Quay Walker Chose A Shocking And Almost Unheard Of Apology Approach: Apologizing To The Actual Person He Wronged
If you don't buy this apology then you are everything that's wrong with everything. Bottom line is dude fucked up - knew he fucked up - and poured it all out raw without a dash of lame PR speak. And he did something that almost no athlete EVER FUCKING DOES - he apologized to the actual person he wronged. You can and should hate what he did - but that takes a huge dose of humility to do. If a Bears fan like me who detests anything with a green/yellow color pattern can see this - you should too.
Like everyone else, I watched Quay push a Lions trainer trying to make his way to attend to DeAndre Swift after he got elbowed in the face unbeknownst to any of the referees.
It wasn't a full-forced shove, and it wasn't premeditated. It was one of those shoves you instinctively give your brother when you're already irritated and he brushes up against you. But, it was enough to almost push the trainer into Swift, which could have caused further harm for all anyone knew. And the timing couldn't have been worse. Not only was it at the critical point of a prime time game but came just six days after medical personnel attended to the scariest on-field injury in modern NFL history (which also happened to be on a prime time game). You could say the attention, optics and emotion here were...not ideal.
It sure sounds like Quay might need to hit up Andy Bernard for some anger management class recommendations, but how about we give the guy some credit for manning up after making a trash move? By manning up, I don't mean apologizing to his team when he wronged another team. I don't mean him apologizing for the distraction to his team. That's a fugazi apology. A Fugazogy if you will. I mean apologizing to the actual person wronged. What a fucking concept! There are a litany of things that get me worked up about the NFL, but the only thing that works me up more than players giving fake ass apologies every time they pull some shit like Quay did is when it's done at a presser and the brain dead reporters never follow up with "hey what about apologizing to.. I don't know... to the player/person you assaulted?"
Maybe I'm not being fair to reporters, but I just don't recall anyone ever having the guts to ask that in a presser. But I could be wrong and maybe that's why you see players take to social media. Take the king of all dirt balls Ndamukong Suh for example. This was his fugazogy via Facebook from SB Nation after the infamous Thanksgiving head stomping on Aaron Rodgers in 2011:
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In the past few hours, I have had time to reflect on yesterday's game and I want to sincerely apologize for letting my teammates down, the organization, and especially to my fans who look to me for positive inspiration.
Playing professional sports is not a game. It is a profession with great responsibility, and where performance on and off the field should never be compromised. It requires a calm and determined demeanor, which cannot be derailed by the game, referee calls, fans or other players.
I want to reiterate my commitment to working to become a better player, and professional-on and off the field. My reaction on Thursday was unacceptable. I made a mistake, and have learned from it. I hope to direct the focus back to the task at hand - by winning.
What a fucking joke. But my personal favorite Suh fugazogy by far came a couple years later when Suh purposefully went at the knees to block an offensive lineman following a Lions interception by DeAndre Levy. Levy's pick-six was nullified due to the penalty on Suh. Here's how bad Suh felt on the whole ordeal as quoted from teammate Joique Bell answering the media:
"He apologized to Levy as well in front of the team. Levy accepted it. So if he can accept it, everybody should be able to accept it."
This was immediately followed up by the reporter with: "Even the player Suh almost severely injured?" LOL. Just kidding!
Suh is easy to pick on, but I think we're all so accustomed to dirty players giving fake ass apologies that it's not even memorable. I don't think any team is really innocent here. It's just the warped culture. That's what makes Quay Walker's apology notable and worthy of acceptance. Dude is going to face repercussions - as he should - but the only other player this year I can recall giving a public apology to the actual person wronged was Davante Adams when the misleading camera angle made it appear like that camera guy didn't walk right in front of him. The correct angle showed Adams' push was really out of instinct, but he went out of his way before even being asked to apologize directly to the camera guy.
Anyway, credit to Quay for this. He has a price to pay and hopefully can take some steps to mitigate future outbursts. All I ask for standing up for him is he tell me what nick name Andy Bernard gives him in anger management class.
- Jeffro