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Adrian Peterson Says Rant Was Aimed at Union, Not Vikings

By Dan Zinski

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Yesterday’s Twitter outburst by Adrian Peterson, a ten-tweet rant against the unfairness of NFL contracts, caused great consternation among Viking fans who mistakenly interpreted the harangue as an attack against the team.

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Peterson had been trying to seemingly mend fences with the team, and the fanbase, before apparently going off the deep end Thursday afternoon. But it turns out the Vikings were not Peterson’s actual target.

Well, not the Vikings specifically. Peterson went back on Twitter a little later and clarified that he never meant to attack the Vikings but is really mad at the NFL (which by definition includes the Vikings) and even more the NFLPA.

Behold Adrian Peterson, Crusader for Labor Justice:

One of Peterson’s original tweets specifically caused misunderstanding and irritation:

He didn’t mean it was time to change teams, he meant it was time for a change in the situation for players. See? Not about the Vikings.

Peterson has a point about the contract issue, but he must also understand that he has turned himself into a highly controversial figure and pretty much everything he says is going to be over-scrutinized. That being the case, he should try harder to give full context to his remarks. If it’s about the union, say it’s about the union in tweet #1.

One suspects despite Peterson’s words that this is still largely about the Vikings and how Peterson thinks they disrespected him. What would constitute a show of respect? A re-worked contract with guaranteed money? Not going to happen.

Peterson can rave on Twitter all he wants but it doesn’t change his fundamental situation. He may have a valid point to make, but his past attempts at painting himself as a victim will only make people look at his remarks as yet another case of Adrian Peterson playing the poor-little-me card.

It’s hard to take Peterson’s principled stand that seriously when you know he just wants the money, and would shut up immediately if the Vikings came to him offering to re-work his contract. If the NFL is evil and the union is awful, that was the case even when Adrian Peterson was being paid millions in guaranteed money. But where were his principles then?

If Peterson is concerned about “securing his future” as much as he says, maybe he should stop spending lavish amounts of money on Arabian Prince birthday parties and put some of that in the bank instead. I love it when millionaires fight with billionaires.

Next: Adrian Peterson Twitter rant

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