The judgments, memes and mockery ramped up immediately, increasing in volume and intensity, heightening in vitriol. It always seems to be this way with Russell Wilson, a quarterback for whom “divisive” is at once fair and incomplete. There were jokes; so-so-so many jokes. About plane workouts. General cheesiness. Press conferences with fortune cookies masked as answers. Age. Decline. A lack of self-awareness. A history of self-inflicted wounds. Comparisons to O.J. Simpson’s run with the “Broncos” – better, some said, than Wilson’s failed two-year tenure. About the … worst trade in NFL history. There were even Crying Jordan memes.
“Russell Wilson” trended on Twitter last week. So did “Russell Wilson sucks.”
Text messages barraged those of us who’ve written about Wilson over the years, especially anyone who has written about him critically. Many that landed on my iPhone wondered if the Denver Broncos releasing Wilson might prompt a celebration of sorts. After years of being described as “anti” Wilson, a hater, fake news, several people asked about vindication, being “right.” But those notions, fair as they were to raise, also missed the larger point.
