Pros and Cons (12 page)

Both the Drug Task Force and the district attorney’s office received numerous unsubstantiated reports that Morris was a supplier to Paris, Texas, a small town located twenty miles from Cooper.

However, the most compelling evidence of prior drug abuse by Morris came from his own admission. In a pre-sentence investigation report contained in Morris’s criminal case file in Rockwall County, he admitted not only to smoking marijuana since high school but to regular use of marijuana throughout his college football career at Texas Tech. Morris indicated that he was never caught or punished while on scholarship, supported by reports received by the Drug Task Force from Texas Tech.

Rooney believed that Morris would have little incentive to address his problem if the Steelers simply allowed him to return to the lineup. Although it required letting go of their best running back, the Steelers believed the decision to be in Morris’s best interest, as well as the team’s. “Number one, it might wake him up,” said Rooney. “Number two, if he would have returned here, it could have been that kind of situation where, ‘Well, I beat it this time, I’ll beat it the next time.’ Then there’s no real regrets or sentiments for overcoming a problem.”

After the Steelers cut Morris, the NFL imposed a four-game suspension on him for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. The NFL took four games away from a guy who admitted to regular illegal drug use since high school and who, at the time of his arrest, was found transporting a small rock of cocaine and enough marijuana to get the entire league high. The street value of the drugs in Morris’s gym bag was worth more money than Morris lost in four games under his salary with the Steelers.

Then on September 22, 1996, the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh’s division rival, signed Morris to a two-year contract worth $1.8 million. Morris’s annual salary with Pittsburgh had been $185,000.

“We took a stand,” said Tom Donahoe, Steelers director of football operations. “This is a guy who might have been the Super Bowl MVP if we win the game. But what he did, we felt was wrong. We weren’t interested in having that type of player on our team. Now it seems as if he gets rewarded for what he did. What type of message does that send?”

M
orris’s second chance helped the Ravens. Over the final seven weeks of the 1996 season, Morris rushed for more yards than any other back in the AFC. He also scored five touchdowns and caught twenty-five passes.

“People who make mistakes should get a chance to redeem themselves,” said Ravens owner Art Modell, who took the high road in justifying his decision to pay a recently convicted felon $1.8 million. But he too wanted the public to believe that he had no tolerance for crime. “If [Morris] shows me I made a mistake, he’s gone.”

The right-to-redemption approach is a favorite theme for coaches, general managers, and owners who hire talented player-criminals. But players with Morris’s skills are scarce commodities. Thus regardless of character deficiencies, the ability to rush for 1,000 yards is guaranteed job security in the NFL.

I
n order to avoid his prison sentence, Morris agreed to a strict set of probation terms. In addition to neither possessing a firearm or using illegal drugs, Morris was barred from consuming any alcoholic beverages for six years. Further, he was to avoid entering
any
establishments where intoxicating beverages are sold, to avoid association with persons previously convicted of a crime or currently on probation. Additionally he had to attend mandatory monthly meetings with a probation officer in Maryland. Violation of any one of these terms could land Morris in a Texas prison for ten years.

The likelihood of the average law-abiding citizen going six years without as much as taking a drink, much less entering an establishment that sells alcohol, is remote. For a young millionaire living life in the fast lane, it was simply unrealistic. Even Ravens personnel were skeptical of Morris’s ability to fully comply with these terms. “You’re always wondering,” admitted Ravens running back coach Al Lavan. “He has to show you he is taking the right steps in his preparation, and he has to do it over a long period of time. Until that happens, you’re always holding your breath, wishing, hoping, cajoling. You’re never lulled to sleep thinking that it’s going to change unless you absolutely see a change over a long period of time.”

In January 1997, just weeks after the season ended, Morris failed a league-administered urinalysis test. The failed test came as no surprise to his teammates, some of whom shared their frustration with the
Baltimore Sun.

“I can’t say I’m really surprised,” said quarterback Vinny Tes-taverde. “I love Bam—he is a good guy to have in the locker room—but until he shows otherwise, you can’t count on him.Until he returns, I won’t count on him. If there is a problem, he needs to address it.”

