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Santonio Holmes doesn’t want to talk to the media when he’s required to during the season, do you think he is interested in talking to a reporter when he’s ambushed in Orlando?
There was no way Manish Mehta’s visit to track down Holmes, at the Tom Shaw training center, at Disney, was going to work out well.
No way.
It’s almost impossible me to describe in words, Holmes sheer hatred for the press. A lot of players despise the press, but few to this degree.
Holmes was clearly pissed that Mehta showed up the Shaw training center to talk to him, and you could tell from his two main quotes in the story.
“Don’t tweet my location,” Holmes said.
And . . .
“The media don’t make me and the media don’t break me,” Holmes told Mehta. “I’m Santonio Holmes . . . and that’s it.”
Listen, you all know I have major issues with the media, but what Holmes did last year, it on him, not on the media.
What did the press have to do with his negative behavior in the huddle that go him pulled from the Miami game, in Week 17?
What did the press have to do with him blowing off a passing game meeting called by Mark Sanchez late in the year?
It’s a long shot that he’s going to change. You saw that last year, and you saw that in Orlando.
Most people can’t change, that is human nature.
For Mike Tannenbaum to sign the player to a deal for around $10 million per, with $24 milllion guaranteed, was surprising, considering the Jets were essentially bidding against themselves. This was just bad business.
Holmes could probably use some professional counseling, but you have to understand something – it’s hard to tell this guy anything.
While Mehta was probably wrong for surprising the guy in Orlando, during a time the players aren’t required to talk, what we did learn from his article, is that Holmes, and the people around him, take no blame for his behavior last year – NONE.
He rarely takes blame, and with so many enablers around him, like his agent Joel Segal, he almost never sees the light.
And for Mehta to quote a player training with him as some kind of Holmes source was a reach. And the “spokesman” said, Holmes “just wants the ball.” So in fairness, we might need to cut Holmes some slack on this one. He didn’t say it.
As for Shaw’s comments, they are just irrelevant spin. Holmes pays him to train him, so what do you expect Shaw to say?
This Holmes situation is a tough one for the Jets. There are few answers for him, except, perhaps to get him the ball more, keep him interested. Is that really the long-term answer – appeasement? And with the Jets mixing in Tim Tebow and the Wildcat, he might get the ball less than last year.
Why do you think the Steelers traded him in the conference for next to nothing? And from what I hear they were prepared to release him if they couldn’t get a draft pick. He’s nearly impossible to deal with.
One thing that would help the Jets handle Holmes somewhat better is to keep him away from the media. It really would. It’s like making take cod liver oil on a regular basis. I asked NFL spokesman Greg Aiello, if they can just pay a fine for the year for Holmes not talking (it’s required in the CBA), and he said “no.”
This is a messy situation right now.
The Jets have a lot of problems right now, and two of them involves an ambitious reporter trying to make a big name for himself, and a testy receiver, whose behavior they have no answer for.
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