Everything Gridiron

[Apollo]

I think you're taking this too seriously. This is the NFL, shit happens. If Beckham doesn't learn he will get what's coming to him one way or another. Players who decide to go down the wrong path always end up paying. In the meantime I'll still enjoy watching his highlight reel catches and I'll still enjoy seeing his out of this world numbers on my box score; no different than Terrell Owens if that's the way he chooses to go.

My main point still stands however. Everyone deserves a second chance. Maybe a third or fourth if they're getting noticeably better at handling whatever problem(s) they're dealing with.

Not everyone is gonna be like your boys Steve Smith and Joe Flacco. Everyone has different starting points, different upbringings, different life experiences. All that helps form who we are but that doesn't determine who we will be.

[Axel]

How am I taking it seriously? Haven't been calling for his expulsion or anything. Wanted to see him get suspended but wasn't hopeful on that.

And while shit happens in the NFL, that stood out like a sore thumb. That's saying something.

[Apollo]

Panthers Made Homophobic Slurs At Beckham and Taunted Him With Baseball Bats

Beckham is young, all we got is that play to go on, and so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that he'll put it behind him and be better for it.

Axel: Now we have more to go on:

Some Panthers players hate homosexuals? Beckham caught not only footballs but homosexual slurs:

Source w/ Giants tells @Ian_OConnor that NYG heard Panthers defensive players directing expletives & anti-gay slurs at Beckham before game.

https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/sta...71078350725121

Giants reviewed pregame incidents b/n Panthers players and Beckham. Are convinced he was threatened physically and called homophobic slurs

https://twitter.com/JasonLaCanfora/s...rc=twsrc%5Etfw

Giants reviewed film of sidelines and determined Beckham was threatened by Panthers and taunted w/homophobic slurs, a source confirms ...

https://twitter.com/RVacchianoNYDN/s...52690933026821

Why are Panthers players allowed to bring bats on the field? Panthers taunt Beckham with baseball bats on the field:

In pregame warmups, at least one Panthers official, and possibly more, carried black baseball bats on to the field and were motioning with them towards Odell Beckham Jr. while making comments to him, per a league source. Norman later grabbed the black bat and was swinging it in pregame warmups – which, by the way, an NFL Films camera captured. Beckham, according to another source, felt threatened and it helped put him in a certain frame of mind. It does not excuse what he did during the course of the game, but it does explain what led up to the battle that still is the talk of the league today.

https://www.facebook.com/AdamSchefte...67250336660940

If it doesn't add up then chances are there is more to the story. Again, not to defend Beckham's actions as there are better ways to address such bigotry/prejudices but this is probably some(if not all) of what angered him. Then he's sent out on the field in a high pressure, high impact sport. It's not a total shocker that he lost control.

It's 2016 for crying out loud. I don't know which way Beckham swings and I don't care. He shouldn't be abused and baseball bats shouldn't be allowed on the field. This is embarrassing for the NFL, they need to address this.

[Axel]

I've heard that the baseball bats is actually something one of their play has done in previous games to symbolize "come out swinging" but that player got hurt so other players adopted it for this week.

May or may not be true but I have a hard time believing that the bats were at all indicative of homosexual threats. Seems an unfortunate coincidence really.

[Apollo]

No we're talking two different incidents. The bats and the slurs are different. That's my understanding.

[Axel]

No we're talking two different incidents. The bats and the slurs are different. That's my understanding.

Yes but I heard that Beckham is using the bats and slurs in pregame as the basis of his appeal for his suspension. Essentially that the Panthers crossed the line in pregame so he was merely defending himself in the game.

A pretty weak argument in my books since it was pretty obvious who the continuous aggressor was after kickoff.

[Apollo]

So that I understand, you think he was out of control because of something unrelated to the hate speech and baseball bat taunts? I'm not saying that's a valid reason to cheap shot a guy like that but I'm just trying to understand your stance here.

How about those anti gay slurs by the way? Does this change your opinion of the Panthers or are you more forgiving of verbal abuse than physical abuse? Something tells me that the Panthers will not go undefeated versus the league office is its true; if it's proven in the appeal.

[Axel]

I'm saying that I don't think the baseball bats were specifically related to him.

I don't know enough about what may or may not have been said regarding slurs.

I do know that Beckham was not being targeted in any way during the game outside of normal football.

I do know that Beckham went outside normal football to target Norman.

I do know that Beckham threw a punch against the Bills in another game where he was struggling to get catches.

Mostly it looks like a guy who can't handle playing against better players. Depending on the slurs (not enough info yet) that would change. Hearing derogatory words on a NFL field wouldn't really be a shock though. Was it malicious or the normal awful stuff that gets said every Sunday? I don't know.

[Apollo]

I'm saying that I don't think the baseball bats were specifically related to him.

I don't know enough about what may or may not have been said regarding slurs.

I do know that Beckham was not being targeted in any way during the game outside of normal football.

I do know that Beckham went outside normal football to target Norman.

I do know that Beckham threw a punch against the Bills in another game where he was struggling to get catches.

Mostly it looks like a guy who can't handle playing against better players. Depending on the slurs (not enough info yet) that would change. Hearing derogatory words on a NFL field wouldn't really be a shock though. Was it malicious or the normal awful stuff that gets said every Sunday? I don't know.

Emotions don't switch off on command and emotions cloud logic. He looks like someone who let his emotions consume him as no one clear headed would do what he did. Yeah, he has a couple incidences on his record now.

He's played against good coverage many times in his two seasons. This is the NFL and almost every team is assigning at least one of their top corners against him on a weekly basis. Sorry, I don't buy your interpretation of the events now after knowing about the hate speech and the bats. To me it appears that he has a hard time overcoming mind games.

The Panthers picked a bad time to pull this stuff. This may jeopardize their bid at an undefeated season. Depending on what happens next were talking some potentially momentum killing consequences.

[Axel]

Emotions ran high for the full 3 hours, despite multiple breaks and half time?

Don't buy that at all.

We don't really know what happened with the hate speech but I'm willing to listen when we know more. It seems foolish to write everything he did off because of rumours that we don't know much about.

[Apollo]

I'm not writing it off but to me it seems more foolish to write someone off as public enemy number one without considering the whole story. You're jumping the gun on Beckham like I said in my first post. Things are rarely black and white. Beckham gets his appeal and we'll see what comes out of it. If it's all made up nonsense then, yeah, it don't look good then at all.

I've moved on from the cheap shot. The story is much bigger than a couple dumbass plays.

[Apollo]

Can of worms fully opened:

Here is what Deon "Primetime" Sanders thinks:

Sanders went on to describe one player[/B], who may have been on the practice squad, walking over to Beckham Jr. in pregame warmups "like he was going to him in his knees and said, 'We're going to end your career today.'"

"My sources tell me Josh really provoked a lot of this because now it got into something else," Deion said. "Then, you start talking about his hairstyle. Then, you start talking about his sexuality." Sanders isn't the only person who can confirm this report.

http://ca.complex.com/sports/2015/12...ell-beckham-jr
It looked personal.
(Just wanted to point out that I also have Josh Norman on my team and he's still a keeper too. )


Caronlina Panther, Cortland Finnegan in post game:

Cortland Finnegan was asked about Odell's behavior, he said, "Maybe it's in his blood. Maybe it's female-related." Again, the Panthers players are talking about his sexuality.

And its derogatory to women. NFL probably makes an example of the Panthers.They're too brazen here. Beckham has to take a seat too because there's no place for that either. There's isn't much to dispute, it's all on film but maybe this is Beckham's way of bringing attention to the actions of the Panthers.

If it was a white guy and a black guy and the white guy used a racial slur it would be all over the place right now. The guilty party would already be suspended.


This guy hits the nail on the head, pretty much hitting all my points and then some:

Look, Beckham deserved his one-game suspension from the NFL for trying to spear Norman with his helmet during Panthers crazy 38-35 win over the Giants. He could have seriously injured Norman and himself. He's a 23-year old wide receiver who lost his cool and hurt both himself and the Giants (Not to mention the reputation of head coach Tom Coughlin).
But where's the suspension for Norman, Cortland Finnegan and the Panthers for taunting him with anti-gay slurs? Or for referring to Beckham as a "prancing" Michael Jackson-like "bitch" and "ballerina" who may have some "female"-related problem in his blood?

What exactly did Norman mean after the game when he said he'd "peeled" away layers to expose who Beckham really is. I'll tell you. I think Norman was using cutesy code words to call out Beckham as effeminate — if not a gay man.

Don't believe me? I don't blame you because the Hot Take Media instantly decided — while the game was still going on — that Beckham was the bad guy and Norman was the good guy.

And, of course, the NFL wants the whole thing to go away so they don't have another PR disaster on top of concussions and domestic violence.Look, Beckham deserved his one-game suspension from the NFL for trying to spear Norman with his helmet during Panthers crazy 38-35 win over the Giants. He could have seriously injured Norman and himself. He's a 23-year old wide receiver who lost his cool and hurt both himself and the Giants (Not to mention the reputation of head coach Tom Coughlin).

Beckham also felt threatened when Panthers practice squad player Marcus Ball walked around with a bat on the field at MetLife Stadium, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The Giants' Instagram feed captured video of a bat-wielding Ball gesturing toward Beckham and the Giants

What the hell is this? A gang fight? West Side Story?

Keep the bat in the locker room genius.

And why is it always the practice squad player with the big mouth who gets everybody riled up? Ball was like the pugnacious little guy in a bar who gets his peaceful, taller friend beaten up by picking a fight with the toughest guy in the room.

Then Norman and Beckham battled during the entire game. We know Beckham was over-the-edge. But Norman was not innocent, chucking him in the face and throwing Beckham to the turf like a rag doll after a play without drawing a flag.

Let's also take a look at Norman's rhetoric after his Panthers defeated Beckham and the Giants. A triumphant Norman allegedly insulted Beckham by declaring: 'F-ck Him! He's a B-tch!"

During his post-game interview, Norman dismissed Beckham as a "ballerina."

Said Norman: "You going to get out here, and you're going to dance around and prance around like you're a ballerina, that goes to show you. When you cut back layers, you see. Everybody saw that live on national TV. There's nothing that I can show that he hasn't already been exposed."

Of course Norman and the Panthers deny making any homophobic comments. But who's kidding who? They seem to have been on a mission to expose Beckham as a soft "Michael Jackson" type rather than tough, manly men like themselves.

Boomer Esiason and Craig Carton discussed the gay slurs on their WFAN radio show in New York Tuesday. espnW's Jane McManus talked about it in her column yesterday. But ESPN hasn't given it the Outside the Lines treatment it deserved.

To make matter worse for the NFL, the Giants invited the "You Can Play" group for the inclusion of LGBT athletes on to the field at MetLife Stadium right before the game.

There's a lot of people to blame for Sunday besides Beckham. Start with Norman and the Panthers who directly and indirectly questioned Beckham's sexuality which is a private matter. Add in an incompetent refereeing crew that could have thrown both Beckham and Norman out of the game. Add in Coughlin, who should have benched his best player until he settled down.

But this is a problem in sports that most of the media don't want to touch.

Michael Sam, the first openly gay player drafted in the NFL, believes he would still be in the league if he hadn't come out. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver suspended Sacramento Kings guard Rajon Rondo for hurling anti-gay slurs at referee Bill Kennedy, who announced he's gay.

If Norman and the Panthers used homophobic slurs against Beckham, they should answer for it the way that Beckham has. And Norman should be suspended for this Sunday's game against the Atlanta Falcons.

Let's see if he can dance like Michael Jackson.

http://www.sportingnews.com/nfl-news...mophobic-slurs

[rocwell]

Who was that punk who confronted Odell with baseball bat b4 the game? Dafuq?

[Axel]

I'm not writing it off but to me it seems more foolish to write someone off as public enemy number one without considering the whole story. You're jumping the gun on Beckham like I said in my first post. Things are rarely black and white. Beckham gets his appeal and we'll see what comes out of it. If it's all made up nonsense then, yeah, it don't look good then at all.

I've moved on from the cheap shot. The story is much bigger than a couple dumbass plays.

Who's calling him public enemy number one? I think you think I care about this, but I don't really. It's something to talk about at least. Beats wrapping gifts.

Cortland Finnegan is a dirty player too.

Panthers had bats last week too, so I don't believe it is targeted at Beckham.

The slurs is another matter. But my question is, would the slurs reported be that unusual on a NFL field? Society is not the same as the field, so I wouldn't exactly be surprised to hear that a football player called another football player a fag. So I don't know if what the Panthers did was excessive for the NFL norm, to justify Beckhams actions.

Now should the league look at all pregame interaction between players, to monitor and enforce rules of conduct, sure but that is an entirely different matter.

[Apollo]

Who was that punk who confronted Odell with baseball bat b4 the game? Dafuq?

Practice squad player.

Panthers had bats last week too, so I don't believe it is targeted at Beckham.

Deon Sanders mentioned that not only did this practice squad player dare to coming over wielding a bat into where the Giant players were stretching but he threatened Beckham, telling him that the Panthers were going to end his career. Do you think that's ordinary and untargeted?

Now should the league look at all pregame interaction between players, to monitor and enforce rules of conduct, sure but that is an entirely different matter.

They need to look at pre-game and post game actions of the Panthers. It didn't end when the game started and it didn't end when the game ended.