The Fantasy Football Geek Blog

My buddy Sean, a fellow RIT alum and lifelong Bills fan, sent me an email taking me to task for daring to be disgusted with Marshawn Lynch. Since I’m kind of a jerk, I’ll post it here, and then eviscerate it publicly.

I wholeheartedly disagree with you on the Marshawn post from the 21st of June on FFgeekblog.com.  Yes I am trying to kill time until the end of work.

A.  Police were quoted as saying they believed he didn’t know he hit a lady because there was no attempt to cover up the marks on his whip which clearly indicated he hit something AND it was parked in his driveway.  Not hidden in the garage, not being worked on in a chop shop, just sitting in his driveway.  Marshawn is not the new “crime-scene-OJ.”

B.  McGahee is precisely why Buffalo wants to forgive Marshawn.  Buffalo is more insecure than anything now about athletes leaving Buffalo (McGahee, Briere, Drury, Campbell) and we don’t want to lose a bonified rising star.  Therefore their may be jokes about it (i.e. you saying it won’t be forgotten anytime soon) but he doesn’t have to win the city back.  I think we would deal with Chris Henry right now if he put up 10 TD’s and spent the offseason outside of City limits and/or in a plastic bubble.

3.  I think the being quiet about it for a week or so can go both ways.  He needed to make a statement early like Favre needs to make a statement now, just to calm the media and Buffalo.   But with all of the media hype surrounding the situation, and the media’s love for twisting words and destroying stars, can you blame him for waiting until his court date to make a statement?  Patience used to be a virtue.  Ultimately, his team, the law, and the lady he hit are the only parties who absolutely require a statement about this situation.  His statement to the team would be echoed to the league and Buffalo (if the teams OK with it, he being who he is would make the City ok with it).  Obviously a $100 fine + court fee should not be a headline news-type scenario.  Stand up and slap the next 5 people that walk by you and I guarantee they will no longer like you and one of them has paid more in a single trip to court.

D.  HOW DARE YOU SPEAK ILL OF MARSHAWN.  ORCHARD PARK HATES YOU.

Regarding point A: The fact that he parked the car in his driveway probably means he didn’t know he hit someone, but if so, that lends a little more weight to the argument that he was probably drunk at a time. I don’t care if it was raining and some crazy chick was dancing in the street and distracting you, if you hit someone hard enough to incapacitate them for 15 minutes and give them severe bruising and wounds that need stitches, I think you tend to notice that if you’re sober.

Regarding point B: Desperation is a stinky cologne, Sean. I think most Bills fans, while we want to win, also would like our stars to be good citizen athletes – partly because that means we don’t have to worry about suspensions and that sort of thing. I want Lynch to become an elite and respected superstar, not a highly talented but deeply flawed athlete who will flame out after a short career spent in Roger Goodell’s doghouse. (And speaking of Chris Henry, where’s he now?)

Regarding point, um, 3 (you so clever): I think you’re missing the main point here. The problem wasn’t that he didn’t speak up to the media, it was that he hid out in his house and refused to speak to the police for two weeks despite their repeated requests for a meeting. It may have been a prudent move legally, but to me and a lot of other people it looked like he was hiding from responsibility, and it didn’t reflect at all well on his character. If that’s how he handles adversity off the field, how’s he going to react to the many challenges inherent in an NFL career? Is he the type to work hard to come back from an injury? Is he going to pout and half-ass it on the field if he doesn’t feel like enough of the offense is going through him? We’re still in the “getting to know you” phase with Lynch, and for me, the relationship is in need of some major TLC.

Regarding point D: Yeah, probably. And if Lynch comes out and rushes for 150 yards in week 1, I’m pretty sure that I’ll forgive him wholeheartedly despite myself.