The subject of today’s Twitter lesson: when to keep your mouth shut.
New York Jets’ kicker Jay Feely describes himself, on his Twitter page, as “Christian, with political aspirations.” In a profile for the online Sporting News Today, the number one item on his Bucket List: “Be elected president.” None of this stopped him from the following tweets about Chris Henry, the Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver who died today, a day after falling out of the back of a pickup truck in Charlotte:
Chris Henry seemed to have turned his life around. But, you can’t live on the brink of destruction without inevitably falling off the ledge
Bengals owner Mike Brown on Chris Henry “man who worked hard to better himself.” too often, bad choices catches up when u turn for good
younger generation needs to learn the lesson that our choices have implications and those implications often entail negative consequences
Henry, who was away from the Bengals because of a season-ending broken left forearm, was arrested five times since entering the NFL in 2005. The fifth arrest, after the 2007 season, led the judge in the case to call him “a one-man crime wave” and led the Bengals to cut him. But Brown gave Henry a second chance, re-signing him before the 2008 season. Henry stayed out of trouble since. As teammate Chad Ochocinco said, “He was doing everything right.”
Details about what happened yesterday are still sketchy, but from what has been reported thus far there’s no reason to believe there was any criminal activity. The authorities have described it as a domestic dispute with his fiancée. Jay Feely’s pompous judgments are way out of line, especially coming on the very day Chris Henry died.
He later posted: “Maybe I did a poor job of expressing my sympathy while trying to look at the bigger picture of why this happened and how to avoid in future.” Yeah, you think?
(Hat tip to ProFootballTalk.com)
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 8:05 AM
“Charity my dear Miss Prism. Charity. I myself am peculiarly susceptible to drafts.” Oscar Wilde from the “The Importance of Being Earnest”.
In my opinion it was his wittiest comeback to pseudo-Christians who condemned homosexuality, disguised as dialogue in the play.
That quote I believe is form the 1952 movie version. Our favorite.
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 8:25 AM
I can only imagine that there may be a few more “roughing the kicker” penalties in Jay’s future, particularly from friends and teammates of Chris’. Perhaps a lineman “living on the edge” may miss a block for him – accidentally, of course.
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Well…is what he said really wrong? I think its more a matter of the fact that it was insensitive to say right after the man’s death, and in a way in which it could be viewed by so many. I don’t think being a Christian has anything to do with it. I think its one of those think it but don’t say it kind of things. I think its ashame that like Sean Taylor of the Redskins, Henry seemed to be turning things around and making better decisions in his life.
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 1:21 PM
What he wrote is not incorrect. When you make bad choices bad things happen to you.
And how do any of you know that he was “turning things around”? For all we know, he could have just done a better job of covering it up.
It’s sad that he died, but I’ll save my tears for people who don’t live life on the edge and are truly innocent victims of circumstance.
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 1:58 PM
I think the issue with Feely’s tweet is the timing, not whether it’s true or not.
On the day someone dies, it’s best to just keep quiet unless you have something good to say. If he had waited a couple weeks to say the same exact thing, I doubt there would be much protest about it.
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 2:08 PM
Feely should have just kept his tweets to himself!
RIP Chris
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 2:31 PM
I don’t think it’s matter of what he said being “right” or “wrong,” but rather should he have made a statement like this in public forum (IMO…no way!).
If you’re gonna make statements like this for everyone to see, you have to accept criticism (and I’m sure there’s a lot NFL players who wont’ be too happy by this statement). But since Jay’s an “aspiring politician” I’m sure he already knows this…
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 3:13 PM
Chris Henry’s young children have lost their father right before xmas and this douche is basically spitting on his grave, it’s not right. typical judgmental christian asshole!
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 4:32 PM
Co-sign with George. And Ryan…I said he SEEMED to be turning things around. I didn’t know him but from everything his teammates and those who knew him said…he was. So please take that lump of coal out of your ass before it becomes the next Hope diamond!!
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 5:08 PM
Fate takes a hand here. Nothing to apologize for.
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 7:50 PM
While it may have seemed as though he was turning his life around, the incident that caused his death seems to contradict that notion. The police are calling this a domestic dispute. He jumped into the back of a pickup truck that his fiancee was driving, presumably to get away from him. God only knows what tragedy may have befallen her had he been successful in catching her. It’s too bad he died, but it would have been a whole lot more tragic if he’d caught her and beaten her or even worse.
