What Would It Take for You to Ditch Your Favorite NFL Player’s Jersey?
Janay Rice, left, looks on as her husband, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, speaks to the media during a news conference in Owings Mills, Md. on May 23rd, 2014.
In the never-ending struggle between athlete worship and self-dignity, take a wild stab at which won out last week in Baltimore amidst the lingering fog of the Ray Rice scandal.
Yep, Ravens fans displayed their Rice jerseys proudly, a middle finger to the world as a show of support for their deposed halfback, who only days before had been suspended by the NFL for the season. After all, Rice had been one of the heroes who brought the town a Super Bowl. And how could anybody be heathen enough to forget that, even when you measure it up against the menacing left hook that knocked his girlfriend out cold.
A woman — yes, a woman — was interviewed by the network televising the game and she said that Rice’s girlfriend hit him too and that if you hit a guy then you better be prepared to get it back, or something as obtuse as that. My Twitter started humming the day after when, on my radio show, I railed into the Baltimore fans for being so spineless.
“Suppose it’s the only jersey they have?” one guy wrote. “What are they supposed to do, not wear or it or rush out and buy another one?”
Nationwide perception, especially after the Adrian Peterson child abuse story broke last week (and by the way, the Minnesota Vikings couldn’t wait to throw him back on the field this week until more child abuse allegations surfaced), is that the NFL is a league of thugs. Point of fact is that proportionally, the league is probably no worse than any other big company who hires diverse human employees. The difference is in the perception. In fan world, we are snared in a web of justification when the offender plays for the home team. It’s why Yankee fans can give a standing ovation to Jason Giambi at his first at bat after admitting he took PED’s, and why the aforementioned Miss Congeniality can worship Ray Rice in wardrobe and thought on Thursday night football, or why the Vikings wanted AP back even though his child abuse allegations weren’t going to lessen from one week to the next.
Which brings us to our own house and one LeSean (Shady) McCoy.
I became privy this week to a civil lawsuit filed by a Brandi Feaster (below). She was the lady McCoy allegedly threw off a “party bus” a couple of years back — an incident that could make his recent 20-cent tip at PYT look like a pimple.
In her suit, Feaster claims that either McCoy or his body guard, a guy named “Big John” Sanks, roughed her up in the midst of also dousing her with Hawaiian Punch (I kid you not). Feaster claims that McCoy then said something like “get her off the bus, I don’t want to see that bitch.” The bus then pulled to the side of the road, Feaster claims, and then she was thrown off the vehicle and on to the side of the road. McCoy, claims Feaster, allowed her to get back on, but ordered her to sit on the other side of the partition near the bus door, near the bus driver. She says she then called police from the bus. She was next off the bus at a rest stop, and the “party bus” continued on its journey.
The lawsuit I received has photos of a bruised up Feaster, and a list of medical conditions and injuries from examinations done directly after the incident.
In a court filing, McCoy denies hitting her.
I don’t know what the truth is. I wasn’t there.
But I know this: So long as Shady McCoy is still one of the top running backs in the league, I’m not sure Eagle fans would care that much.
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Feaster’s complaint:
McCoy’s answer:
