Eric Winston Lays Into The Fans For Cheering Hurt QB

I know it's not Redskins news so I decided to post it here, but I think this is an excellent statement by any teammate of a person being cheered after being hurt. In this instance it's Eric Winston talking about the fans cheering when Cassel was knocked out of the game. I got it from profootballtalk.com

Eric Winston rips Chiefs fans for cheering Cassel injury

Posted by Darin Gantt on October 7, 2012, 5:48 PM EDT

AP

Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel may not be very popular in the stands, but he still has support in the locker room.

Chiefs right tackle Eric Winston took fans to task for cheering when Cassel left the game with a head injury.

The veteran blocker called a group of reporters over, and said the following words, via Arrowhead Pride:

“We are athletes, OK? We are athletes. We are not gladiators. This is not the Roman Coliseum. People pay their hard-earned money when they come in here and I believe they can boo, they can cheer and they can do whatever they want, I believe that. We are lucky to play this game. People, it’s hard to economic times, and they still pay the money to do this.

“But when somebody gets hurt, there are long lasting ramifications to the game we play, long lasting ramifications to the game we play. I’ve already kinda come to the understanding that I won’t live as long because I play this game and that’s OK, that’s a choice I’ve made and a choice all of us have made.

“But when you cheer, when you cheer somebody getting knocked out, I don’t care who it is, and it just so happened to be Matt Cassel — it’s sickening. It’s 100 percent sickening. I’ve been in some rough times on some rough teams, I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life to play football than in that moment right there.

“I get emotional about it because these guys, they work their butts off. Matt Cassel hasn’t done anything to you people, hasn’t done anything to you people. Hasn’t done anything to the media writers that kill him, hasn’t done anything wrong to the people that come out here and cheer him. Hey, if he’s not the best quarterback then he’s not the best quarterback and that’s OK. But he’s a person. And he got knocked out in a game and we have 70,000 people cheering that he got knocked out?

“Boo him all you want. Boo me all you want. Throw me under the bus. Tell me I’m doing a bad job. Say I gotta protect him more. Do whatever you want. Say whatever you want. But if you are one of those people, one of those people that were out there cheering or even smiled when he got knocked out, I just want to let you know, and I want everybody to know that I think it’s sickening and disgusting. We are not gladiators and this is not the Roman Coliseum. This is a game.

“I’ll sit here and I’ll answer all your questions for the next 30 minutes if you want to ask them and I’ll take all the responsibility I can take because I deserve it but don’t blame a guy, and don’t cheer for a guy who has done everything in his power to play as good as he can for the fans.

“It’s sickening. And I was embarrassed. I want every single one of you people to put this on your station and in your newspapers because I want every fan to know that. This is a game that’s going to cost us a lot down the road. That’s OK. We picked it, we deserve it and I don’t want your pity. But we have a lot of problems as a society if people think that’s OK.

“I’ll get off my soap box and you guys can ask any football question you want.”

No, Eric, that pretty much covers it.

The Chiefs have played poorly. Frankly, they are a disaster. Cassel leads the parade.

But for too many fans, their passion for the team leads them to forget that the laundry they’re cheering for has a human being inside it.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/10/07/eric-winston-rips-chiefs-fans-for-cheering-cassel-injury/

Big Props to him...that was an absolutely disgusting display

good for him, needed to be said

Wowwww...I did not see that happen, but good for Winston. That is awful. I HATE when people cheer when other teams players get hurt cause like he said, it's a GAME. We may hate the players as players and the teams they play for, but you should never want to see anyone get hurt on the field.

How disgusting to cheer for your own quarterback's injury. I'm seriously starting to see a lot more fans* act Philly-esque these days...Good for Winston. Can't wait to hear Chiefs' fans responses to that.

It's pretty damn classless to cheer for an injury in the first place. But to one of your own guys? Come on

I've cheered when one of "my" players got injured.

But it's been out of respect. I've been saying "Thank You".

(I've done it for "enemy" players, too. And also out of respect. Although I assume that in those cases, I've been the minority.)

Is it possible that he doesn't understand what they're saying? (I have no clue of the context.)

Well it's different when you cheer as they go off the field...everyone should do that out of respect. But that's not cheering because they got hurt.

I've cheered when one of "my" players got injured.

But it's been out of respect. I've been saying "Thank You".

(I've done it for "enemy" players, too. And also out of respect. Although I assume that in those cases, I've been the minority.)

Is it possible that he doesn't understand what they're saying? (I have no clue of the context.)

How disgusting was for Witherspoon and the other Falcons fans celebrating less than 5 feet from Griffin as he laid on the field hurt today? I'm actually surprised no one has said anything about it yet. Then the stupid ass dancing they were doing at the end of the game, disgusting to say the least. Yes the hit on Griffin was "legal" but it was far from necessary or clean. RG3 was already into his slide to the turf when Witherspoon launched his shoulder into his head. Guarantee you if that was Manning or Brady, Goodell would have personally came down to the field and fined him on the spot. It's bull****!

How disgusting was for Witherspoon and the other Falcons fans celebrating less than 5 feet from Griffin as he laid on the field hurt today? I'm actually surprised no one has said anything about it yet. Then the stupid ass dancing they were doing at the end of the game, disgusting to say the least. Yes the hit on Griffin was "legal" but it was far from necessary or clean. RG3 was already into his slide to the turf when Witherspoon launched his shoulder into his head. Guarantee you if that was Manning or Brady, Goodell would have personally came down to the field and fined him on the spot. It's bull****!

Last year Brady got a 15 yard penalty for a hit from London Fletcher on a "slide" which was quite similar to what Griffin was doing today.

Classless, low life ******* morons.

