Vikings Message Board.Com

Mothman wrote: It's definitely interesting but I think you may be using the words we and we're a little liberally. I know what you mean but it implies something a little more universal than may be warranted. My experience has been that plenty of people are far from willing to forget or forgive the transgressions of certain players. Lewis has proven to be an extremely useful marketing tool for the NFL (and others) and consequently, questionable aspects of his life and past have been seriously downplayed over the years. The NFL decided he would be one of the "good guys", one of the faces of their game and for the most part, the media got in step with that viewpoint, celebrating Lewis' leadership and performance on the football field. However, I hear fans, radio broadcasters, etc. bring up Lewis' involvement in that murder investigation every football season. I think some of us are willing to forgive and forget but some of us aren't.

The same dynamic is at work with Michael Vick. Plenty of fans were quick to forgive him and the media jumped all over his story as one of redemption and a man turning his life around. Others (myself included) have yet to really forgive him for what he did and I certainly wouldn't ever want him to wear a Vikings uniform.

Then there's Jay Cutler, who I think really underlines your point when contrasted with players like Lewis and Vick. Cutler's arguably disliked by fans as much or more than those other two players and what is his big transgression? There's certainly no blood on his hands. People dislike his body language or facial expression and they make assumptions about his attitude base don large part on such superficial observations. As with Lewis, the media has fallen into step and Cutler is widely viewed as one of the league's "villains".

Meanwhile, pill-poppin', wang-textin', repeatedly retirin' Brett Favre was almost always presented as one of the league's "heroes", whether he deserved it or not.

It seems to me that a marketability plays a big role in how these athletes are portrayed.

I hope all of that made sense.

hibbingviking wrote:Damn kaepernick has a cannon arm !!!!!!

hibbingviking wrote:Damn kaepernick has a cannon arm !!!!!!

The Breeze wrote:McKinne gets a ring.....who woulda thunk?