Filed under: NFL
"You're not any less of a man if you don't pull the trigger, you're not necessarily a man if you do." -- A Tribe Called Quest.Jay Cutler didn't pull the trigger on Sunday, and that doesn't, as some of his brethren charged, make him any less of a real man, whatever our mythology has come to say manliness is.
But the same can't be said for many of Cutler's accusers, those who couldn't muster the chutzpah to say they were wrong, let alone sorry, for summarily dismissing the Bears' quarterback after learning by Monday that there was real reason for Cutler's reticence: a torn knee ligament.
The story about Cutler in the NFC championship game, in which his Bears fell to the Packers, didn't reveal so much about Cutler. He suffered an injury. He couldn't go any longer, or at least his coach decided he couldn't. We've seen it with plenty of players before.
Instead, the story about Cutler revealed more how confused some athletes are about what it is they do for a living and how that defines their masculinity. Playing through pain and discomfort is something athletes are expected to do if they can. We know all the legendary stories, like Rams' defensive end Jack Youngblood playing through the 1979 playoffs on a broken leg and linebacker Ken Norton, Jr. leading the Cowboys to a Super Bowl victory despite a torn biceps that rendered him virtually one-armed.
It is doing something we don't expect them to do, but they should do, that is the ultimate in manning up, as we say these days. One of those things would be admitting an error, and maybe even apologizing for it.
FanHouse TV: Is Cutler Still Man for Bears' Job?
More: Cutler Reportedly Has Torn MCL | Teammates Defend QB
More: Cutler Reportedly Has Torn MCL | Teammates Defend QB
Source: http://kevin-blackistone.fanhouse.com/2011/01/26/jay-cutlers-critics-not-real-men/
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