A Shirtless Antonio Brown Rips Albany Empire Fans for Not Supporting His Team in the Most Surreal Owner Press Conference in Sports History
The other day I pointed out that no matter how bizarre we all thought Antonio Brown's ownership of the National Arena League's Albany Empire was going to be, he somehow managed to make it even crazier. By an order of magnitude. He's fired two head coaches, including the one who led his franchise to the championship last year. He missed payroll. Locked players out of their hotel rooms, including the quarterback who won the championship game MVP:
And the league isn't even a month into his rookie season at the helm.
Still, as Brown proved over the course of his NFL career and his personal life, he never stops inventing new and better ways to bring the lunacy. Yesterday's press conference, for example. This is a long thread, but let me try to break it up into easily digestible portions:
For starters, let me just point out that Brown going Shirtless O'Clock to meet with the Empire's beat reporters isn't all that strange. One, he was working out with the team. Second, I'm sure guys like George Halas and Paul Brown gave plenty of interviews while naked to the waist. And that ol' maverick Al Davis was legendary for flashing his nips while taking pot shots at Pete Rozelle and threatening to move his team.
What should concern his fans more is this business of talking about Antonio Brown and AB as two different people. Have you ever noticed that no one ever describes themselves as dual personalities for good reasons? I mean, that alter ego they create is never the one that goes around helping an elderly neighbor do yard work or volunteering at local food bank. Lawrence Taylor was the greatest defensive player in NFL history. The "LT" he invented was the one who did rails of coke off the stomachs of underage prostitutes. (Allegedly.) Admittedly, not in every instance. But for every example where both identities seem really pleasant and talented, say Donald Glover/Childish Gambino, you can name a hundred combos like Smeagol/Gollums or Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hydes. So having your team owner blaming all his misbehaviors on his nickname self is, well ... problematic.
To that point, not being able to keep straight whether he's speaking as Antonio Brown or as AB is also not a great sign. Though you can appreciate his - referring to AB's - desire to use his ownership to help the community - it's fair to question how you promote economic prosperity by stiffing your working class players of their $2,000 a week salaries.
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OK, now we're entirely off the rails here. There's no way he didn't practice this part in the mirror, with the broad hand gestures and rising/falling inflection in his voice. Part preacher. Part mystic. Part cult leader. Part Ray Lewis pregame pep talk. All nuts. Something about $1.5 million in workman's comp. I think he made a reference to my earlier post with "Whatever the people write, it's not because they hate me. It's because they actually love me." Something about value and money. "I'll never tell my fans something that's not going to happen." (Which will come as a shocker to those who paid to watch him play only to see him stand on the sidelines in street clothes.) "I'm a spiritual being." (Which will come as a shocker to the moving truck driver he spiritually pelted rocks at for demanding to be paid for his service.)
Here he suggests he's come to save the franchise. Like he is to Albany what Ryan Reynolds and Rob McIllhenny are to Wrexham AFC, planning to move them up to the big medium leagues. But can't hold their vibe of positivity and hope more than a couple of sentences. "You think I care about what an NAL player says about me?!? I'm giving these guys jobs!" Which should really endear him to his possible teammates. Including the ones who replaced the ones he didn't pay and kicked out of the team hotel with their stuff still locked in their rooms.
All that said, here's the money shot:
Source - “I don’t wanna talk about the minutiae of what’s behind us, or what fans should believe,” said Brown. “The fans should believe that “AB” saved Albany Empire football. You guys wouldn’t have football if it wasn’t for “AB. … I built a big fanbase. Know why? For doing the right things; making the right plays; being the best in the community; being an example. I’m $2.5 million in a city that hasn’t even come out and showed no support.”
Despite Brown saying fans have not supported the team, 4,500 fans were in attendance on May 27, when Brown was supposed to suit up. That’s 2,000 more than the Empire’s average attendance this season.
The Empire kick off with Jacksonville Saturday at 7:00 p.m.
So to recap: That's Antonio Brown saying his AB self deserves all the credit for saving the team that just happens to be the NAL's defending champion. While taking a steaming dump on the people who won titles for his team, currently play on his team, talk about his team, and buy tickets to watch his team. That's a bold strategy. And not the sort of marketing campaign you normally see from a franchise owner. But I wouldn't expect anything less from Brown. Or AB. Whose even unhinged as an owner than he was as a player, as hard as that is to believe.