Now, some will tell you that Jose Reyes second tenure with the Mets shows us that when a team wins everyone will forget about a player’s transgressions.  Personally, I have not found that narrative to be entirely true.  Personally, I believe Reyes’ domestic violence issues were not brought up again for a number of reasons.

The main reason was when Reyes came to the Mets, it was all about baseball for him.  He just went out there everyday and did his job on the field.  While Reyes is an exuberant player, it no longer stands out as much as it did in 2006.  In that 10 year time span, he has become more mature and players in general have become more expressive on the field.

By keeping it about baseball, Reyes allowed the story and the vitriol to subside.  It also helped that thankfully there were no stories about any repeat offenses.  And yes, it did help that the Mets won games.  However, the most important thing is Reyes played baseball and didn’t give reason to bring up the issues again.

That’s where Odell Beckham, Jr. and Josh Brown come into play.  These are two New York Giants players that have come under scrutiny for far different reasons.

For OBJ, it has been people calling his maturity into question.  There was the incident with Josh Norman last year.  This year, teams have seized on how emotional he is by delivering late hits and hits out of bounds to entice him into a personal foul.  It has worked.  However, the main focus on him has been his relationship with the kicking net.

It started with OBJ hitting the kicking net out of frustration and it bouncing back and hitting him.  After a few other events, OBJ wound-up jokingly proposing to the net.  People have come out either rolling their eyes at him or just downright getting angry with him.  His coach and quarterback have said that Beckham has been a distraction with the kicking net and other antics.

However, there are no recent quotes on their kicker, Josh Brown.  Brown has no issue with opponents or kicking nets.  Rather, he has issues with being a human being as evidenced by his journal entries recently released by Kings County Sheriff’s Office:

I have physically, mentally, emotionally and verbally been a repulsive man.  I have abused my wife.

 ********

I have been a liar for most of my life.  I made selfish decisions to use and abuse women starting at the age of 7 to fill this void. I objectified women and never really worried about the pain and hurt I caused them. My ability to connect emotionally to other people was zero. My empathy levels were zero.

 ********

Because I never handled these underlying issues I became an abuser and hurt [my wife] Molly physically, emotionally and verbally. I viewed myself as God basically and she was my slave.

(New York Post)

Of course, no one has commented on any of this.  Why would they?  The Giants re-signed a kicker who they knew was being investigated for domestic violence.  They purported to have done their “due diligence.”  Apparently, their due diligence and the due diligence of the NFL is terrible because Brown only served a one game suspension for the arrest.

Now, this is back in the limelight again because these documents were released.  If not for these documents, no one would have brought this back up again for the remainder of the season (save maybe media day if the Giants made it to the Super Bowl).  No, the story would have died after Week 2 when Brown returned to the Giants.  With him and the Giants just going out and playing football, the story died.  This is just like the Reyes story did.

That’s the main lesson for OBJ to learn here.  As long as you focus on the field, in the long run, no one is going to care.  They will forget about the Norman incident.  They will forget about the personal fouls.  They will forget about your relationship with the kicking net.  They will forget about everything that has happened in your past.  None of the bad happened so long as you are focused on your play.

Ultimately, that is the lesson we have learned this baseball and football season.  Stay focused on the field and hope the sheriff’s department doesn’t reveal the case they had against you and for some reason didn’t prosecute.