Chiefs' Bowe Talks Out of School

As long as there have been athletes, there have been the women who love them (and vice versa, and in many cases, the alternative is there, too). And as long as there is a nearby microphone, camera or twitter account, athletes will have the opportunity to make utter fools of themselves.

Take the case of Dwayne Bowe, wide receiver of the Kansas City Chiefs, who recently scored the trifecta of 1) acting like an idiot; 2) giving too much information; and 3) selling out his teammates. For those who missed Bowe's ESPN interview, Mr. Bowe candidly described how football players on the road "import" girls to their hotel rooms the Friday before games and, one assumes, play board games with them late into the night -- you know ... just talking. And stuff.

Bowe's description of events did come with the following caveat, however: Only the veterans can afford to do this, and it requires a bit of computer savvy since the "imports" are found online at social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

We're not naive. We know that men being men, and athletes with a lot of money to burn, in prime physical condition, are going to give in to the hunter mechanism that is buried deep within the recesses of their brains. The world's oldest profession has, for millennia, been ready to answer the call (particularly after the invention of the hotel phone). But to cast off this little casual aside to the worldwide leader in sports speaks to either a severe mental deficit or an overactive imagination.

Longtime Chiefs announcer from the team's 1960s heyday, Bill Grigsby, was not amused when I had the chance to chat with him about the allusion to on-the-road transgressions and the apparent sex trade that flourishes in the player's suites. Grigsby's take wasn't pretty.

"Frankly, Bowe has just been filling a space in the Chief's locker room. He is one of those guys who wants attention, so what does he do but get that attention with an interview regarding his teammates and the various things they do on road trips," he said in disgust.

"Most of the good players I have traveled with study the game plan, eat and hit the sack early to be ready for physical activity on Sunday. (Bowe) has one hell of an imagination, cause I have been traveling with the team for 43 years, and the security is such that no one -- particularly young ladies -- can get off the elevator on the player's floor without being stopped by guards. And, you can't buy the guards -- they are not for sale."

Maybe Grigsby, a notorious homer, was just protecting the Chiefs players -- something a veteran does, and something Bowe certainly did not do.

Mark Vasto is a veteran sportswriter and publisher of The Kansas City Luminary.

(c) 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.