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I admit it: every time I see the word “Antonio Brown” in a headline, whatever it is, it’s a must-read. It’s almost always the perfect mix of entertainment, bizarre world action, and making you say to yourself “this isn’t what I expected to read.”
Brown’s odyssey as owner of the Albany Empire football team is a case in point. These stories are unbelievable.
Brown gave us a lot of fun because it was so surreal. You know the stories — the paychecks; players complaining about being locked out of their team hotels; Brown missing a medical deadline, thus disrupting his plans to be able to activate himself and play; coaches and some of the biggest names Players pulled out just weeks into the season.
Then, this past weekend, Brown was removed from the team hotel over noise complaints and suspicions of marijuana smoking inside.
Brown’s room? Smoking marijuana?
No, never. …
This story is about Brown’s brand, but thinking about it makes you shake your head. He’s the owner of the team, he’s the guy who gets kicked out of the hotel for playing dumb.
Brown also made it clear that he wanted to replace Shannon Sharpe with Skip Bayless as the “undisputed” co-host, hilariously. Problem is I’d never want to watch that show with Sharpe and Bayless, but if Brown joins…
There’s no doubt that Brown’s story is as interesting as it is when he’s in black and gold, putting on big plays and big catches week after week. He easily talks to Jerry Rice and Randy Moss as the greatest wide receiver I’ve ever seen, and his playmaking makes everyone stop and watch when the Steelers get the ball.
His post-Steelers career has been an interesting train crash. It’s a disaster, and as much as we’d all like to see it from another angle instead of seeing it, we can’t.
That’s why, when I read these stories, most of me feel both sad and amused. Brown could have been the greatest player of all time, and he might still be putting the finishing touches on a Hall of Fame career.
Instead, he becomes a clown show and a circus, only one without rings, tents or elephants. NFL teams have given him one lifeline after another, believing they can take advantage of his antics and win a lot of games because of his brilliance.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers came closest to that because they won the Super Bowl with him, but then he even burned them and Tom Brady. Do you remember that episode? In the one game in which he took off his pads and shirt and ran out of a New York court, he beat the team and Brady for months to come.
In many ways, Brown is an ongoing gift for the entertainment side of journalism. There seemed to be stories about him misbehaving – or in a strange way – and they always attracted a lot of readers.
But when did we start ignoring Brown and finding his behavior rude and, frankly, boring? When did everyone who supported him and continue to support him leave? At what point did all the people who were trying to support him and help him leave?
We may not be there yet, but with each of these new stories, it does feel like we’re getting closer to it. As much as Brown tried to grab the headlines, he made himself irrelevant.
It’s a sad story, and we’re watching it unfold, almost like a Greek tragedy. Actually, playing “almost” because if you look at the definition of Greek tragedy, all of this is definitely Greek tragedy.
Brown hopes to find what he’s looking for — the sooner the better — because it feels like the story is destined to have an unhappy ending. I certainly don’t wish or wish for that, but I’m just bringing it up because that’s what I think about every time I read these stories (after laughing at any craziness involved).
His career as a Steeler will not be forgotten. He is one of the greatest players in franchise history. He should definitely be inducted into the Steelers Hall of Fame one day. His off-court antics, or even his on-court antics, can’t detract from the player he was and what he’s actually accomplished.
While his post-Steelers career has been fun, it’s been one loud siren call and a series of moves and antics that are really more of a sad cry for help than anything else. matter.
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