The OBJ Effect
By: Rich Stark
Are you tired of this nonsense yet? It seems no matter what OBJ does, he seems to be a lightning rod for the low hanging fruit scavengers. We have had multiple stories this off-season about him wanting to be traded, another one was “hes not happy”. OBJ cleared the air when he quote tweeted @Awood45 ( pitcher for the LA Dodgers).
In fairness this was also during silly season on the NFL schedule. Some of these stories are par for the course.
The guy comes under constant fire for every single thing he does. Its petty, its cheap and at this point its starting to drive ME crazy.
By all accounts hes been a fantastic teammate. Not the locker room cancer that some said he was. He gutted out this entire 2019 campaign with a sports hernia. A SPORTS HERNIA!! What else does this man need to do to convince you? Hes had 3 straight subpar seasons, occording to his standards. Mostly because of injury. Not one time has there been any real evidence hes been anything short of respected within the locker room. I understood some of this early in the season and even expected it to go south when the losses pilled up, but OBJ simply gutted it out and never once became the problem some expected.
So, here we are today, August 9, players are opting out for the upcoming 2020 season, players are being traded, coaches are testing positve and the Browns are in DAY 1 of a week long acclimation period. To the surprise of…literally nobody, we get the OBJ story. Here are a few of the quotes driving this non-story.
“We’re not ready for football season, So why are we trying to push forward? It’s obviously for their money and that bothers me because there’s always been this – and I hate saying it like that – but the owners’ [attitude is], ‘Oh we own you guys,’ and just kind of that unfairness going on that they don’t see us as human. I just feel like the season shouldn't happen and I'm prepared for it to not happen and I wouldn't mind not having it.”
We will soon see the tweets and mentions of - OBJ doesnt love the game, OBJ is a quitter, OBJ wants to quit on his teammates. The problem being is.. this was an interview with the Wall Street Journal, done more than 2 weeks ago. Prior to all the meetings and agreements between the NFL owners and the NFLPA specifically related to player saftey during camp. It is also the very same day the Browns posted a picture of OBJ on the field working. Sadly, its almost as if they HAD to post it for all the non believers. Maybe its because it easy to dislike the Diva types in the NFL, maybe its because people don’t like the Browns to have nice things. Any or all of these things may be true. The one thing I know for certain is this. OBJ is here, hes at camp, and he and our Cleveland Browns have unfinished business.
