Quote:
Originally Posted by bertha
Floyd Mayweather
Randy Moss
Metta World Peace
Dennis Rodman
Lance Armstrong
Tonya Harding
John McEnroe
Ben Johnson
Sammy Sosa
Antonio Brown |
bertha's last minute addition of Antonio Brown made this thread come up in a search, so I selected it to highlight his behavior yesterday.
Here's Brown's rap sheet for just the past five years, and this does not include various times when he hurt his team with penalties for excessive taunting and celebratory behavior:
2016: After the game, Brown broadcast the team's locker room celebration on Facebook Live in violation of NFL rules and despite the requests of teammates Ben Roethlisberger and Ramon Foster to "keep a low profile on social media". The broadcast included head coach Mike Tomlin speaking crudely about championship round opponent New England, for which Tomlin later apologized and disciplined Brown.
2017: During a Week 4 26-9 road victory over the Baltimore Ravens, Brown became angry over not being thrown the ball by Roethlisberger on an incomplete play, and was filmed throwing a Gatorade cooler and yelling at coaches.
2018: After allegedly getting into an argument with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, then skipping practices leading up to the Week 17 game against the Bengals, Brown was benched for that game. Following the season, reports surfaced indicating Brown's dissatisfaction with his role on the Steelers, and he eventually requested a trade.
2019: Prior to the trade to Oakland, reports surfaced that the Steelers were "close to a deal" with the Buffalo Bills, but that the deal was canceled after Brown protested on social media.
2019: On August 9, he filed a grievance to continue wearing his old helmet even though it was banned, threatening to retire from football if he was forced to wear a new helmet. Despite Brown's pleas to continue wearing his old helmet, an arbitrator denied his request. Brown eventually found a replacement for his old helmet, but it also did not meet the NFL's standards. Afterwards, he continued to not practice with the Raiders. Brown filed a second grievance regarding his helmet on August 19, which he also lost.
2019: On September 4, Brown was fined a combined $54,000 by general manager Mike Mayock due to unexcused absences and missing two team practice sessions. Brown posted the letter of his fines on Instagram, a move that was scrutinized around the league. The following day, Brown confronted Mayock and had a verbal altercation, with reports stating that Brown called Mayock a "cracker", which Brown later denied. It was also reported that Brown threatened to hit Mayock, and had to be held back by several teammates, including linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Afterwards, he punted a football and said to Mayock "fine me for that". [A few days later,] Brown demanded his release from the Raiders after they voided the guaranteed money in his contract.
2020: Despite allegations of sexual and personal misconduct levied against him, Brown practiced with the Patriots in preparation for his season debut in Week 2 ... On September 20, following further allegations, in addition to allegedly intimidating text messages sent to one of his accusers after going to New England, Brown was cut by the Patriots.
2020: On July 31, 2020, Brown was suspended for the first eight weeks of the 2020 NFL season for multiple violations of the league's personal-conduct policy.
2020: [Now with the Buccaneers,] on November 16, 2020, it was reported that Brown destroyed a security camera and threw a bicycle at a security guard at his home.
2021: On December 2, 2021, Brown was suspended for three games by the NFL for violating the league's COVID-19 protocols by misrepresenting his vaccination status [fake vaccination card].
2021: With the Buccaneers down 10–24 during the third quarter of the Buccaneers' Week 17 game against the New York Jets, Brown took his jersey, shoulder pads, glove, and shirt off and ran off the field into the locker room during the third quarter. Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians said in a postgame press conference (after the Buccaneers had won) that Brown "is no longer a Buc". Later, Arians spoke to Fox Sports' Jay Glazer after the game, explaining he tried to get Brown to go into the game and Brown refused. Arians tried to get Brown to go in again and he refused, which is when Arians told Brown to leave. When asked if he saw Brown take his jersey off, Arians said he did and he had "never seen anything like it in all my years." Tom Brady in the same press conference stated “We all love him, we care about him deeply, we wanna see him be at his best, unfortunately it won’t be with our team.”
My point? You watch; somebody will hire him yet again despite his proven track record for being a distraction and team cancer. For me, he would have been on my radar after the 2016 incident in which his own teammates asked him to cool it. He would have been labeled undesirable after his 2017 highjinks.
The Giants suck this year and they have been doing so for quite a while now. That's bad enough. But if they sign this clown, I am permanently resigning my Giants fanhood.