|
|
January 27, 2004
Reprieve: Cooper grateful for another chance
By Joe Menzer | JOURNAL REPORTER
HOUSTON - Jarrod Cooper was thankful for a second chance with the Carolina Panthers. But when he screwed up again off the field, he didn't think he would get the third one that enabled him to join his teammates on what has turned out to be a magical ride to Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Cooper arrived in Houston along with the rest of the Panthers last Sunday night. They'll play the New England Patriots in professional football's championship game this Sunday at Reliant Stadium.
"It's a miracle that I'm here," Cooper said.
During the Panthers' bye week last September, Cooper was arrested for driving while intoxicated, speeding, driving with a revoked license and possession of a controlled substance, which turned out to be prescription drugs. It was the second time in less than 18 months that Cooper, 25, had been arrested for driving while intoxicated.
None too pleased, owner Jerry Richardson of the Panthers summoned Cooper to his Charlotte home.
There is a routine that Rich-ardson has troubled players go through when they are instructed to visit him at his home. It is not designed to make them feel comfortable.
"Sometimes when players have issues, they have to come to my house and see me," Richardson said. "They don't want to do that. It's not something that any of them look forward to.
"In our living room, we have a very nice clock. It's a 200-year-old clock.... And it's very quiet in my house when they come out. And the clock goes tick ... tock ... tick ... tock. I let them sit there and listen to the clock before I come in. And all they hear is tick ... tock ... tick ... tock."
Cooper thought he heard the time ticking away on his promising NFL career. When Richardson came in and finally spoke, the owner delivered a simple message.
"Coop, whatever you want to do, you can do. It's really up to you. Do you want to be here or not? And you know what to do and what not to do to make it happen,' " Richardson told him.
Richardson said that his reasoning for offering Cooper another chance was simple.
"He deserves it. He's a fine young man. He made a mistake," Richardson said.
Cooper was stunned. And appreciative. He couldn't believe that Coach John Fox and Richardson were willing to give him yet another chance to prove that he could execute the right moves off the field as well as on it, where he already had developed into a valuable backup safety and one of the best kick-coverage specialists in team history.
The team was 3-0 at the time and attempting to do something special. Cooper felt like he had risked messing all that up, which, in fact, he had.
"I didn't even want to leave the jail. I knew it was bad, especially because everything was on track and going so well," said Cooper, a fifth-round draft pick in 2001. "Coach Fox and Mr. Richardson put their neck on the line for me. For them to give me another chance, I didn't believe it. You want to talk about miracles? That was a miracle right there.
"I thought when I was coming in to talk to Coach Fox that I was gone. I thought that was going to be the end of my career. And I went over to Mr. Richardson's house and he pretty much put the ball in my court.... They don't ask for anything outrageous. Just do your job and do the right thing. People know what's right and wrong and that's all they ask."
Cooper swears he won't mess up again - and this week will be a good test. In coming to Houston for the Super Bowl, the flamboyant Cooper came home. He grew up in greater Houston and was a high-school star at Pearland High School before going on to play in college at Kansas State.
He has some financial incentive to stay clean off the field, too. He was fined six game checks by the NFL and lost another four when he later was ordered to serve a four-game suspension for the repeated violation of the league's alcohol-abuse policy. Combined, he lost nearly $250,000 in salary - so he could use the $63,000 Super Bowl winner's share.
"I got a check the other day for the first time in a long time. I think I'll go shopping in Houston," said Cooper, who often matches fancy jackets with loud, bright-colored clothes that he and teammate Rod Smart find together at thrift stores.
"I've played most of this season for free, but I've never had more fun."
Cooper is one of the great characters in the Carolina locker room. At one point last week, before the Panthers left Charlotte for Houston, Cooper jumped up on a chair in front of his locker stall at Bank of America Stadium, gestured to the throng of reporters gathered in front of him and shouted, "Look everybody, I'm a star!"
Earlier this season, he dropped hints that he was dating a celebrity and led reporters who cover the team to believe it might be pop singer Christina Aguilera. Teammates and coaches have since indicated that it was a prank, as was Cooper's recent claim that teammates Smart and DeShaun Foster raced through the locker room buck naked to supposedly settle a $100 bet.
"If anyone is going to do something like that, it would probably be Coop. I can assure you it wasn't me," Foster insisted.
Cooper wears outrageous clothes, says outrageous things and owns two snakes that, combined, measure 32 feet in length. He said he once had to kill another of his pet snakes when it attacked him. He claims he had to saw its head off with a steak knife as it attempted to choke him to death.
It would be safe to say that, when he is regaling reporters with his many tales, Cooper sometimes operates in a gray area for the purpose of providing entertainment. But he said that he knows there no longer is a gray area for him when it comes to behaving himself off the field.
"They don't ask anything from their players but for us to do the right thing - and I don't think that is too much to ask from anybody," Cooper said.
• Joe Menzer can be reached at jmenzer@wsjournal.com