Update: Bryant McKinnie Kicked off Pro Bowl Team
By Dan Zinski
Bryant McKinnie said he was honored to be selected to the Pro Bowl team, the same as every other NFL player who gets selected to the Pro Bowl team.
Many of those other guys probably don’t mean it either, but at least they bother showing up to practices and meetings the week leading up to the game. Bryant however did not, which is why today the Vikings left tackle was booted from the NFC roster.
We should’ve perhaps gotten a hint that McKinnie wasn’t entirely serious about his commitment to the Pro Bowl from all the tweets he posted this week detailing his nocturnal activities in his old Miami stomping grounds, like this one from last evening:
"Waiting on Tashi 2 get ready! About 2 head 2 the clevelander 4 a bbq!"
Which was followed a few hours later by this one:
"Leaving the beach headed 2 KOD’s"
Of course, McKinnie is a grown man and can spend his time any way he wishes (as long as his amusements don’t veer into the unlawful). The question one has to ask is, if you’re so much more interested in partying than participating in practices and meetings, why not just bow out like everyone else who doesn’t want to play?
I guess it’s asking too much for Bryant to behave like a responsible adult. There’s a certain justice in this anyway, since he didn’t belong on the team in the first place.
Update: Bryant McKinnie has taken to Twitter to tell his side of the story. McKinnie’s tweet from moments ago:
"Had 2 withdraw from Pro Bowl! I’ve been playing thru pain the last month and need time 2 let my body heal."
Again, if Bryant is really injured and decided he couldn’t play, that’s fine, but then he should’ve pulled out early in the week like everyone else. Going down there, showing up for one practice then blowing everything off without explanation just looks terrible.
Of course it’s possible Bryant just doesn’t give a damn how things look to people. In the immortal words of Barack Obama, “He’s a jackass.”