I assume you’ve seen the latest Antonio Brown video. (Check yesterday’s blog.)
It is alarming. It is verbal and psychological domestic abuse aimed at his baby mama, and their kids are right there hearing and seeing all of it. His language is horrific. It's inexcusable.
Yet, people still make excuses for AB.
“Oh, he was homeless at 15.” “Oh, he has CTE.” “Oh, he needs help.”
No, what AB needs is punched in the head.
AB has been an abusive, hateful clown his entire life.
That’s why a talented kid from Florida had to settle for attending a MAC school in Michigan. That’s why he dropped to the sixth round of the NFL draft.
AB’s act didn’t debut recently. It’s long since been perfected.
People making excuses for AB have enabled him his entire life. But now there’s no reason to enable him, because he’s out of football. Without football, AB is useless.
Forget about CTE. AB was a jerk long before he got drilled by Vontaze Burfict. Is AB’s erratic behavior symptomatic of CTE? Maybe. Erratic behavior might also be symptomatic of drug use. It could reflect a lot of things. But AB’s defenders assume whatever makes him a sympathetic figure.
He isn’t.
You can’t diagnose CTE until a person is dead. But here’s betting X-rays of AB’s head would show nothing.
Aditi Kinkhabwala of the NFL Network poignantly tweeted: “He needs help. Someone please – please – get him help.”
The extra “please” nearly brought me to tears. That’s good writing, Dickie.
OK, Aditi. Go help him yourself.
But when you do, don’t be surprised if you get struck by a torrent of verbal abuse, like his baby mama absorbed. AB could make an indecent proposal. You might even get a bag of ***ks thrown at you.
Quit making excuses for AB. Excuses have helped make him what he is today.
Courtesy of Getty Images.