Ring the bell.
One of the latest revelations from the antitrust case brought by a group of players against the NFL was that the New York Giants did not renegotiate standout defensive end Osi Umenyiora's contract despite a supposed verbal promise from GM Jerry Reese. Apparently this proves the players have suffered "irreparable harm" as a result of the league's labor strife, as one reason an extension did not occur was likely due to the many unknowns during the uncapped year.
Yet another reason could be because he missed all of 2008 with an ACL tear, and was benched for part of '09 as he struggled to recover his burst—but apparently that's not relevant. Something about the information in Umenyiora's upcoming affidavit clearly rubbed Eagles' RB LeSean McCoy the wrong way though, because he felt compelled to respond to the news via Twitter.
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Because nothing on Twitter ever goes unnoticed, despite the social media's penchant for hosting the inane passing thoughts of society's self-important, Umenyiora naturally caught wind of the remarks. And like any good lame Twitter feud, the All Pro defensive end fired back through a Tweet by the New York Times' Mark Viera.
Lady GaGa. Really.
Umneyiora continued in a phone interview with the Newark Star-Ledger.
"I mean, he’s a girl, man. Who does stuff like that? If he has more of these things to say, he can say ‘em to my face. Don’t be no Twitter gangster man."
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"Yeah, me and him, we had words on the field — both times we played. I hate him, he hates me, period. He chose to take that off the field and make it public when it’s something that’s between me and him. It’s something we can address on the football field. He let the whole world know about it, so I’m going to respond."
Personally, while I've never been one to shy away from a little trash talk, I think McCoy was entirely in the wrong here. Calling out Umenyiora is bad enough on its own. When healthy, he's one of the most feared pass rushers in the league. In each of the three seasons he started16 games, the two-time Pro Bowler recorded double digit sacks, including 2010.
As we've all seen in the past, Umenyiora doesn't need any extra motivation either, especially not to get up for the Birds. He famously had six sacks in one game against the Eagles in 2007, on a night where then second-year tackle Winston Justice was subbing for an injured Tra Thomas at left tackle.
But hey, what else can we really say? The players, all of them, have way more time on their hands than they are used to, and we've seen that manifest itself in a variety of ways. One of the unfortunate side effects is even more Twitter, and it seems nothing good can ever come from that.
>> Umenyiora on McCoy: 'I hate him, he hates me' [NJ.com]