****erson had a similar comment. What Hoge, ****erson and others are forgetting is that Tatum's hit was likely deliberately intended to hurt.
He and Lester Hayes had a contest each game, with points scored for sending people to the bench, for knocking them unconscious, and for knocking them out of the game completely. Supposedly he bragged about it in his books, THEY CALL ME ASSASSIN and a second one similarly titled. I don't know for sure because I didn't read either one, but that's what I was told.
Today that hit that Hoge calls part of the game is illegal and would get a player fined.
A sad part of this is that the Patriots and Stingley had agreed in principle to a new deal, but hadn't yet signed the contract. It was only an exhibition game, so no big deal.
I also read that John Madden visited Stingley in the hospital often and was bothered by what happened, and probably affected his decision to quit coaching so early in his career.
Tatum never apologized, never spoke to Stingley. He did try to set up a meeting between the two of them on TV, but at the last minute Stingley found out that Tatum had just published a second book and was going to use the meeting as a platform to promote the book, and the TV meeting never happened. Stingley said he would welcome a talk with Tatum in private, but Tatum wasn't interested.
Hoge and others are welcome to their opinions. I admit I am biased, but I think Tatum and Hayes were no more than thugs in NFL gear. ****erson compared Tatum to Rodney Harrison, which I totally disagree with, but again, I admit I'm biased.
