A wise woman once said in an Ice Cube cinematic masterpiece, “Closed mouths don't get fed."
That classic Ronnie “professional” quote has guided me throughout my young career, so while it may read as shameless to some, I don’t fault Vince Young for hitting up Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald via the Twitter during Arizona’s humiliating 58-0 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.
And really, all VY did was tweet: “@LarryFitzgerald you know I can help tell coach.”
In response to that relatively harmless tweet, Vince has been slammed for only seeing “opportunity in others misfortune” ; for continuing to “cast a dim light on what once was the promising NFL career" ; and behaving in a way described as dude, have some pride’ painful.”
Not to be outdone, everyone and their tech-savvy uncle piled on the jokes about Vince’s tweet. Humor is one thing, but these more fervent critics need to chill out. Was the tweet that big a deal?
It’s not as if Vince offered O-Dog an oral massage for crack.
Like the rest of the people watching that game, Vince saw the Seahawks score 58 unanswered points against the Cardinals, prompting him to think, “Hell, I can do better than that.” My mama used to say the same thing about the Oilers and the Texans a few years ago, only Twitter wasn’t around back then.
To be fair, Vince’s urge to get back into the league is well known. In a past interview with ESPN’s Outside the Lines, he acknowledged: “I made some mistakes. And when you have the type of mistakes that I have, being quarterback in the NFL, it can ruin your career. So right now, I’m trying to fight hard to give it another go, another shot.”
For effect, he should’ve added: “It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference. Gonna make it right.”
Nevertheless, it was just a simple tweet, and even if Vince were pressed for employment to the point that he’d bypass his agent and take the reins himself via social media, you’ve got to be proactive trying to find work in this economy.
For the record, Vince’s tweet to Larry Fitzgerald is a lot better than some of what I read on my timeline. Like those awful pseudo-intellectual motivational tweets ala, “Shine bright like a diamond for there is a balm in Gilead.” Or the constant relationship chatter that reminds me a how divorcees with no degree in counseling manages to sell so many books peddling advice typically heard at any Black cookout in July.
Leave that man alone and allow him to network while everyone goes back to normal i.e. hounding music artists on Twitter.
