Judd Zulgad rounds up the rather pathetic story of Vikings offensive tackle Bryant McKinnie’s Pro Bowl antics:
McKinnie was booted off the NFC roster after missing three of four practices, all but one meeting and even the team photo last week. After using his twitter account to document his partying ways, McKinnie also used twitter to say that he was in the process of pulling out of the game because of injury. However, that did little to help his NFC teammates. The fact is McKinnie was kicked off the roster and it was too late to replace him.
Craig was told that McKinnie became a “running joke” among players on the NFC roster — something that isn’t funny at all in reality. So how is McKinnie taking all of this? Well, it appeared that last night and early this morning he was back to using twitter to express himself.
Among McKinnie’s tweets:
— “What I realize is ppl like negative that’s what sells [at] the end of the day.”
That was followed by:
— “HATERS MAKE ME STRONGER SO THANX 4 THE FAVOR! I DON’T BREAK SUCKAS!”
— “That’s My Motto! So Feed me the hate! All yall doing is make me stronger! Don’t know what yall Talking bout! THanx 4 getting me followes!”
— “I’m thankful 4 every1 who voted 4 me from the bottom of my heart!”
— “I give the LORD PRAISE 4 giving me the strength 2 deal anything that come my way and 4 being by my side! ONLY GOD can JUDGE ME!”
Unlike defensive linemen, where hearing their names mentioned during a game usually means they did something good, hearing the name of your offensive tackle mentioned in a broadcast usually means they’re scraping your quarterback up off the turf. McKinnie’s name got mentioned a lot this year.
If his Pro Bowl behaviour is typical of his regular season behaviour, the Vikings would be well advised to look to replace him during the draft in April. Stars who have behaviour issues can be tolerated, but his star value isn’t anywhere near as high as he seems to think it is.