“I don’t think it was a shock,” echoed kicker Matt Stover.

And Morris’s backfield partner Earnest Byner was likewise aggravated by the failed test results. “He has to learn from this,” said Byner. “He has to grow up as an individual.”

The NFL slapped another four-game suspension on Morris. Modell, meanwhile, backed away from his earlier threat to dismiss Morris if he made any more mistakes. Bottom line: Morris was far too valuable to the team as a running back to take him out of the lineup for an extended period of time. “He’s going to come back, providing he’s clean of mind, clean of body and in condition,” Modell told the
Baltimore Sun.
“A prudent young man will come back fit as a fiddle to play football here.” In short, it was status quo for the NFL and the Ravens.

News of the failed drug test prompted Ray Sumrow to request the test results from the NFL’s front office. If the news was true, Morris had violated the terms of his probation. As part of the Texas Probation Department’s authorization for Morris to leave the state to pursue his playing career in Maryland, Morris had to sign a waiver granting consent to Texas authorities to search any records pertaining to him, including medical records, as long as he remained on probation.

However, the NFL rejected the attempt by the prosecutor’s office to see the file. NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello said that the test results were privileged under Texas law due to their being part of a voluntary substance abuse program.

W
ith Morris’s test results locked away by the NFL in New York, Morris served a second four-game suspension and again returned to the Ravens’ lineup. Were it not for the NFL’s refusal to turn the records over to Texas authorities, Morris in all likelihood would have been in prison instead of on the football field.

“It’s a given that Mr. Morris does not want me to revoke his probation,” said Sumrow. “And so long as the NFL can protect him, he’s probably pleased that the NFL is doing what they are doing. Anything otherwise would be fatal to him. But this is the state of Texas that’s trying to get this information because we’ve got a person who’s on probation. It is against public policy [for the NFL to withhold test results] when it is the government who is trying to get this information in order to carry out its function.”

Even Morris’s attorney viewed the NFL’s stance as having a self-serving element. “The primary interest they have is public perception of them,” said Ethington. “They want to be held in the highest regard by the general public. So, if for appearance purposes, it is better that they severely discipline somebody, they’re going to do it. If it is in their interest to let some guy slide, they’re going to do that.”

In the short term, Morris benefited from the NFL’s refusal to cooperate with Sumrow, just as he did when Modell first offered him a contract on the heels of losing his job in Pittsburgh. “The reality is that they may not be helping Mr. Morris,” insisted Sum-row. “If he has a substance abuse problem and he doesn’t get help, he’s going to continue to have a substance abuse problem.

“I don’t really like the league dictating how we practice law. Their job is entertainment and ours is practicing law. And I take issue with their policy. They are obstructing the process. There’s no question about it. They hold documentation that’s certainly discoverable and relevant to the matter down here.”

Morris rushed for a combined 128 yards on thirty-two carries and scored a touchdown in his first two games back. Meanwhile Sumrow verified that Morris had missed nearly half of his monthly scheduled probation appointments since signing with the Ravens.

Morris’s neglect to comply with the more simple formalities of his probation, such as checking in on a monthly basis with a probation officer, were sufficient for Sumrow to issue a warrant for his arrest. Aware that a warrant was imminent in Texas, Morris made a revealing public admission at the Ravens’ camp in Maryland.

“I always thought I had an attention problem when I was growing up, but it was just something we never pursued or checked out,” Morris told reporters. “The doctor explained it as a part of your brain that didn’t develop—you don’t think clearly. I said, ‘Yeah, I can see times I can be talking about something and jump off that and start talking about something else.’”

In the same statement, Morris conceded that he had little self discipline. “Even when I was growing up I’d do things I know I shouldn’t do,” he said. “Good or bad, I did it because I can. Discipline was always a problem.”

There were many aspects of Morris’s probation that Ravens management could not help him meet. But when signing a player whose failure to satisfy all the terms of probation could land him in prison for up to ten years, the Ravens certainly had a moral obligation to help persuade Morris to keep his meetings with his probation officer.

