For Irving, Brown talent brings swift, sweet forgiveness
Antonio Brown, a confirmed knucklehead who also plays wide receiver for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, will get his second chance. (Or is it his third? Or fifth? Or 98th?) So will the NBA’s Kyrie Irving, the all-star of the anti-vaccine crowd, who never even asked for one. In pro sports, forgiveness comes swiftly when the rest of the talent is unavailable.
This week, Brown returned from a three-game suspension issued by the league. He earned the punishment by trying to game the system, claiming to be vaccinated but presenting a falsified card before the start of the season. In the same week, Irving, missing since he refused to comply with New York City’s vaccination mandates during the preseason, was welcomed back from that self-imposed
exile by the Brooklyn Nets.
As the delta variant was raging, Brown lied to his employers. He may have committed a crime. He also showed aggressive selfishness by placing his teammates, coaches and anyone he came into contact with at risk during a time when the unvaccinated were much more likely to get infected and spread the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Brown tried this ruse even though he was on a provisional basis with Tampa Bay. Before he signed with the Bucs last season, Brown was accused of domestic abuse and sexual assault and pleaded no contest to one felony burglary with battery charge and two misdemeanor charges related to an incident involving the driver of a moving truck. Still the Bucs brought him in, and Coach Bruce Arians made it seem as if the talented but troubled wideout already had two strikes against him.
“He screws up one time, he’s gone,” Arians said last season.
Turns out, this no-screwup policy expired days ago when Chris Godwin and Mike Evans went down with injuries and suddenly Tom Brady had no one to catch his passes.
Speaking to reporters, Arians explained rather defiantly that reinstating Brown and his — for real, this time — vaccination card ahead of a Week 16 game against the Carolina Panthers was the right thing to do, no matter how hypocritical it made the team look.
“I could give a [bleep] what they think. The only thing I care about is this football team ... and what’s best for us,” Arians said, somehow finding a way to sound craven despite all the tough talk.
If we have learned one thing over the past two years from all the scientists and doctors who know what they’re talking about, it’s that the best way through this pandemic is to get vaccinated. And if we have learned anything from all the coaches and general managers who care only about wins and losses, the best way for the Bucs to get through the season is to reinstate a liar as long as he has two good hands capable of hauling in touchdowns.
It should come as no surprise that Brown and any athlete of his stature will never run out of second chances. He may be the human equivalent of a riskreward ratio, but Brown still holds enough worth to make Tampa Bay bend toward his talent.
Likewise, the Nets this week were quick to forgive or at least forget their own stated “values” — or at least forget their own stated “values” — and welcome back Irving, who still plays like one of the best point guards in the league and thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room.
Just two months ago, the Nets released a statement about remaining “true to our long-established values of togetherness and sacrifice” in explaining why the team could not go on with Irving as a part-time participant. As long as Irving remained unvaccinated, causing him to miss home games, he could neither play nor practice with his team. General Manager Sean Marks elaborated how the Nets would throw open their arms to Irving, but he had to abide by the city’s mandate.
“It’s ultimately going to be up to him what he decides. We respect the fact that he has a choice and he can make his own right to choose,” Marks told reporters in October. “Right now, what is best for the organization is the path that we’re taking.”
Irving never budged, and the Nets flinched.
Depleted by the highly contagious omicron variant now sweeping through the league and everywhere else, Brooklyn had its past three games postponed because it did not have enough available players. Even though this adversity will be shortlived and the players in the covid protocols are expected to return, the Nets responded by reversing course on Irving.
Second chances in sports can feel good. It’s the overdue vindication for someone such as veteran Isaiah Thomas fighting his way back into the league and humbly suiting up for a G League team before earning a call up from the Los Angeles Lakers. Thomas earned his chance only because the Lakers, too, are experiencing a shortage of players; still, his comeback feels no less rewarding.
There are no heartwarming vibes with the decisions made by the Bucs and the Nets. They have given second chances not as acts of mercy but rather desperation. Over the past several days, both teams made it clear where they stand. The defending Super Bowl champion Buccaneers and the NBA champion hopefuls in Brooklyn have principles — until those principles become a competitive disadvantage.