from : NY Post site September 17, 2006 -- The Post's Steve Serby chatted Friday with the Jets' top receiver: Q: How have you changed since revealing that your stepfather raped you from ages 10-13? A: I'm more outgoing now, more open with people. It was like something was lifted off me. I put everybody in the same boat before - either I trusted you or I didn't. Now I give everybody a fair shake and a chance. Q: What prompted you to tell the world? A: I have this stage of reaching out to people, and even if it changed one life, and I helped one child, and gave them the strength to come out and say something, I'd be doing something good because I know when I was in that situation, I felt like I was alone. I felt like I was the only person in the world that it could ever happen to, and I was the only one that was going through it. Q: The most touching letter you've received? A: There are people that reveal things to me, that are older than me, they never revealed to their own family, their own parents. People have let me know how much of an inspiration I've been to them to get on with their lives. I had one letter from someone 50-something years old who had never told anyone. I get parents that send me letters and say their kids came to them and told them they were being molested. Q: A Bills linebacker made a disparaging remark to you last season. A: He nudged me with his shoulder and said, "That bleep you did on 'Oprah,' that was some gay bleep." I flared up for a second and just walked away. Q: How gratifying was it watching Chad Pennington come all the way back last week? A: It's like I'm a father being proud of his son. Q: How would you compare the way he was throwing the ball to 2002, 2003? A: In my opinion, his arm is stronger than back then. Q: Biggest trash talker? A: Pac Man Jones (Titans DB). Q: What did he say last week? A: I'm bent over just stretching, and all of a sudden I hear, "Yeah 87, me and you all day! Me and you all day!" I don't say nothing, so he gets mad and comes over like, "Me and you all day! Me and you all day!" I just look at him and smile and he goes, "Yeah, that cool bleep ain't gonna fly when this game starts." Corwin Brown, the [Jets] defensive back coach, said, "OK now, you're barking up the wrong tree, you might want to leave him alone." Nobody has ever talked trash to me before except for him. Q: Did that get you riled up? A: Yeah (smiles). Q: Receivers you like watching? A: Chad Johnson, Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison, Plaxico Burress. Q: Wayne Chrebet as a teammate? A: A guy who kept everything in perspective. On days I didn't feel like doing nothing I could always look over to him and he'd tell me about how young I was and I shouldn't be tired (chuckles). Q: Favorite Jet moment? A: Monday Night Miracle (Oct. 23, 2000). I caught my first NFL touchdown the night we came back (from a 30-7 deficit to beat the Dolphins, 40-37, in overtime). Q: What would you want Jets fans to say about you? A: That I was one of the toughest receivers to walk through the doors here. Q: Bill Parcells? A: He grabbed me after a (Cowboys-Redskins) game and told me, "You're a tough kid; you could always play on my team." Q: Parcells and T.O.? A: Parcells is a no-bleeptaker-kinda guy, so I'm sure T.O. gets the message. Q: Is Eric Mangini that way, too? A: Oh, yes. He walked through the door and laid the law down: "I don't care who you are or what you've done in the past, it's my way or the highway." Q: What was it like for you when Bobby Bowden, after the infamous Dillard's (shoe theft) incident, announced you would not dress for Florida State against Miami? A: One of the darkest moments in my life. It wasn't just the Miami game, it was the rest of my collegiate career that he was letting me know that I was done with. Q: When Herm Edwards left? A: Any time you have a guy that loves you outside of football for who you are, and as a person, it's difficult. Q: Your $8 million, eight-bedroom mansion in Jacksonville? A: (Chuckles). It's probably six or seven bedrooms. Q: Why so big? A: It goes back to me having my privacy. But I am very active, and the things I like to do I put in my home. That way I don't ever have to leave home and I can do it there. Q: Favorite part of the house? A: The bowling alley. Q: Think you'll ever get married? A: Yes ... one day. Q: Ideal mate? A: Someone who's successful. Her main purpose would be keeping me in line and taking care of me and our household. And someone that can cook (chuckles) and who just loves life and wants to be happy. Q: Three dinner guests? A: Martin Luther King; Oprah Winfrey; Malcolm X. Q: Why didn't it work out for you in Washington? A: I didn't feel like I fit into the system with my style of play. Q: Favorite childhood memory? A: The smell of oatmeal in my elementary school. Q: Best advice from your mother? A: Make your own decisions. That way you won't have anybody to blame but yourself. Q: Favorite movie? A: "Gladiator." Q: Favorite actor? A: Denzel. Q: Favorite meal? A: Fried pork chops, rice and green peas.
Ahhhh. . . . Serby nonsense. I live for this. But, does he MIX his rice and peas? Missing that important follow-up; that's just poor journalism right there.
I saw that yesterday. that's a pretty tough lead in question. usually you toss a few softballs before you remind a guy he was raped daily at gunpoint by his stepfather. I find myself rooting twice as hard for coles now that I know everything he's been through. that TD was incredible.
