Something I will never truly understand is the compunction to destroy expensive football jerseys based upon nothing more than your favorite team member leaving your team.
So Baltimore really wanted Maxx Crosby. They traded a ton to get him (and ostensibly upset the Bengals who were also likewise interested in his services). Crosby is still injured, however and failed his physical likely because it's still too soon after his surgery to be attempting the things he's doing. So the deal fell apart. Crosby ended up committing with the Raiders, and Baltimore went after the next best thing and picked up Hendrickson from the Bengals.
Now, I get it. Inter-division rivalries and all that jazz. But hold up for just a second and bear with me. I have a solid question for my fellow ticked off Cincinnatians. Why exactly are we throwing around phrases like 'betrayal' and 'turncoat' when this is really neither? Trey is a pro athlete. He's contracted. It isn't 1956 and one guy does not play for one team 95% of his career. Your favorite player will eventually leave. It's a fact. The ones who retire for their teams are a rare breed. I don't get the blind hate for a player who the team won't continue shelling money out for leaving so we have more to spend on other players. I don't get the fans spewing hate at him and destroying the jerseys they paid $150 for at the pro shop. I mean glad you've got all that disposable income to be doing that, my dude.
Yes, your favorite player might well end up on a rival team in your division. Deal with it. Life goes on. It's not worth all of this drama. Some people are already comparing it to the Carson Palmer debacle. And honestly, I don't get the hate there either.
Palmer was mightily pissed with the franchise and the front office and wanted out. That's the short of it. All the other stuff about him screwing the team over and the fans is drama. It's really not even worth it to be mad about in the end. Palmer got what he wanted; he left and Dalton came in. Life went on. And honestly for all the anger and vitriol hurled by fans at the 'cheap front office' of the team, Palmer should be your hero, not a pariah. He figured out what was what long before all the current fans who love to hate the front office for precisely that same reason. And yet, people still burn jerseys.
Ooh. Big scary, for real. Go on and torch that jersey. The only one who is losing money is you. The player and team have already made their money off of it. I get the symbolism, you're mad. But if you really really stop and think about it: why are you mad? Because a player's done with your team? Because he took a payday and went to a rival? Do you get that mad when your coworker finds a job that pays more at Citibank when you're working at Chase?
Besides all of the furor surrounding this: Hendrickson is old for a player. He's been injured A LOT lately. Baltimore is getting a player on his last few years, with a potential to show some life in there, but most columnists would tell you he won't be there for very long. And if this really really is about him retiring a Bengal, then I don't know what to tell anyone. Trey kept saying over and over he wanted to be on the team, and help the team out. But honestly: what would he say? No, I hate it here fuck off? Come on. He's a professional. He knows his job. Don't get caught up on that. Because yeah, every star player for every team EVER in every league EVER is going to say that while they're playing for that team. That's kind of just what you do.
But burning jerseys? Stomping around and looking like an absolute fool on Instagram and YouTube? Come on. Are you looking for a real reason to be pissed off? Because maybe you need to take the blinders off and look at the state of the country and the world at large. Players leaving for rival teams? You'll get over it.
And yes. I know there's extenuating circumstances. But really a lot of that is hyper inflated and played up by the media. Just take a deep breath and get on with life.
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