The Antonio Brown Situation™ has been ramping up over the course of the past week, largely instigated by the wide receiver himself. After he posted a farewell message to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ fans on Twitter, a report surfaced that he refused a meeting with Art Rooney II before ultimately relenting. Yesterday, he fielded a series of questions from fans that he hand-picked to address the issues that he has had with the organization.
While he had his predictable targets, going after quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and Head Coach Mike Tomlin for calling him out—he said that Roethlisberger has an ownership mentality, and that Tomlin falsely accused him of quitting on the team—there was another topic that he touched on that has come up recently: money.
In part due to his own insinuations, having previously used hashtags when addressing the situation such as “#GoodBusiness” and, more recently, #NewDemands”, many have been beginning to wonder if the issue isn’t simply his contact, even though he is among the highest-paid players at his position. Cris Carter even suggested that any team that trades for him has to give him more money or they’re going to get the same Brown that was trouble in the locker room.
A Twitter user specifically asked him about the idea of getting a new deal, however, and Brown responding, shooting it down. “Not for the money its for the love of the sport !”, he said “The commitment to win relentlessly consistently passionately ! Plus I made 70 million it’s public record not to be cocky just truth! Time to play for my own Team AB84 the family !”.
Not for the money its for the love of the sport ! The commitment to win relentlessly consistently passionately ! Plus I made 70 million it’s public record not to be cocky just truth! Time to play for my own Team AB84 the family ! https://t.co/v4vFO2QCSf
— Antonio Brown (@AB84) February 16, 2019
Brown has made it clear that his loyalty is to himself, and that is certainly his prerogative. All players should be self-interested, because if you’re not looking out for yourself, you can’t count on anybody else doing it.
But if Brown’s issues aren’t about money, then the things that he actually has a problem with don’t make him look any better to me. He’s mad because his quarterback took a couple of shots at him in public. Get over it. He’s mad because his coach strongly implied that he quit on the team when he held himself out of practice by faking an injury and refused to be in touch with anybody, thinking he could just show up on and play.
Get over it. Because most of the fans are over it, too. Good luck finding another team that is going to walk on eggshells around you to appease your ego. “Don’t be tolerated be celebrated”, he Tweeted a few days ago.
He has been celebrated throughout his career. It’s only now that he’s only being tolerated, and many are past the point of tolerance as well. If your behavior is such that it causes people to merely tolerate than appreciate you being there, it’s upon you to reflect on why that is.
