The most bizarre part of the ongoing saga between Odell Beckham, Jr., and the Carolina Panthers cornerbacks has probably been the Panthers bringing bats onto the field during pregame warmups, and maybe using them to taunt or threaten Beckham, who proceeded to fight everyone in sight for much of the following game.
For all the complicated questions the Panthers’ possible use of homophobic slurs prompts, the baseball bat situation has a simple solution: No more bats on the field.
Now, Panthers head coach Ron Rivera is clearly annoyed that the NFL has put the kibosh on what he views as an innocent motivating tool, as he told the Associated Press:
Rivera said earlier Tuesday that the Panthers had not done anything wrong and was asked if that was the case, why he made the decision. The coach said, “because I’m going to hear it if I don’t. That’s the truth of the matter, so to avoid the situation and set of circumstances, let’s just eliminate it. So that’s what we’re going to do. Again, it’s the No Fun League for a reason.”
Sick burn, Ron. Yeah, let’s drop the No Fun League reference days after one of your own players criticized Beckham for excessive celebrating. Remember, the NFL first gained that moniker for cracking down on celebrations. But don’t tell Rivera that.
Even leaving aside the question of whether they’re threatening, they’re baseball bats! This is football. If you want to mix your sports, go play Australian Football. It’s chaos down there.
(Via AP)
