A year removed from an incident that might have been hazing or might have been bullying, Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara can laugh about it
But whether being dumped in a cold tub by teammate Jason Pierre-Paul was just an effort to toughen him up, or something else, Amukamara said he’s come out of the experience for the better.
“I’ve always been the guy that’s more of an easy target to pick on just because guys know that I can take it,” Amukamara said, via Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News. “I’ve been the one who turns the other cheek. Someone really has to physically punch me in my face for me to react.”
They didn’t go that far, but in a video that went viral in a hurry, he was carried down a hallway and plunged into the freezing water against his will. Now, the accepted version is that they were just trying to bring a little edge out of him, and not what it might have appeared.
“I do feel like it was overblown, but as an outsider I look at the videos and you could tell that, ‘OK, this kid looked helpless’ and ‘This kid’s being bullied,’ ” Amukamara said. “But I didn’t take it personal. It was just part of how we get rowdy.
“Guys just want to see that fight in me,” he added. “And just being the more calm person that I am I guess they wanted to see it off the field.”
Of course, that calm acceptance might not exactly advance the cause of the bullied in America, but Amukamara doesn’t believe it was as sinister as it might have appeared.