On an Alabama radio frequency hundreds of miles south of the ears of New York fans and media, New York Jet Greg McElroy spoke frankly about the his teammates. He described the teammates as “selfish” and the locker room “corrupt.”
His Jet teammates sniped, McElroy, the rookie, spoke out of turn. The media, mostly former players, contend McElroy broke locker room “code,” calling his comments “dumb.”
“You’re a third string quarterback, you have never seen the field,” said New York sports columnist Rob Parker on ESPN’s First Take. “This is not your place. This is not the guy who should be spilling the beans on what went on in that locker room.”
In professional sports, there is an unwritten fraternal rule that states a player must earn his right to speak on behalf of the team. Truth is irrelevant. You earn a voice by “paying your dues” through performance and loyalty. And rookies … should never, ever, speak their minds. Excuse the cliché but, “What happens in the locker room, stays in the locker room.”
Ironically, McElroy’s teammates, the media or fans share one common denominator: he told the truth.
When McElroy suggested the Jets were a group of “extremely selfish individuals,” the reply was unanimous: true. When he said the Jets locker room was possessed by a “corrupt mindset,” the chorus again replied: true.
Those are some painful, embarrassing truths. Regardless of McElroy’s place on the Jets depth chart, or how many snaps he’s taken, the comments were accurate – and that hurts. It hurts the massive egos of his overpaid, underachieving teammates. It embarrasses the Jets. The truth hurts.
Since when is telling the truth a problem? Stop blasting Greg McElroy. He told the truth.
