A Farewell to Odell

Dammit.

I first saw the news scrolling through Facebook last night, when one of my friends shared a post from the NFL. I thought it was a gag at first, until I realized it was the official NFL page. I jumped to NFL.com, and there it was: ODB was going to Cleveland.

Effing Cleveland.

I've been a Giants fan essentially my entire life. Odell Beckham was my favorite player of the last few years. I know he was polarizing, and I know a lot of Giants fans are happy to be rid of him, and I don't understand them. I get that people got tired of the sideline stuff, trashing the kicking net or stomping around, but I would take 53 Beckhams over a team full of Eli Mannings who say the same exact thing every time a mic is in front of their face.

We all love to complain about how athletes are boring, how Eli just says "we played a strong game today, the other team did their job, we just need to perform in all aspects of the game, coach had a game plan that we need to blahblahblahblahblahblah"...but when someone finally shows up who wants to fight his opponent, who gets pissed when the team is failing and isn't afraid to show it, people condemn him.

None of the stuff Beckham did bothered me because he put up numbers. Over 100 yards-per-game as a rookie? Double-digit TDs his first three years? A crazy number of Giants franchise and NFL records? Come on. I don't care if he's going on a boat trip with his teammates, I don't care if he's brawling with cornerbacks, I don't care if he's punching holes in the walls at Lambeau Field, I don't care if he's having pizza parties in a hotel. Football is supposed to be fun, and watching ODB torch a defender was FUN.

So where does this leave me as Giants fan? I have no idea. The team was a chore to watch the past two years, but at least I had Beckham and then Barkley to get excited about. I know it's pointless to put trust in any sports team executive, but when Giants GM Dave Gettleman said "We didn’t sign Odell to trade him", how are fans ever supposed to have faith in his words again? Maybe the draft picks they got for Odell will turn out great, who knows? The draft is a crap-shoot where you can find your next franchise QB, or grab a guy who washes out in a couple years.

Oh and to make it worse, the Browns offense looks stacked with Mayfield, Chubb, Johnson, Landry & Beckham; and the Jets - the JETS - got LeVeon Bell.

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