Larry Fitzgerald Sr. introduced Lay as a man of great patience who ha! d a big part in channeling the energy of Larry Jr. and his brother, Marcus.

"Larry had a lot of energy, a lot," said his dad.

Lay said Larry was about age 9 when this otherwise nice kid would arrive on the bus at a program every day in the midst of an ongoing battle with a girl.

Larry Jr. had his back to Lay as he began speaking. When this part of Lay's remembrance came up, Larry's eyes flashed wide open with disbelief. Almost as quickly, Larry lowered his head on the table in embarrassment, no doubt suppressing the urge to crawl underneath.

"They would get into a discussion and fight, and I could not figure it out," Lay shared with the crowd. "I finally said, 'I'm going to sit him down and find out what's going on.' I found out they were spitting on each other; the fight started in school and never got resolved.

"When they came over to the community [center] I confronted Larry. I said, 'You know we don't resolve problem! s by fighting.' Larry looked at me and said, The devil made! me do i t. I said, 'Larry I don't know if I buy that. We're going to have to talk about personal responsibility and you've got a time out.' "

Larry stuck to his story: The devil made me do it. I had nothing to do with it. Deal with the devil.

Larry Jr. turned out to be such a lovely human being that clearly Lay's message, probably underscored by Larry's parents, had an impact.



Another future star?

Larry Jr. is exactly the kind of person and pro athlete Susie and George Robinson want their son Brandon to be. George, an international consultant whose company is called the Robinson Group, plays golf with Fitz Sr.

"Brandon plays football for Boston College. He came back for the weekend, so George said, You have to come here to meet Larry Fitzgerald Jr. because he's a wide receiver too," Susie said.

Brandon, a Breck School grad, has two more years of college eligibility ! on his football scholarship at BC.

"[He] is actually a junior, but he's already graduated" in marketing and communications, Susie said. "This is why he came home. He said, Mom, I want to get a master's degree but I don't know what to get it in, so over the weekend can you and dad help me figure out what I want to be?"

Before Brandon pursues a career related to his degrees, "of course, he'd be going into the [NFL]," Susie said.

Of course.



No, it wasn't R. Kelly

Singer Jearlyn Steele had to share the floor with R-Kal Truluck when she sang "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."

Truluck, a defensive end who was with the Packers the day of the "Moss Mooning," an incident in Green Bay, which in, er, hindsight is not so outrageous given those fans' tradition of mooning bus loads of opponents, put the moves on Steele.

As Steele sang, R-Kal got up, danced with her, twirled ! her around and hugged her.

What did she think when th! e spirit moved him to join her? "I was wondering whether he was single," she said.



Marcus is on the mend

Spring ball at Marshall U kept Marcus Fitzgerald from attending the fundraiser in his mom's memory.

Later on Friday, Fitz Sr. learned that his younger son had been injured. "Marcus is in the hospital," Fitz told me Monday. "He had a lacerated kidney; he got hurt in practice Friday. He caught a pass and when he went to the ground, the nose of the ball went through his stomach and punched his kidney. It's a tough game on that Astroturf.

"He wanted to be here for the event, but I told him it being his senior year he should be in spring ball."

By Monday, Marcus was out of intensive care.

"I'd be there now, but couldn't get any flight to Huntington [W.Va.] on Easter," Fitz Sr. said.

Get well, Marcus.



Verbal Assault

THE QUOTE: "That's some rough girls from Rutgers! . Man, they got tattoos. ... That's some nappy-headed hos there. I'm telling you that," Don Imus said, getting himself into big trouble, beyond the grammar, for talking about the black women who play basketball for Rutgers.

THE PROBLEM: The I-Man has a penchant for using the wrong demonstrative pronoun. "Those are some," not "That's some." Do I really have to point out what's wrong with "They got"? The I-Man (and more and more, it seems, that the I stands for ignorant) should be upset with producer Bernard McGuirk for putting the idea to call college kids "hos" into Imus' pea brain.

According to CNN's account, in between Imus' first and second misuse of "That's" McGuirk described these athletes as "Some hardcore hos."

Because of tattoos? These remarks were outrageously offensive. It's hard to fathom why it took so long to suspend the millionaire I-Man and the IRK-Man, apologies not withstanding.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it . E-mailers, please state a subject -- "Hello" doesn't count. Attachments are not opened, so don't even try. More of her attitude can be seen on Fox 9 Thursday mornings.

 The full article, with any associated images and links can be viewed here.
Larry Fitzgerald wrote these comments: must read