Some out there want to portray him as a completely reformed guy because why? He didn’t get arrested in the last two years? To paraphrase the Chris Rock bit about men wanting credit for taing care of their kids, you’re SUPPOSED to not get arrested.
on Dec 18th, 2009 at 10:34 PM
A “domestic dispute” means to me there was an argument.
It does not mean he was going to hurt her. Actually, a witness reported that he threatened HIMSELF if she didn’t stop. That is not healthy, clearly, but there is nothing that suggests he would have physically hurt her if she did stop.
And if you don’t believe that witness for whatever reason, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that the driver wanted him to fall off of the truck. There is a reason there were homicide detectives investigating this.
And I also disagree that it’s worse for one person to get hurt, even if he were an aggressor, than it is for another to be dead.
on Dec 19th, 2009 at 8:08 AM
An argument that was apparently heated enough that he jumped into the back of a pickup truck (with one arm in a cast mind you) that she was driving, trying to get away from him for whatever reason. Maybe he wanted to give her her Christmas present? Ask her to pick up some milk while out for a drive? Maybe to make sure she was wearing her seat belt? Or maybe to pull her out of the car and beat the crap out of her?
Seriously, for what other reason would a man with one arm in a cast jump into the back of of a pick up truck that was likely already moving? Sorry but given his track record he doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt, at least not from me. And having had a number of friends and relatives who have been the victims of domestic violence, I stand by what I said about it being better that he died than actually catch her.
I’ve heard alot of people criticize her for leaving him lying in the road when he fell out of the truck. But if he was chasing her, trying to hurt her, I don’t blame her one bit.
If I’m mistaken about all of this, if she somehowlured him into the back of that truck and intentionally drove to make him fall for no reason, than I will be the first one to apologize for my seemingly harsh comments and assessment of the situation. But like I said, given his track record, he’s not entitled to my benefit of the doubt here.
on Dec 19th, 2009 at 8:50 AM
We all understand or consider that he may not have been actually on the right track, that he may have been chasing her to beat her, or he may have had completely ill intentions……. however, as others have said, it is the timing of the remarks.
First, that is all based on speculation: let some facts get resolved before you start judging the man.
Second, and most importantly, if you really want words of caution to be taken seriously and a lesson to be learned, those types of remarks will only be considered once the initial shock has worn off.
Let the poor man RIP and his family grieve for a bit first.
on Dec 20th, 2009 at 9:35 PM
Feely missed 2 field goals today (and another was a bad snap) to help the Jets lose and damage their playoff hopes…karma?
on Dec 20th, 2009 at 10:59 PM
Jay’s comments are true. Mr. Henry dies because of one of many of his poor choices.
911 calls indicate he jumped in the back of the truck and was beating on the window. Another witness stated that he heard Chris say that if she didn’t stop, he would jump off of the truck and kill himself.
Either way, he’s dead and it’s not anyone’s fault but his own. I think people need to stop diverting the attention to Jay Freely.
on Dec 20th, 2009 at 11:05 PM
I’d much rather miss fields goals as “karma’ than be dead from my own stupid choice.
Who has worse karma, do you think?
on Dec 21st, 2009 at 5:09 PM
I never said Henry’s death was anyone else’s fault (or that he made the best life choices or that he didn’t have his own karma to overcome) but that does not mean it isn’t a sad event or that it is alright to disrespect the dead…and Feely diverted the attention to HIMSELF by posting insensitive comments on the internet regarding the death of a fellow football player mere hours after it happened. People die from making poor choices all the time but that doesn’t mean we should shout “well, I told you so” from the rooftops before they are laid to rest.
on Jan 3rd, 2010 at 1:23 PM
This article cuts out Feely’s prior and latter tweets where he thoroughly states his full sympathy for Chris Henry’s family and the Bengals organization. You can see exactly what he said if you go to http://twitter.com/jayFeely. I don’t think Jay Feely was at all trying to be negative. However, before posting such comments, Jay should have realized how hurtful his words could be to those who were close to Chris.
Personally, I think that it is blogs like this one that twist the views of certain celebrities by picking and choosing the words that come out of their mouths. People need to be less judgmental and look into things before commenting. That is a lesson that both we and Feely could learn.