McKinnie's getting the wrong message

In the blog he posted after the Pro Bowl, Mark Craig had an interesting item about the negative reaction to Bryant McKinnie and how he handled himself in regards to the NFL all-star game this past weekend.

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!"

Working under the assumption that these are all McKinnie's thoughts, this is a sad case of him completely not understanding why people might be upset with him. (It also will be interesting to see how commissioner Roger Godell reacts to McKinnie's tweets and also the fact he's regularly tweeting about being in gentlemen's clubs.)

No one is saying they hate him, but the fact is he left his all-star colleagues in a terrible position with his actions and it isn't going to help his cause one bit that he has left a path of tweets that show he was out at all hours of the night in a week he was supposed to at least act like he cared about the Pro Bowl.

That being said I agree the game is silly and probably shouldn't be played, but if that is your feeling then pull out of it in a timely fashion. Vikings wide receiver Sidney Rice was among five Vikings players who said they could not go because of injury. They all did it in time so the NFL could easily replace them and they are not having to put up with "haters" saying they did anything wrong.

I asked Vikings defensive tackle Kevin Williams last Monday if he would play in the Pro Bowl. He said he was going to give it a try but by Tuesday had decided he couldn't do it because of a knee issue. No one ripped Williams for realizing he did not feel well enough to play.

If nothing else, McKinnie put his Vikings teammates who did play in this game in a very uncomfortable spot. That's especially true for guard Steve Hutcihnson, who Mark Craig has reported needs shoulder surgery. As a guy who plays beside McKinnie during the season, there were probably plenty of players who asked Hutchinson what the heck was going on.

And how about the Giants' Dave Diehl and Philadelphia's Jason Peters having to play the entire game at the tackle spots because McKinnie left his team so shorthanded?

Perhaps those two have a right to be "haters."

McKinnie has had problems in the past with the NFL and is likely to be fined again for this latest stunt. I've covered him since 2005 and can tell you that I don't think he's a bad guy by any means. Much of the time he is pretty quiet around the media but there have been instances where he has opened up and been pretty engaging. Anyone who follows him on Twitter knows he has interests that go beyond partying and playing football. He often writes about his business ventures and interest in music.

The sad thing is I think it has become debatable as to whether McKinnie will ever "get it."  He has been given a world of talent to play a sport that doesn't have a long career span. If McKinnie ever just put all his focus on football, he could be one of the NFL's elite left tackles. But between the 2005 Love Boat incident, the fight outside a Miami night club in 2008 and this latest incident it appears a long shot that McKinnie's focus ever will be solely on the NFL.

And that's a shame.

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(startribune.com)