Who's Right? Who's Wrong?*

I'm not much of a horn-tooter but sometimes it's nice to know I'm not so far-fetched in my opinions. So I'm taking particular solace in the fact that both Mike Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser on PTI agreed with my take on Vince Young, saying that there might be something to this since his mother is making this public plea, and this isn't just "no big deal," and that he is probably having touble adjusting to the glare of the pro QB light. Kornheiser also suggested that he needs time, and that it's probably fortuitous that he's injured so he has some time to think. Or maybe because he's hurt, his condition was exacerbated. But it sounds like this was just the tipping point, so hopefully Young will use this time wisely.

Then, Randy Moss echoed my comments about Tom Brady's commitment despite his injury. Following reports that Brady tore both his ACL and MCL (meaning he'll have surgery and heal in time for training camp), Moss said:

"We saw Tom today," Moss said in a national conference call. "I am not sure how much longer we are going to see him, but he is here today and has been uplifting and keeping a positive attitude. I think that goes a long way with not only him but the team as well."

Moss said Brady was "upbeat" during his visit.

"He is still the same old Tom Brady," Moss said. "I think that is what a lot [of] people don't really understand. A lot of times when guys get hurt, you might not see him around the locker room for months at a time."

Nice to know that sometimes I kinda know what I'm talking about.

One story that has gotten way out of control is this mess about "Takum" Bell and the stolen Gucci bags. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, now the woman who returned the bags to the Lions is coming out to tell her side of the story and clear her name (although she didn't want to be identified, I guess someone knows who she is). A few days ago, the other released Lion, whom Bell alleged was the person who had asked him to pick up the bags, came out and basically called Bell a liar (love this interview format):

[Victor] DeGrate said he never asked Bell to pick up anything. He said he didn't
leave behind any backpack, did not know the woman to whom Bell took the bags and had told all of this to the Lions.

"I just know I had nothing to do with it," DeGrate said. "What he did is his business. Why he said what he said, I don't know. I can't do nothing for you or for him as far as that goes. ...

"The way I just figure, he got caught up in a jam and that was the best thing going at the time, was to say what he said. ...

"When I left there, I left. I had nothing to do with none of it."

DeGrate did not leave a backpack behind?

"I had nothing to do with none of it," DeGrate said.

When told Bell claimed he took the bags to DeGrate's friend, DeGrate laughed, paused, then said: "If it was my friend that he took them to, then I'm pretty sure I would have had something to do with it more than what I did, which is none."

DeGrate said he learned Bell had used his name when people started calling him about it. Asked how the Lions tracked down the woman, he said:

"Evidently she took the bags back up there."

Does DeGrate know her?

"No," DeGrate said.

Not at all?

"I have nothing to do with it, man," DeGrate
said. "That's what I'm telling you. You're not listening to me."

Has DeGrate talked to Bell?

"I didn't ask no questions," DeGrate said. "None of it. There's no need for me to do all that. I just know I had nothing to do with it."

DeGrate and Bell went to the same high school, in DeSoto, Texas. They went to the same college, at Oklahoma State. DeGrate, 23, lived with Bell, 27, in Detroit.

Isn't this weird?

"Yeah, but sometimes it takes stuff like that to happen for you to find out how people are," DeGrate said. "But you know, I ain't holding no grudges against him or nothing like that."

Fishy. And now from the woman who took the bag back:

[The woman, who wishes to not be identified] was an acquaintance of DeGrate's and knew Bell through him. The night of Sept. 1, Bell called her and said he had a bag that he had thought belonged to DeGrate but really belonged to Johnson. Bell asked her if she could return it to Lions headquarters in Allen Park and gave her the phone number of Cedric Saunders, the director of football operations. She asked him why he couldn't return it himself. He said he had to go to Houston to work out for the Texans and didn't have time. (He never worked out for them.) She said OK, and he came over to her house and put the bag in her car.

After work Sept. 2, she drove to Lions headquarters and called Saunders, who came outside and took the bag out of her car about 2:30 or 3 p.m. She headed home. On the way, she received a call from Saunders. Where was the stuff that was in Johnson's bag? The bag was a roller that had another bag inside, and that was missing along with the ID, credit cards, cash and underwear. She told Saunders she didn't know what he was talking about. She had never laid a finger on the bag. The woman declined to speak to the Free Press more than once after the incident, but she relented Tuesday because she said she wanted to clear up misinformation and distance herself from any wrongdoing.

"I hate a thief," she said. "This is too much drama."

I couldn't agree with her more. What in the world? It's like every single person is telling only a piece of the truth. And now Takum thinks he can't find a job because no one trusts him not to go trick-or-treating in the lockerroom. I can't say that I blame them. Troublemakers are only worth the trouble if they're - how do I say this - good. So even if Adam "Pacman" Jones is making it rain, at least his on-field performance is relatively consistent and his teammates know he's generous with his money instead of trying to trying to steal theirs.

I do hope that you find a job, though, Tatum. I don't know why, but I kind of feel like you might be telling the truth here.

*An accidental ode to Janet Jackson's song What Have You Done For Me Lately?, the first thing that popped in my head.