Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Another rant on Marshawn Lynch

















Finally, Marshawn Lynch decided to grace his presence at the ever so important (Sigh) OTAs. I was hoping that because of his appearance, we wouldn't have to hear the media kill Lynch anymore. I was hoping I could just turn the page on this whole overblown Lynch saga. However, after hearing his interview with the local media, I just can't....and it has nothing to do with the running back.

Now, before I get on my soapbox, I understand that when you are interviewing an athlete who doesn't really want to talk to begin with, you are going to have issues as a reporter. You have so little time to hammer out questions to your interview subject that you need to think quickly on your feet. However, if you listen to the whole Lynch presser, which only lasts about four minutes, some of the questions asked of him were just so idiotic. For one, Chris Brown of Bills.com, decided to ask Marshawn questions about his weight. HUH? Yes, his fricken weight?! Not only did he ask one question about his eating habits, but some in the press core decided to follow-up on how much Lynch is packing these days...and I'm not talking about illegal guns.

First off, no one gives a rats ass about Lynch's weight! Even if Lynch was the starting tailback, I couldn't care less if he was eating five square meals a day or smoking weed to get the late night munchies. It's pathetic journalism to ask him a stupid question like that, especially when people have been building up his disdain for being here for the last five months. Then you wonder why fans in Buffalo feel that the media doesn't do enough to ask hard questions. His weight?...please.

Here's the bottom line on the whole Lynch saga: I haven't given two shits about him not attending OTAs. Like I've said all along, I don't care about the 3rd string running back practicing in voluntary workouts. Here's what I would have asked Marshawn if I were at the presser:

"Marshawn, recently you had an interview with Yahoo.com talking about how you're misunderstood and how you've been mistreated by the city of Buffalo. You mentioned that your dogs were being taken away and someone threw beer at your car. How do you feel about the city?"

Honestly, that's what the media should be focusing on. In my opinion, that is going to be the defining moment for Marshawn Lynch and the Buffalo Bills. People keep talking about how Lynch not attending OTAs and being a mistake away from a major suspension are the real issues involved. It's not. I wrote after he was being investigated for stealing 20 bucks from a cop's wife, that the story wasn't going to paint Buffalo in a nice light with NFL players. His agent and Kawika Mitchell's comments about the Buffalo Police Department being full of racist rogues didn't help matters. When you also add in fans throwing beer at your car and the city taking away your pitbulls, I just don't think it's going to make would be free agents bang on their agent's doors to call Ralph Wilson and Buddy Nix.

That's what should be the core of the Lynch saga. Those sort of stories are going to effect the Bills more in the long term than whether Lynch knows Gailey's offense in June. People must realize that players talk to each other and when they hear stories like these, it's not going to help the Bills in recruiting players.

Look, I love Buffalo and speak highly about it to co-workers. However, most outsiders don't know any better and think it's a hell hole. Part of me thinks that Lynch had stayed away from OTAs because he doesn't want to be in Buffalo....and I'm not talking about playing for the team. I'm talking about being in the city itself. Personally, he may think that he's being targeted by the cops and would rather chill in California than be here and risk getting in more trouble.

6 comments:

  1. The weight question came from a Buffalo Bills media member to steer the conversation away from Paul Hamilton's follow up question. That according to Hamilton of WGR.

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  2. 1) Didn't Lynch pack on about 15 pounds last year? Could that have been a reason that he was unable to wrestle the starting spot from Freddie once he came back from his suspension?

    2) Do we know why Marshawn had his dogs taken away? I mean rather then looking at it like a bad thing that the city did, apparently just to spite the wonderful Marshawn Lynch, perhaps they did a very good thing for the welfare of those animals.

    3) Do we have any other Bills player (or Buffalo athlete for that matter) having issues with the Buffalo P.D.? Yes, poor Marshawn! So Misunderstood! Marshawn has made his bed with his own actions and now he has to lie down in it.

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  3. Pereception is reality. If I'm a player in the NFL and read that dogs were being taken away from Lynch and his agent says the cops are racists, it's going to give me a low pereception of Buffalo.

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  4. Hey Joe,
    The rest of America, including the group of free agents you mention, is not as dumb as you make them out to be...I don't think they'll jump to the conclusions you've laid out.

    Keep in mind the racist comments and "unfair treatment" statements are coming from someone that's nearly averaging a felony per year he's spent in Buffalo. He's coming off a season where he shat the bed, and the national sports media portrays him widely as someone who obviously wants out...and let's not forget his most recent act of credibility - going on yahoo sports, proclaiming he's going to press forward like a champ and attend OTAs, but then not show up for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately for him, his racist/unfair accusations only serve to add "whiny" to his list of accolades.

    With a record like that, our fellow Americans may hear what he's saying, but they're not gonna lend it much weight.

    If any of our players that have kept their nose clean and just done their job start making similar accusations, maybe you've got a story.

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  5. One guy who has been arrested twice in two years (the second time was in California) is complaining about unfair treatment by the B.P.D. and we are supposed to take him seriously? I guess the B.P.D. also pushed the pedestrian out into the road in front of him too.
    Marshawn Lynch is responsible for Marshawn Lynch's problems and nobody else. If some other player took Marshawn's word and his word alone when deciding on a place to play in the future I probably wouldn't want that idiot on the Bills anyway.

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  6. Guys, I'm not trying to stick up for Marshawn Lynch, He's a knucklehead. My whole point is that fans should be concerned about how his issues with the city would translate with other players. If Lynch is friends with people in the league that are considering coming to Buffalo, don't you think they would ask him about the city? If they did, I'm sure it wouldn't be sunshine and rainbows. Plus, don't forget the McKelvin lawn and the Whitner getting his jewlery stolen. Add in the Bills being terrible for the last 10 years into the equation and you have a recipe for a disaster when it comes to players wanting to come here.

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