On October 10 Morris surrendered to Texas authorities and was jailed. The following day he posted $500,000 bond and returned to Maryland. He had two months before a judge would conduct a hearing to determine his fate.

On October 26 he was back in the Ravens’ lineup, leading the team to victory over the Redskins, 20-17. In the game he set career highs in attempts and yardage, running the ball thirty-six times for 176 yards and a touchdown. The following week in a loss to the Jets, he ran the ball thirty-one times for 130 yards.

“They [the Ravens] care about his performance on the field and his availability to perform on the field for a reasonable cost to them,” said Ethington. “I don’t know Art Modell, but I know that he’s a practical guy. And I know that he would want to have the benefits of Morris’s talents on the field. This is business.”

“It’s real disheartening,” insisted Drug Task Force Commander Patsy Williams, referring to the Ravens’ decision to continue playing Morris. “Do you know how many kids look up to Bam? In all my speeches at the high schools, the immediate question is ‘Aren’t you the ones who got Bam Morris?’”

As Williams glanced proudly at the picture of Troy Aikman and the framed Aikman football card atop her desk, she recalled Cow-boy players showing up in Oklahoma City after the bombing to aid victims. “They have such an avenue to reach people,” she said. “When those players—Moose Johnston, Emmitt, Troy—visited the hospital, those kids will remember that for the rest of their lives.”

Then Williams glanced at the table across the room from her desk. The six bales of marijuana seized from Morris’s Mercedes two years earlier covered the tabletop. Still packed in the original foil and Saran wrap, red markers indicated spots where the crime lab detected Morris’s fingerprints. A little plastic bag with a white rock of cocaine lay next to the pot. “But for one of them to ruin his career like this, it has such a negative impact on kids. Football is so big. The kids look up to that profession, and they are the leaders.

“I’m out trying to teach kids that involvement with drugs and people who use drugs will ruin their lives. But they point to Bam and say, ‘Well, he got in trouble and he’s still playing football.’”

T
he Ravens’ approach with Morris remained unchanged even after he was arrested on November 17 and charged with assaulting a woman, just thirty days after being released from his brief overnight stay in a Texas jail. Morris was arrested while attending a party for Ravens teammate Orlando Brown. Alcohol was present and people were intoxicated. A police report filed after officers were dispatched to the club indicated that the alleged victim had red marks on her neck and sustained scratches on her chest and face.

When Ethington received word of the arrest in Maryland, he knew Morris would be sent to prison in Texas. But while the legal ground was shifting beneath Morris, his ability to keep suiting up and running the football on Sundays maintained a false sense of security and invincibility.

Even Sumrow was distressed over the inevitable consequences that awaited Morris after his arrest in Maryland. Morris had faithfully reported to Rockwall the previous summer and diligently mowed lawns to fulfill his community service obligations. He even visited Sumrow in his office, talking openly about how he was remorseful for letting his parents down by his actions. “The prosecutor and the probation office have personal feelings that are sympathetic to Morris,” Ethington confirmed. “But they feel a strong obligation to do their job.”

On December 22, the Ravens lost their last regular season game to the Bengals, 16-14. Morris carried the ball thirteen times for twenty-two yards and caught five passes for twenty-five yards.

On January 12, 1998, District Judge Sue Pirtle accepted Sum-row’s recommendation and sentenced Morris to 120 days in prison for violating his probation. “I know that you have many agents and other people who try to protect you, but if you come back here, there will be no one who can protect you from this,” said Pirtle. “If you don’t think you can stay straight for 10 years, you’re making a big mistake.”

Pirtle also sentenced him to 300 hours of community service and ruled that Rockwall officials had the right to demand any future NFL drug tests should Morris return to the league after his release.

Tears welled up in Morris’s eyes as the bailiff tried unsuccessfully at first to apply the handcuffs around his large wrists. Finally, court officers escorted Morris out of the courtroom and into a police cruiser for transportation to the jail.