According to those who support his antics, the character of Marshawn Lynch and Marshawn Lynch's character are mutually exclusive. A few weeks ago, I didn't blink an eye at them. I even thought they were funny for a couple of weeks, however, now I'm having difficulty not drawing my own conclusions.
My disclaimer should be obvious, but I'll state it anyways: I don't know Marshawn Lynch on a personal level (duh). I've never seen him "behind the scenes." I don't know what he lives for, plays for or stands for. I'm actually pretty clueless when it comes to the man. I am, however, quite aware of what he has projected from his platform of an NFL superstar. For the individual who wears the #24 jersey for the Seattle Seahawks, I'd like to say, "the gig is up." It's old. It's annoying. It's time for something new. You have now become destructive.
I had a shred of empathy for him when he chose to snub the media the first few times, but not at the Super Bowl. He has a professional responsibility to the media on "media day." It made sense that he was upset with how the media projected him as a "thug," but not after being fined a second time for grabbing his crotch in celebration. The media speculating that he's being selfish was officially removed yesterday when he very clearly made this all about him.
I'll throw him a bone when he says he's just looking out for himself, yada yada yada, however, at some point someone needs to tell him that this isn't all about him. Actually, I don't really care about him. I care about the young athletes looking up to him believing that this is acceptable and trendy and cute. His teammates, his team, his fans, etc. are afraid to hold him accountable. Why? Because he's an emotional introvert? I don't know. The NFL is trying to hold him accountable, but it's a complete waste of their time. Maybe they should just leave him alone, but I don't think so. One man cannot be bigger than the institution. Discipline cannot just cease to exist when it becomes difficult.
The current generation of teenagers have grown up in a culture that lacks respect for authority. Sure, there have been some crappy leaders and some of them have had awful experiences, however, when you step foot inside a school today, you'll see an apathy for authority and rules that didn't exist 10 years ago. What concerns me most about the media circus that Marshawn Lynch is a part of is it glorifies that lack of respect for authority. It indirectly gives kids permission to do whatever they want. It's narcissism at its finest. It's an individual making a clear and concise decision to not follow rules. Who the man is behind closed doors or what he does for this or that charity is irrelevant. I know, don't hate the player, hate the game. Well, in this case, there's only one person playing the game and if he was thinking about anything bigger than himself, I think he'd "get it."
Marshawn Lynch is a terrific American football player. He is Beast Mode personified. His teammates love him and he does great things for the city of Seattle, but I no longer respect his platform because he has abused it. He's setting the example that he believes he's the center of the universe and I have a problem with that. Wouldn't it be great to see an athletes and teenagers who understand they're not the center and it's not all about them? There are rights and wrongs even if we don't like them. There are certain things you "just do." I know that's not politically correct and it's conservative and corny, but the progressive idea that you can do whatever you want, believe whatever you want and act however you want whenever you feel like it is all kinds of bad. It's bad for our society, but specifically, it's bad for kids and it's bad for sports.
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