It wasn’t hazing. It wasn’t bullying. The real shame is not that it happened, but that it was made public and thus subject to the slings and arrows of the holier-than-thou chorus that doesn’t get the inner workings of an NFL locker room.
This is not about keeping dirty little secrets in house because there was nothing particularly dirty or secretive about Jason Pierre-Paul hoisting Prince Amukamara into the air, carrying him through a narrow corridor, turning a corner and then dumping him into a cold tub.
Here is the part Twitter-happy punter Steve Weatherford didn’t post on the internet for all the world to see (and much of the world to misinterpret):
“It’s funny, you don’t see this part of the video where after [Amukamara] gets out and dries off, he’s back playing around with the same guys that just threw him in the cold tub,’’ Justin Tuck, one of the Giants team captains and most respected players, said yesterday. “If you haven’t been a part of a culture like this in this locker room, it’s kind of weird. I don’t expect everybody to understand it.’’
There’s really not much to see here other than a time-worn, monotony-breaking training camp ritual suddenly turned into a viral indictment of the boys-will-be-boys mentality. You could see the conflict etched on Tuck’s face, knowing what he has come to know as harmless could be viewed as harmful, when taken out context. Weatherford was contrite and appeared shaken as he delivered an apology for the “lapse in judgment’’ that had him post what he thought was a comical video — complete with obscenity-laced audio — without considering the perceptions it could invoke.
No one came out and ripped the punter, but plenty of players weren’t happy about his itchy Twitter trigger finger.
“There’s a way of putting too much information out there, what’s only going to be out there is what you put out there,’’ Antrel Rolle said.
No one ever posted a video of Eli Manning surreptitiously planting purple dye in the socks and shoes of unsuspecting teammates. No one took video of Manning coming out to his SUV one day in camp and finding all four tires devoid of air. Landfills are full of tape used to bind rookies to goal posts. Stuff happens.
A picture of rookie receiver Rueben Randle, his arms tied up, placed in a cold tub surfaced this summer on Corey Webster’s Twitter account. It’s sophomoric and risqué and really not grounds for an uproar.
Coach Tom Coughlin sounded the alarm, sort of, calling this matter “inappropriate on a couple of levels,’’ but deep down you know he’s amazed by the outcry and not even the slightest bit taken aback by one of his players dunking another.
Coughlin as a freshman at Syracuse had his head shaved clean by older players; his beef is with Weatherford far more than with Pierre-Paul.
Why Prince? Well, why not? Rolle said he’s no stranger to a cold tub dunking, calling it “all fun and games.’’
Tuck recalled when he was a rookie: “I got dumped in a cold tub, had to go pick up breakfasts for people, had to go pick up dry cleaning.’’
And even back then, Tuck was a big dude.
“You accepted it,’’ he said.
For those not familiar with eat-or-be-eaten NFL player interaction, it looked as if Prince was getting picked on. Well, he was getting picked on. The first time he truly stands up for himself, the dunking will stop. To equate this with middle-school bullying is ingenuous. These are highly-paid professional athletes here and this is the way many alpha-males operate.
Amukamara didn’t wave off the dunking, saying, “I know that we did take it too far and someone could have gotten hurt.’’
Was this a case of bullying?
“No, it was not at all,’’ Amukamara said.
Was this a case of hazing?
“No, I wouldn’t say harm has been done to me,’’ he said.
Some players get it more than others and count the 2011 first-round pick as in the “more’’ category.’’ There’s no doubt there’s a feeling amongst his teammates that Amukamara could use some toughening up.
“Obviously you would like to see him be a little bit more vocal, a little bit more, as the young kids say, ‘swag,’ ’’ Tuck said and then added, “We don’t dunk guys that we don’t think are going to be a part of our team, are going to help our football team. It’s kind of a good thing if you get dunked.’’
Just as long as the dunking isn’t posted for the world to see, and misconstrue.