I hope Karma doesn't pay Kansas a visit anytime soon, because it'd be a biatch to be a Chiefs fan if she did.

Hail.

Chiefs fans are unrepentant on their message board

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=264770

---------- Post added October-8th-2012 at 12:40 AM ----------

one guy has the pic of him down as his avatar

Man, and I thought our fans treated Sexy poorly.

Man, and I thought our fans treated Sexy poorly.

The difference is (at least around here) we do a good job of culling the herd and treating these kind of people like the morons they are. People got shouted down for booing Rex on here, other message boards, on Twitter and other social media. We made real clear in a hurry that booing Rex wasn't okay, and he pretty much shut peoples mouths right away when he was perfect on two straight touchdown drives.

And beyond how disgusting it was...really, Kansas City? You WANT Brady Quinn to be your quarterback?

Chiefs fans are unrepentant on their message board

http://www.chiefsplanet.com/BB/showthread.php?t=264770

---------- Post added October-8th-2012 at 12:40 AM ----------

one guy has the pic of him down as his avatar

That's a strange forum. At first they don't seem to care what Winston thinks. Then they notice the national media picked up the story and that most of the football viewing public is comparing them to Eagle's fans. In reaction to this some of them start snarling about how they don't care what anyone thinks and that Winston is a horrible person. Others create an alternate universe where what Winston described never happened. They say fans, being good natured folk, were really just cheering for Brady Quinn (cough) and that Winston owes everyone an apology.

I think they should embrace their new found, and seemingly well deserved, status as NFL villains. They can start wearing spikes things like raider fans only, you know... Red and more Kansas Cityish. However this plays out, they'll continue to enjoy access to better BBQ than those of us in the DMV and so I must hate them.

After reading over there, I will admit many of them seem to echo my first thought when I saw him leave the game. That's he was faking it.

Saw Winston's comments this morning on SC, couldn't agree more. No one but Cassel knows what's going on under his helmet. Booing any injured player is disgusting and is all of the things we despise Philthy for doing. I don't care if you think he's faking it, bottom line is you don't know so shut your yap.

Winston was exactly right as was Dilfer who said that this stupid crap is the main reason players keep their distance from the fans.

They should show that clip before every game. Yall can all jump on the Chiefs but let's not pretend borderline junk like this doesn't happen all the time. Hop over to the LaRon Landry thread and you'll see people joking about when he'll be injured again and how it will be him getting his due. Winston is right, it is a messed up society. Don't act like this is just a Chiefs or Eagles thing either, this crap happens all the time in sports. People need to take a big step back and realize these are people like you and me. And I'm not on a soapbox, I'm sure I've been guilty of it, too. We need to have a little perspective.

Saw Winston's comments this morning on SC, couldn't agree more. No one but Cassel knows what's going on under his helmet. Booing any injured player is disgusting and is all of the things we despise Philthy for doing. I don't care if you think he's faking it, bottom line is you don't know so shut your yap.

Winston was exactly right as was Dilfer who said that this stupid crap is the main reason players keep their distance from the fans.

I took notice of what Dilfer said about the players keeping distance from the fans. When I was a kid and even a young adult, I always wondered why players did that. I wanted nothing more than to meet these players, have them sign autographs, high-five them, shake their hands, even get them to wave or say hi. But as I got older, I noticed how obnoxious some fans are towards these players. Even on boards like this, if a player doesn't kiss their butt and do everything they want, they are terrible human beings who don't care about the fans. But then you think about a situation like this, and how fans will turn on a player when a player gets hurt and for all they know his career and life could be in danger. It is sick and disgusting and good for Eric Winston for calling them out.

As fans we need to understand these are humans and these injuries are real. There are real lives at stake here, but it's not our lives. When someone gets hurt, it's never a good thing. EVER. Not all fans are like this, and not all fans are so obnoxious as to turn off all players towards all fans. But there are too many people who think that their fandom is more important than a player's job and a player's life.

I took notice of what Dilfer said about the players keeping distance from the fans. When I was a kid and even a young adult, I always wondered why players did that. I wanted nothing more than to meet these players, have them sign autographs, high-five them, shake their hands, even get them to wave or say hi. But as I got older, I noticed how obnoxious some fans are towards these players. Even on boards like this, if a player doesn't kiss their butt and do everything they want, they are terrible human beings who don't care about the fans. But then you think about a situation like this, and how fans will turn on a player when a player gets hurt and for all they know his career and life could be in danger. It is sick and disgusting and good for Eric Winston for calling them out.

Rather OT, but it does relate to the dynamic between fans and their idols.

Years ago, I was working a Star Trek convention. The guest was Colm Meany, who played Chief O'Brien on TNG and DS9. There was a moment that still sticks in my memory. I went into a room to get him . . .

. . . and he was smoking.

I was stunned. Nobody on TV smokes.

And then it occurs to me what an idiot I'm being. He's an actor. The things I see him do on TV aren't real.

James Doohan does not sound like Scotty. It's a fake accent he did for the show.

And then I thought about these former Trek actors. A chunk of their lives are traveling around the country, every \few weekends, so that they can get paid to hang around with a bunch of complete strangers who think they know them. People who think they've known them, for tears.

I wonder, for example. When James Doohan used to meet people, (At conventions, in restaurants, at the mall.), if does he say "Hi" to them, with Scotty's accent? And, if he doesn't, then what percentage of people are shocked, maybe a little hurt, that he didn't act the way they expected. Did he live in a world, where the world was constantly pressuring him to act like he used to act, 30 years ago, for a job?

I was shocked, maybe offended, to see Colm Meany smoking.

But that's my problem, not his. And frankly, it's unfair to him, to put that pressure on him.

I can see how that might be a burden, for other celebrities. The concept of always having to act like they're on camera.