Maurice Jones-Drew: No Apologies for Jay Cutler Tweet
Published by Jeff Nowak on August 10, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Jay Cutler is a brat; Jay Cutler doesn’t care; Jay Cutler once cried when his mom denied him chocolate milk on his birthday; Jay Cutler is a diabetic.
Well at least that last one is true.
For years Cutler has been a punching bag and it seems no amount of on-field activity can remove that label. Never was this more true than in last year’s NFC championship game when he left the field with an apparent injury.
Almost instantly the flak started flying. Tweets appeared in droves per present-day expectations. These instant, 140-character criticisms are generally taken with a grain of salt as Cutler would probably care what a bored, computer-dwelling NFL fan thinks nearly as much as I care what Martians think of my choice in footwear.
When a co-worker is making critical statements, however, the game changes. If the guy in the next cubicle over sends out a mass email to all your friends about how pathetic you are—while forgetting to take you off the list—tempers are bound to flare and apologies should be abound in the near future.
This was the case when Maurice Jones-Drew—sitting at home because the Jaguars missed the playoffs—tweeted that Cutler was “quitting.” It later came out that Cutler had a strained MCL and could not have played.
Jones-Drew would not apologize then, and his stance hasn’t changed.
“I wouldn’t apologize because I didn’t do anything wrong, I don’t think. I didn’t commit a crime,” Jones-Drew said to ESPN reporters. “I didn’t kill anyone or rape anyone or anything like that. I mean, I stated my opinion, and it seems like you get more backlash for that than committing a real crime in some sense. I feel like I didn’t do anything wrong. I just said what everybody else was thinking.”
With these statements, Jones-Drew has gone from spewing ignorant things to his 144,000-plus followers, to being stubborn and incapable of admitting he made a mistake. For a player who for most of his career has stayed under the radar and been pretty likable, this unprompted disrespect was very unexpected.
Many who were previously indifferent are likely to turn against the Jags’ star.
If the Jags ever do make the playoffs and—God forbid—he has a serious injury which forces him to leave the game, I suggest Maurice steers clear of the Twitterverse for a while. Oh, and make sure to start tearing up on the sideline and begging the coach to play. That will definitely help the “well at least he cares” case.
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