Brown’s wacky talk erodes his trade value
Ihad a theory about Art Rooney II’s summit with Antonio Brown last month. I thought Rooney had a good reason to demean himself by going out of his way to meet with Brown and even posing for a ridiculous picture that made him look weak and foolish next to Brown, who looked as if he were in control of their soured relationship. I believed Rooney convinced Brown to keep his nonsensical thoughts to himself in order to benefit a trade that would make both sides happy.
I am such an idiot.
Brown did a national media tour over the weekend, appearing Friday night on HBO’s “The Shop” with LeBron James and Saturday on ESPN. Most of what he said was gibberish and indecipherable,
which is generally how his interviews go no matter if he is talking about catching passes and scoring touchdowns, which he has done better than anyone in Steelers history, or asking to be known as Ronald Ocean or, the latest, Mr. Big Chest. Brown went after his usual targets — Ben Roethlisberger, Mike Tomlin, Kevin Colbert, Rooney, the entire Steelers organization but he did hit new lows with his latest absurdities. I’m sure it’s making potential trade partners have second thoughts about bringing Brown and his garbage into their locker room. I now believe Rooney’s trip was an embarrassing waste of time.
Let us count the ways Brown sabotaged his trade value with his inane comments:
“I don’t take any blame. I just think I took responsibility for my situation.”
I have no doubt Brown really believes that. He sees nothing wrong in going AWOL a few days before the Steelers’ final regular-season game against Cincinnati. So what if he quit on his teammates? So what if he thumbed his nose at the fans? It’s not his fault. It’s … Tomlin’s fault.
“I’m a little banged up. So, I meet with coach Tomlin and I’m telling him like, hey, man, I’m a little banged up. So, I’m going to need a little time to get right. So he’s like, if you’re banged up, man, just, you know, you, you can just go home.”
Either Brown or Tomlin is lying. I’m betting on Brown. Tomlin might have told Brown to take off Thursday’s practice before the Bengals game, but Tomlin said Brown didn’t return his calls Friday or Saturday and didn’t get an MRI on his alleged injured knee as instructed. It makes no sense that Tomlin gave Brown permission to leave the team and then didn’t play him in a game the Steelers had to win to have a chance at the playoffs.
“You know, I didn’t point the finger. I didn’t make no one look bad. I didn’t throw no stones at anyone.”
That one is a real beauty. I think immediately of former teammate Ryan Clark, whom Brown called an “Uncle Tom” after Clark had the nerve to criticize him after he missed the Bengals game. Read on and judge for yourself if Brown is pointing any fingers.
Here’s another shot at Roethlisberger:
“He feels like he’s the owner … I would’ve liked for me and Ben to be cool. You know what I mean? I thought we was cool. But when you think … I’ve been to his house one time. He’s been to my house one time. You know what I mean. We don’t work out in the offseason. You think that’s winning. That’s not winning.”
And one at Rooney:
“If you work for me for nine years, wouldn’t you expect you to know my girlfriend’s name or my dad’s name or my kid or, you know, would you expect me to meet your kid or at least know you on the level of some sort of integrity to know, like, ‘Hey, man, I appreciate what you do.’ I would like to know the guy I work for got my best interest. I would like to know the team got my best interest.”
There isn’t a more caring owner in sports than Rooney. Like his dad and grandfather before him, he is at the Steelers facility every day. He makes it a point to know his players.
It’s hard to feel much sympathy for Brown if he feels unappreciated by Rooney and the organization. Rooney put up with his antics for
years and made him the NFL’s highest-paid wide receiver after the 2016 season, shrugging off Brown’s “little annoyances, emphasis on little.” Even last week, Colbert went to nauseating lengths trying to sell Brown to potential new teams. “I totally have faith in Antonio Brown, not only as a football player, but as a father and as a man.”
Thanks for nothing, Antonio.
“Not for the money its for the love of the sport! The commitment to win relentlessly consistently passionately! Plus, I made $70 million its public record not to be cocky just truth!”
That was Brown on Twitter a few weeks ago. Whenever a player says his actions aren’t about money, don’t believe him. They are about money.
“If your team got guaranteed money, tell them call me. AB can’t do no more unguarantees.”
That was Brown on social media. You bet it’s about money and a new, richer contract with his next team.
“I don’t even have to play football if I don’t want. I don’t even need the game. I don’t need to prove nothing to anyone. If they wanna play, they going to play by my rules. If not, I don’t need to play.”
If you’re an NFL owner, do you really want this guy on your team? Wouldn’t you love to see every owner call Brown’s bluff?
“I don’t have an ego because, like, bro, I’m just trying to win.” That goes hand-in-hand with something Brown said a few years ago. “I don’t like being the center of attention.”
That’s why Brown showed up at training camp in a chauffeured Rolls Royce one year and by helicopter the next. That’s why he wears enough jewelry to blind you. That’s why he wears clothes that are so outrageous they make you want to look away but you can’t.
“They don’t like [when you are] yourself. They’re talking about my furs. Like, who don’t like to get swaggy? That’s why we work hard, you know what I’m saying? … But that’s the narrative they try to create. Once you’re doing your own thing, it’s like, ‘Yo, this guy’s a distraction. He’s this type of guy.’ They control the narrative. They could just paint you any kind of way then.”
You should have seen LeBron nod his head in agreement. “And now he’s distraction all of a sudden.”
No, LeBron, Brown has been a distraction for years. Unless, of course, you don’t consider being accused of throwing furniture off a 14th floor balcony and of domestic abuse and convicted of driving 100plus mph on McKnight Road — among many other things — to be distractions.
LeBron’s response made me gag. Brown’s interviews prompted more intelligent reactions from Larry Fitzgerald, the epitome of NFL class, and former offensive lineman Mark Schlereth, a threetime Super Bowl champion.
“I love AB,” Fitzgerald told an audience in Boston Saturday. “Mr. Big Chest is a good friend of mine, but I don’t think he’s going about it the right way, personally. To be able to play with an all-time quarterback like he’s able to play with, I don’t think he understands how good he has it. It can get tough out there.”
Schlereth gets the final word here with, perhaps, the tweet of the year that was directed at Brown.
“I think in life you should try to aspire to not be a turd.”