An afternoon with Oprah/ Rod Smith makes appearance with 'most

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Sep 27, 2002 by Kamon Simpson

ENGLEWOOD - He isn't easily impressed. After all, Denver Broncos receiver Rod Smith has been to the Pro Bowl, he's been to the Super Bowl, and he's been to the White House as a guest of the president.

But Smith was intimidated recently when he spent time with "the most powerful woman on the planet."

Hillary Clinton?

Nope. Oprah Winfrey.

Smith was one of several guests on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" on Monday, an episode titled, "Be a Man." Taped last Tuesday in Chicago, the show touched on a number of topics including domestic violence. Smith was invited because he pleaded guilty to verbal harassment in 2000, and was sentenced to anger-management counseling sessions.

"When I was going through therapy and getting help, I could tell in the locker room which guys had a bad night last night," Smith told Winfrey during the show. "I could see it. I'd tell them, 'Look, whatever you're doing at home, you don't need to do that anymore.'"

Smith said he didn't want to make a big deal out of his appearance, "but it was an opportunity for me to express to old and young men the influences that we have in our life, that we let affect us in a negative way, and how we can overcome those. I've been through some things in the past that I'm not proud of, but at the same time I had to deal with them, and I'm really trying to open up everybody's eyes."

"He'll definitely snap," Shanahan said. "It's definitely a position where he can snap for extra points and field goals and not set it back."

The Broncos remain hopeful that Lepsis can return to his starting assignment at right tackle, but the fact that he can snap against the Ravens on Monday is significant enough. The Broncos had serious snapping problems against the Bills, missing a field goal on a high snap from Tom Nalen and muffing a punt attempt in the fourth quarter on a bad snap from Patrick Hape.

Meanwhile, running back Olandis Gary appears completely recovered from the sprained ankle suffered in the first quarter against the Bills.