JOE POSNANSKI COMMENTARY

COMMENTARY

It’s time for LJ to take off his diapers

Every so often as a citizen, it is important to do some community service. Sometimes this means supporting a great fund-raiser like the Harvester’s Dan Quisenberry golf tournament or buying garbage bags from kids so they can buy uniforms for the high school band. Sometimes this means writing an annual column that will tick off Larry Johnson.

It really is for the greater good.

Everybody understands that Chiefs running back Larry Johnson runs his best when angry. This has been the subject of about 394 newspaper and magazine stories — the chip on LJ’s shoulder has its own press agent. Johnson, you know, made the superstar scene about three years ago, shortly after his coach, Dick Vermeil, said it was time for him to take off the diapers and play.

This made Johnson extremely mad. You would think Vermeil called him a baby or something. Oh wait, I guess you could read it that way. Anyway, Johnson hit the field like Clint Eastwood walking into the saloon at the end of “Unforgiven.”

He was running behind a well-oiled offensive line then, sure, but he also smashed into holes. He scored two touchdowns in five straight games. He was fueled by his rage, hunger, and he powered through tackles, and he fought for every yard like the football field was his inheritance.

LJ became the starter in 2005 and rushed for 1,750-plus yards two straight seasons, scored 37 touchdowns those two years, looked liked a modern day Jim Brown.

Then he became famous. Hung out with rappers. Did soup commercials. Rung the bell at the stock market. Held out for a big contract. Got a big contract. Made a grand entrance for the HBO cameras.

And, all of a sudden, guess what: It’s time for LJ to take off the diapers again.

Sunday, the Chiefs had their most surprising victory in, what, 10 years? More? They were two-touchdown underdogs playing at San Diego against a Chargers team that was looking to put a hurting on somebody. The Chiefs fell behind 10-0, and the game was so over the stadium operations people sent out the cleaning crew. Then, as you know, the Chiefs pulled off some sort of $125-a-night Vegas magic act — the defense got nasty, Dwayne Bowe and Tony Gonzalez got busy, and LJ finished off the stunning victory by gaining a few yards.

After the game, the Chiefs’ locker room was about as joyous as I’ve ever seen.

And Larry Johnson stormed off and refused to talk to the news media.

Now, most of the time, I don’t care when athletes refuse to talk to reporters after a game. That’s their business. Some athletes don’t feel comfortable talking to the press. Some feel like they’ve been burned by the media, and they want to burn back. Some players are usually accommodating, but every so often they have a bad day — that’s understandable. I’ve started working out with a trainer this week, and I’m in so much pain I don’t feel like talking to my own wife. So I can understand being a tad grumpy after getting hit by men roughly the size of Schwan’s trucks.

This was different: The Chiefs had won. They had, for the time being, saved their season. They had even moved into first place in the AFC West. It was all good. And then Johnson pulled his grumpy J.D. Salinger act. Why? Well, his own teammates, (some on the record like Brian Waters, some off the record) suspected it was because Johnson was frustrated that he didn’t put up big numbers.

This is bad. Very bad. The Chiefs win a huge game, Johnson rushes for 123 yards (most of them at the end of the game, but still) and he’s stomping around? This is like Chapter 1 in the How to be a Bad Teammate book. It might even be the introduction.

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To reach Joe Posnanski, call 816-234-4361 or send e-mail to jposnanski@kcstar.com. For previous columns, go to KansasCity.com.