Spoiled Athletes Acting Like Spoiled Athletes

This past Monday, the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos faced off. And by 'faced off' I mean San Diego destroyed Denver in a 37-3 blowout. I'm not a fan of either team, so I didn't watch the whole game, and, thus, missed the big controversy:



Did I miss something there? The commentators reacted like Rivers just denied the Holocaust happened or something. As far as I can tell, Rivers and his Charger buddies were just making sure Cutler and the Broncos understood that they were getting their a** kicked, and there was nothing they could do about it.

I can't help but remember back to the middle of the NFL season when everyone was getting wrapped around the axle because the Patriots were running up the score on people. It's professional sports. Their job is to play a game, and when you don't do the job you get paid millions of dollars to do, expect to get trashed talked.

Is it the best sportsmanship? Nope. But what Rivers and company were doing is no different than the stuff that comes out of a linebacker or defensive ends mouth when they sack a quarterback. Are quarterbacks supposed to act better than the other players? I think Michael Vick answered that question for us.

This point is all but lost on Champ Bailey who, apparently, got his feelings hurt and decided to lash out on Rivers, questioning his abilities (full article here). Now here's where I make a distinction. Trash talk on the field - good to go. You're in the heat of the moment, lots of adrenaline, blah, blah, blah. Trash talk to reporters in the locker room or at the press conference after the game: cheap shot.

When Dallas played New England, the whole week leading up to the game, Terrel Owens posted a sign on his locker that said something like, "Due to the magnitude of the upcoming game, the real #81 is declining to speak about the other #81. I will be available for questions after the game."We all know what happened from there - Dallas got spanked, and TO looked like a jackass....again. Why couldn't he just not put a sign out and simply decline interviews. Oh well.

So, to sum up, Rivers taunting Cutler is nothing to cause concern or get worked up about. I think the NFL has much bigger image problems to deal with - Vick, the gangster culture, how to beat the Patriots, etc. At the end of the day, one has to remember that most skill players in the NFL are prima donas, especially the quarterbacks, and it shouldn't surprise people when they act like spoiled children.