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Voice of the 'Fan

From Hero to Zero in six days

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A week ago, on Monday Night Football, the hype leading to the Giants-Dolphins game was the first pro meeting of former LSU teammates Jarvis Landry (Miami) & Odell Beckham, Jr. (Giants). Both shined in the primetime spotlight, of course, but it was Beckham, as usual, making highlight reel catches and scoring long TD's to give the Giants a win.

Six days later, however, the darker side of Beckham emerged at the worst possible time.

The tabloid media in New York hyped up the game vs. the undefeated NFC South Champion Carolina Panthers by focusing on Beckham, assuming he'd be matched opposite Carolina's ace defensive back Josh Norman. Unfortunately, Beckham ruined the day by doing his impersonation of an Ugly American.

Beckham & Norman jostled with each other during the first half, especially after Beckham dropped a sure TD pass from Eli Manning. Amazingly, it wasn't until the 2nd period before Beckham was finally called for a penalty, and would be flagged for personal fouls three times before the day was over. Not even another heroic TD catch in the 4th quarter would turn this day around. America had seen the worst of Beckham, but no one's sure why.

As rocketman818 pointed out to me in another thread, some Giants fans were defending their young star's actions. Did they have any insight at all about any of this?? Of course not. Coach Tom Coughlin didn't discipline Beckham by benching him, and he should've. The league had to do the disciplining for Coughlin, and suspended Beckham for a game. Of course, there will be an appeal, but it's another case where the appeal is a waste of time.

Where I have a problem is this. Why didn't the officials throw their flags when Beckham & Norman began fighting on the field? Letting them play is one thing, and there's something to be said about Beckham, the new NFL spokesman for Head & Shoulders, oh, by the way, being kept in the game because that's who some of the fans came to see, along with Manning, Cam Newton, et al. Coddling Beckham was the wrong thing to do. Were the zebras afraid of tossing Beckham and/or Norman too early in the game? Definitely. This same coddle-the-stars mentality exists in the college game as well as in basketball, all because it has an effect on the bottom line. There hadn't been any, if at all, fits like this before Sunday in Beckham's 2 seasons in New York, and it didn't take long for the tabloid media to suddenly brand him a brat. They do tend to jump off bandwagons awfully quick, because, well, you know, controversy sells papers.

The appeal was made because, quite simply, the Giants are still fighting for a playoff spot they're not likely to get, not with resurgent Minnesota next on the docket. If they lose Beckham for that game, that doesn't mean they don't have enough targets for Manning, if you ignore the obsessive media hype.

Realistically, I'd say, drop the appeal, sit out the Minnesota game, and move on. End of story. The Players Association has to look at these things from a more realistic point of view in terms of not just the individual players' fits of selfishness, but also how it affects their teams. I shan't be surprised if #13 doesn't suit up next Sunday night in chilly Minneapolis. If the Giants don't make the playoffs, Odell Beckham, Jr. will be largely to blame, just because of one day of selfish behavior. There's no getting around it.
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Comments

  1. Trevor44's Avatar
    Yeah I agree Odell is dirty and I've never been a fan. I feel like he's too flamboyant and show-boaty for football.
  2. hobbyfan's Avatar
    Unfortunately, we have a couple of generations of players like Beckham who've been conditioned to believe that the easiest way to get on ESPN's SportsCenter is to be a showboat, and that native ability alone isn't going to get it done.
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