After serving a three-game suspension for submitting a fake vaccination card, Buccaneers receiver Antonio Brown is chagrined. He’s contrite. He’s humble.
Or not.
“Put some RESPECT on my name!” he demanded on Twitter late Monday afternoon. “All of YALL!!!!”
I’ll admit that, yet again, the devil on one shoulder put a pitchfork in the ass of the angel on the other one. I retweeted Brown’s message with this question: “Is there room for it on the fake vaccination card?”
Brown responded by vowing to post the video of his vaccination, just for me. (How did he know what was on my Christmas list?)
Here’s the reality for Brown. Getting vaccinated after he realized that his former live-in chef was blowing the whistle on Brown’s previously-acquired (and submitted) fake vaccination card doesn’t excuse the purchase and use of a fake vaccination card. It’s like robbing a bank and then trying to put the money back later. The bank was still robbed.
While the back and forth is entertaining, the Buccaneers, Brown’s agent, and/or his lawyer should advise him to stop talking about anything related to his vaccination status. He could still be prosecuted for submitting a fake card. It’s better to lay low and to welcome the fact that the Buccaneers decided not to take a stand on principle because they need Brown if they want to win the Super Bowl.
That’s how strong the desire to win is. Coach Bruce Arians doesn’t mind that Brown lied about being vaccinated and took advantage of reduced protocols (and potentially endangered people like Arians, a three-time cancer survivor, and 83-year-old offensive assistant Tom Moore), because Brown helps Arians and the Buccaneers potentially achieve their goal of winning another Super Bowl.
It’s no surprise. It happens in every sport, at every level. If you’re good enough, misbehavior will be excused. In part because, if the player’s current team won’t, one of its competitors will.
For the Bucs, that reality is exacerbated by need for his services, after last night’s injuries. Thus, as pointed out last night on Twitter, he could show up with a whole deck of fake vaccination cards and the Bucs wouldn’t cut him.