Really? Brandon Marshall Is Misunderstood?

Scoop Jackson seems to believe Brandon Marshall is misunderstood. I believe Scoop Jackson is just making excuses for him because...well I am not sure why. I would love to be close minded and say he is making excuses for him because Marshall is an African-American male like Scoop, but I think maybe Scoop just likes to say controversial things and writing columns like this is his way of being controversial.

Outside of the bona fide superstars (Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Michael Vick, Ben Roethlisberger), Marshall has been the talk of the NFL offseason. His behavior (caught on tape) one day in training camp -- behavior that ultimately got him suspended -- became the new standard of how not to behave on a football field.

Honestly, I have ignored a good portion of the Brandon Marshall story because I don't care. Like any petulant child who wants his way, the best way to deal with that child is to ignore him. His antics are nothing I want to waste my time talking about...until now. Because Brandon Marshall is not misunderstood. This is a guy who slipped on a McDonald's bag and hurt himself last year and has been nothing but trouble for the Broncos since he was drafted by them.

But what seems to be missing in the story of Brandon Marshall is the truth behind why he did it -- why he put himself in position to become target practice for sports fans and pundits alike.

Because he is a spoiled athlete who is used to getting what he wants and if he did not play football would most likely not be a contributing member of society? Or is it because everyone has allowed him to act this way over a long period of time and so he thinks pouting and acting like a non-adult is the best way to get what he wants? Or is it daddy issues?

The general consensus has been that Marshall was unhappy because of the Broncos' unwillingness to re-do his contract and increase his salary. And that's why he asked for a trade.

Uh, not so true. Even though Marshall's behavior was unacceptable, there was more to it than just an athlete gone wild, acting spoiled because he ain't gettin' paid the way he feels he should.

Don't leave me in suspense any longer, what excuse do you have for him?

Brandon Marshall was facing two counts of simple battery, stemming from a March 4, 2008, incident involving his then-girlfriend, Rasheeda Watley, at their condo in Atlanta.

For months leading up to the trial, Marshall had been pleading his innocence to anyone and everyone willing to listen. For the most part, nobody was.

Could it be nobody listened because he was accused of a similar battery on March 26, 2007 or that on March 1, 2009 he was arrested again after a fight with his fiance? You know what? Let's ignore those incidences and just try to look at this March 4, 2008 incident like it was isolated instead of a string of times Marshall has been arrested or suspected of a similar act. Fortunately that's exactly what Scoop wants us to do, so let's all just turn a blind eye to the other incidences similar to this one and live in a blissful ignorance where Marshall is a victim.

After all, being accused of simple battery on a woman can pretty much happen to anybody. I know I have been arrested 4-5 times for simple battery while I am minding my own business not committing simple battery. The police sometimes just randomly arrest people for this crime because they have nothing else to do. It's not a pattern, but a misunderstanding.

Then came Aug. 14. The verdict?

Not guilty.

Good for him. He probably was not guilty.

Then he returned to Denver, only to learn that a member of the Broncos' public-relations department had told the players after the 49ers game that they should not gloat or tell the media they were happy for Marshall about his acquittal.

So on approximately August 15, 2009 this order was sent down from the PR Department and this is what caused Marshall such emotional distress he started acting like a child and that's what caused him to demand a trade.

That's interesting. Brandon Marshall actually demanded a trade on or around the date of June 15, 2009. I am not the smartest person in the world, but I am pretty sure the date June 15, 2009 comes BEFORE the date August 14, 2009.

So if Scoop Jackson is saying Marshall only demanded a trade because of the decree that came down after the date of August 14, 2009 then he is not only making excuses for Marshall but he is also a complete utter moron for not doing the least little bit of research or busting out a piece of paper and a pencil to get the timeline down before writing this column. It's called research. Do it.

If you are going to try and make a case for Brandon Marshall being misunderstood, at least make sure your timeline makes any bit of sense, which this one doesn't.

To Brandon Marshall this was an act of betrayal. Orchestrated by a team he was about to suit up and play for.

He felt betrayed by a team that has stood beside him while he has been arrested or detained by the police 5 times in his three years with the team? How come the team shouldn't feel betrayed by a guy who consistently gets in trouble with the law or is at least around whenever trouble with the law goes down? Remember he was with Darrent Williams when he was shot and killed. So either trouble follows Marshall around or he causes trouble himself. I will let you all decide which one it is.

The walking off the practice field without speaking to reporters … the trade demands from his lawyer … the request for a raise in his salary … purposely knocking down passes in practice, skipping through running drills, punting balls into the middle of nowhere after being asked to give them to ball boys.

Everything except the trade demands happened AFTER the aquittal, that is true. Supposedly, according to Scoop, the trade demand was a result of the team not allowing his teammates to comment on his acquittal. That's Scoop's story even though the trade demand happened BEFORE he was acquitted and the decree of silence came down.

He simply was a young man who felt, in the most personal event of his life, that the Denver Broncos straight betrayed him. And acting like a damn fool was a direct reaction to that.

Somehow, this angle of the story has been largely ignored when evaluating Marshall's behavior. Why?

PERHAPS BECAUSE IT IS ABSOLUTELY NOT TRUE?????? His acting like "a damn fool" was a reaction to not being traded when he wanted and not being emotionally equipped to handle someone telling him "no."

But everyone should know the truth. They should know that at the crux of all this -- as wrong as he was -- Brandon Marshall, himself, was wronged. And more than anything else, that's the reason a new deal between the Broncos and Marshall could be close to getting done.

Oh my gentle Jesus...Brandon Marshall has never, ever been wronged by the Denver Broncos. He is an employee of theirs and they can sign him, cut him, give him a new contract or do whatever the hell they want to do to him because he is in their employ. I am pretty sure my employer would not want me or my co-workers going around crowing that I was acquitted for a simple assault charge. That's not even the issue here though. The issue is that Brandon Marshall did not demand a trade because of that, he demanded a trade months ago and he pouted because he didn't get his way.

In the conclusion of Chapter 19 of the "Handbook of Personality Psychology," entitled "Trust and Betrayal," the following is written: "Indeed, the central question regarding moral development here might be stated as follows: (1) how do people proceed to trust specific others given the realistic possibility that they could be betrayed? and (2) how do some people continue to trust and engage others in relationships even if they have betrayed them?"

I guess the Broncos should feel betrayed by Brandon Marshall being arrested or suspected of a crime many times over the past couple of years and reflecting poorly on the team then. He has proven over and over again he can't be trusted to live his life without him popping up the headlines of a newspaper for being suspected of a crime.

The bottom line is that Scoop Jackson is making up lies when he says Marshall demanded a trade because of the team's reaction to his acquittal. It's just a plain old lie, put into print. Maybe it explains his other behavior but it certainly doesn't excuse it. Of course Scoop Jackson is an apologist who probably just writes crap like this so he can angle for a Brandon Marshall interview at some point. He does work for ESPN, where they spend more time deciding how to shade their reporting and making sure they don't lose relationships with athletes than actually reporting news stories.