Big Blue Fight Club

Football is a violent game, so I don't pretend to care that a guy gets dumped (even head first) into a cold tub by a teammate.

Basically, any given play, on any given Sunday, is more horrifically violent than this.

That said, just how big of a d-wad is Jason Pierre Paul?

I mean, Prince Amukamura is no longer a rookie. And, he's being counted on to be a big part of Big Blue's secondary. I wouldn't be dumping him on his head into a cold tub.

You want to bust his balls? Haze him a bit? Fine. Shaving cream in the shoes won't do the trick?

The football tough guys will no doubt line up to say that anyone who thinks JPP is out of line, just doesn't get the caveman rules of a pro sports lockeroom.

Fine.

But here's Ross Tucker to make another point about the whole incident: Amukamura, unfortunately, needs to basically brawl his way out of these punkings, almost as if he was in prison with the toughest guy on the cell block.

The video makes everyone involved look bad. Pierre-Paul, already the best defensive player on the team, is seen not only as a bully throwing Amukamara into the cold tub but is also heard repeatedly speaking with vulgar and inappropriate language. There should never be a place for that type of language but that is the reality of the culture in the locker room. More on that later, but needless to say he can't be thrilled that Weatherford made such a bone-headed decision. People won't forget what they've seen on this video from a guy whose star is, or at least was, on the rise. 

Amukamara comes across as a helpless figure. The look on his face after he gets out of the tub is disturbing. It hurt me to watch it. He looks like a defeated man. 

The truth is, Pierre-Paul and the other Giants are picking on Amukamara because they can since evidently Amukamara allows them to. Sure, some small level of rookie hazing is common in the NFL, but this is way past that. Amukamara is no longer a rookie and reportedly that is at least the 8th time that he has been dumped in the cold tub.

There is only one way for him to finally get the rest of the guys off his back and that is to not allow it to happen. Amukamara must stand up for himself. Physically. Unfortunately, it is the only way. 

You see, NFL players, in general, are not very developed socially. Society hasn't made them yet. Their world has been a testosterone-laden locker room for as long as they can remember. It's not the real world, it is its own world. And in a lot of ways it is not that different from 6th grade when a few bullies would pick on the weaker kids. In the NFL, you can't allow yourself to be one of those weaker kids. That's the culture. 

I just wonder how this incident would play out, if Amukamara went down fighting, and suffered a 9 inch gash on his leg when JPP dropped him on the edge of the tub instead. Would the team, or the media, effectively blame Amukamara for "not going along" with an otherwise "harmless little prank" within team walls?

Of would they come down hard on JPP for being a meathead who doesn't understand how important it is in the NFL to keep your own players healthy at all costs?