I suppose I should get the easy stuff out of the way. Back in the 1970's, the NFL rules were very different to the point where they were almost invisible when it came to player safety. It was a completely different game, and some of the best teams in the league didn't just hit people, but tried to injure them in the process because quiet honestly there was no fear of league punishment for doing so. As you can see from his highlight reel, there's plenty of hard hits and cheap shots from Tatum's career to choose from. Let me be clear though, whether or not Tatum's hit on Stingley was technically clean, or within the rules, or whatever kind of spin-doctoring you want to apply to it, is NOT the issue I have with Tatum.
First of all, for the record...that hit WAS a cheap shot! It's a freakin PRESEASON game people. Nobody is going that hard in the preseason in this era or Tatum's era. Not to mention the ball was already way past Stingley to the point where Darryl had no chance of catching it, but whatever, I understand that people will never get over those facts, and still continue to believe that Tatum did nothing wrong, even though I'd love to see if they say the same thing if they were the one Tatum paralyzed.
The issue I have with Tatum stems from how he conducted himself in all the years after that hit. Here's the thing that gets lost in this...Tatum DID feel bad about it. He admitted he went to the hospital after the game and waited for Stingley to regain consciousness. Is that something a person with no remorse or zero regret would do? I'd like to think that Tatum didn't go there to stand in front of the freshly paralyzed Stingley and say "sh*t happens" while grabbing his crotch or something, wouldn't you? I'm pretty sure Tatum was there to apologize based on not only his hospital visit, but also because, according to people who knew Jack, he was not only a different player after that hit, but a different person as well.
Rather than come clean afterwards and admit to the world and Darryl, "Yeah I messed up. I shouldn't have done that in a preseason game where nothing matters, I'm so sorry", Tatum decides to write a book. The Title? "They Call Me Assassin". Interesting choice considering John Madden said nobody ever called Tatum "The Assassin" when he was playing, but OK. He didn't stop there though. In Tatum's book he boasts "My hits borderline on Felonious Assault", and makes other such excuses (he actually suggested that the Quick Slant be an illegal play) which helped play up his tough guy image in order to get a maximum amount of book sales. Tatum wrote two other books after this one, which also offered no apology to Stingley, continued to try and convince everyone that he was doing his "job", and that he still has no regrets for anything.
Now there's where I have a problem with Tatum. It would be one thing if actually believed the things he wrote about himself in his autobiographies, but as I pointed out earlier, he clearly didn't feel that way. He did feel bad about what he did to Darryl, but he chose not to admit it, simply because it was more profitable for him not to.
These are not the actions of a man who has a tremendous amount of integrity, if any. These are not the actions of a man who deserves praise. These are the actions of a man who knew right from wrong, but chose to sell out his beliefs for the sake of his money-making image. Well congrats to you then Jack. I hope hell has a circle where Darryl gets to paralyze you over and over again, all the while saying it was the Quick Slant's fault.
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