New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle would like to be treated more like a soldier returning from Iraq. (AP photo)
New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle thinks that getting paid millions of dollars to play a kids game is just like deploying to Iraq.
Let me set this quote up for you and then I’ll let Mr. Rolle take it from there. Boos rained down on Giant players at New Meadowlands Stadium after the home team fell behind the Jaguars last Sunday. Rolle told the media he took notice and didn’t like it. Cue Mr. Rolle:
“We risk ourselves out there on the field each and every day also. When soldiers come home from Iraq you don’t boo them. I look at it the same way. I take my job seriously,” Rolle said.
Of course a Giants media relations rep probably pooped himself when he read the comment and a two paragraph “apology” was quickly issued.
“I used a very poor, inappropriate example earlier today to demonstrate how seriously I take my job. Obviously there is no comparison between the men and women of our military putting their life on the line defending our country and what I do.”
“They risk their lives and that gives me the opportunity to play a game for a living. After I made my earlier comments, somebody even said to me: how would your father, who is the chief of police in Homestead (Fla.) and puts himself at risk every day, feel about the comparison you made? Again, it was a very poor, very inappropriate choice of words.”
I’ll make the same point that Yahoo’s Shutdown Corner sports blog made because it bears repeating. The words “I’m sorry” don’t appear once in the apology.
The whole incident is sad. Not just because an overpaid, mediocre safety has no regard for the military members who protect his right to be paid more in one year than a service member will earn over his entire career. But it’s just another example of how John Q Public doesn’t understand the sacrifices military members have made the past decade while the U.S. has been at war.
