline: "Where's Daddy?" Well, as you know, sports records are made to be broken.
Meet the new record holder, Broncos running back Travis Henry. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Saturday that court documents in a Georgia child support case show Henry has fathered nine children by nine women across four southern states.
Nine. A baseball team.
Henry has not denied the report. Monday, he said through a team spokesman he would take only football-related questions. I contacted his Atlanta lawyer and left messages for his agent, asking both for any mitigating factors that might be mentioned in Henry's defense. Neither offered a comment.
Of course, I don't know what Kemp has been up to lately, so I can't say for sure that nine kids by nine women is the current record for reproductive irresponsibility by a pro athlete, but I'm going with it until I hear different. I am aware Wilt Chamberlain claimed many more conquests, but we are talking about the end result.
As a public service to the Broncos, I would list every available method of birth control if I had the space. Since I don't, I have one word for Henry: condoms.
Broncos coach Mike Shanahan was naturally very pleased that I brought it up.
"I don't ever talk about someone's personal life," he said. "I've talked with him, but the conversations that I have about his personal life will stay between us."
Leave it to Shanahan to get right to the papoose of the matter, which is: Is this really any of our business?
I mean, I'd write about it anyway because sports are all about records. Assuming Henry didn't use steroids to achieve this one, it counts.
But seriously, is it any of our business?
If you have a Libertarian side, it says no. Being free means doing what you like, so long as you aren't hurting anyone.
Ah, but there's the rub, although I wouldn't use that expression around Henry. The reason we know about his off-field productivity is that judges keep ordering him to pay child support and, in at least one case, to establish a trust for a 3-year-old because of past failure to pay child support.
Failure to support your own kids makes you a deadbeat dad, and deadbeat dads are an epidemic in America. At the very least, this makes Henry part of that problem. Being a deadbeat dad when you make millions is even worse.
It doesn't help that the Georgia court documents show him spending nearly $250,000 of his Broncos signing bonus on a Mercedes and gold jewelry. Self-absorbed much?
One of the few conclusions most people can agree on in post-Darrent Williams Denver is that parenting is the single- most important factor in how kids develop and whether they end up susceptible to the street gangs that killed Williams.
No matter his time in the 40, Henry can't run fast enough to play daddy to nine kids in nine households across four states.
Perhaps his kids will be lucky enough to have good stepdads. Then again, perhaps they'll join the legions of the American fatherless, a profoundly sorry legacy for a man of Henry's gifts.
I asked Shanahan if Henry's off-field activities - football's catch-all euphemism - were part of the calculation when he signed him as a free agent in March.
"You talk about everything," he said. "You talk about all those scenarios, situations that are in somebody's background. But I would never share that, obviously, with anybody outside."
I am told the Broncos were aware Henry had multiple child support responsibilities, not uncommon among pro athletes, but were unaware of the magnitude of the multitude.
Finally, I asked Shanahan if Henry's proclivities are part of "character" as he defines it. I asked this because if and when the Broncos come from behind to win a game in the fourth quarter this year, their coaches are certain to attribute it to "the character on this football team."
And I wonder how a man who makes babies and leaves them strewn across the countryside can become a man of character by putting on a football uniform.
"Everything's part of the evaluation process," Shanahan said. "I'm not going to get into detail, but when you make a decision, you weigh everything. So, do I weigh that? Sure, I do."
For coaches, this ranks well down the list of bad behavior, certainly below domestic violence and dog fighting and drunken driving.
But if you're a parent and you picture those kids scattered across the South while Henry runs for glory on the gridiron, you might just find it a little harder to think of him as your hero.
