I tried to tell people this when the conversations came up about trading for him. You have to know what you are getting. And as I said, it isn’t just what people know from the NFL. Without going into an unnecessary psychological breakdown, Antonio didn’t wake up one day and say “oh gee, I think I’m gonna go to Central Michigan.” A string of events and bad decisions led him there.
One of the things that makes him great is that he’s got an extreme personality and not wired like most people. One of the things that is his downfall is that he’s got an extreme personality and not wired like other people. I still remember the specific description of Antonio Brown someone who coached him said “he shows up to practice like every day is the Super Bowl.” Every other description I’ve heard of daily life around Antonio Brown echos that statement, including when we practiced against them. The difference obviously being that some players got UP to practice against another team finally. For Brown, that was who is was every single practice all year long year after year.
I know what you are and you know what I am. That’s what is unique when we speak to eachother. Most of these other guys are not aware on that level. But while I have my beliefs, there are limits to everything. You can’t just love your way out of every situation nor can you hate your way out of every situation. You need a certain moderation in many things in life.
But all of that aside, I would not actively root for a man to lose all of his money and be broke.
That’s why I don’t identify with an ideology anymore. I’m not a Buddhist, but that’s pretty much how I look at the world now. The middle path. Compassion. I have compassion for AB, but even Zen masters will smack you down when you need it. I’ve gotten my share in life.
I see a guy with a condition. It has nothing to do with where he came up or certainly nothing to do with theology. It’s not a personality quirk. It’s not just being a Diva. It’s about a growing manic state that will undoubtedly lead to a significant crash. It’s at that point he will get help. Hopefully it’s soon enough that the guy can still make and stash a large chunk of cash.
There’s some question as to whether AB will still get keep his $9m signing bonus. According to Florio, if I understand it correctly, since he was cut and never suspended under the personal conduct policy by NE, or the league, it seems the Pats will have to come up with a justification that meets the criteria for denying him his bonus. You’d have to think they weren’t going to just let him walk away with nine million bucks for one game without a plan, and potentially communication with the NFL on how that will be solved. The league should have suspended AB before, now it’s biting them in the butt as he craps all over their 100 year anniversary.
As far as AB, yeah it does have to do with upbringing. That’s true for every single human on the planet. Some are most susceptible than others to environment, but that’s always a key factor. And Buddhism is not theology, it’s philosophy.
I’ll clean up my point.
Whatever our worldview is, we should be able to see objectively that AB has an issue.
I don’t mean to say that our environment doesn’t influence us, rather that AB’s condition is less about environment (either upbringing or star status) and more about his own grip on reality.
