The league won’t be doing anything about it. But the head coach possibly will.
Giants coach Tom Coughlin said Sunday that he plans to investigate the videotaped incident that culminated in defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul dumping cornerback Prince Amukamara into a cold tub, followed by Amukamara emerging with a not-so-thrilled look on his face and Pierre-Paul firing off a stream of expletives and epithets.
“I’m going to look into it, I’m going to talk to the parties involved,” Coughlin said Sunday, via Mike Garafolo of the Newark Star-Ledger. “As I’m understanding it, there were some parts of it that were inappropriate. And in no way, anything that occurs within this family or within our group should be a part of social media. I’m going to address that strongly because I spent a little time on that this preseason.”
Coughlin said he wasn’t aware of the video until roughly an hour before a Sunday conference call with reporters.
So, basically, Pierre-Paul and punter Steve Weatherford, who recorded and posted the video on Twitter, will have some explaining to do. (Weatherford still hasn’t deleted the tweet.)
The victim of the prank (or whatever it was) also has addressed the situation, presumably choosing his words carefully because he’s under contract for several more years. “Yeah, um, well, I mean, I just don’t get it. I don’t understand the rules,” Amukamara told Garafolo. “I mean, I’m not a rookie anymore, so I don’t know why I’m getting thrown in the tub. I know it’s all love.”
If that’s love, we’d hate to see, you know, hate.
Apparently, Amukamara has been a regular target for hazing or harassment or whatever the appropriate word is. He said he landed in the cold tub eight times last year, and he had his shirt and tie cut. Garafolo writes that players have been trying to get Amukamara to “develop an edge.”
As to the latest incident, Amukamara is confused as to the reason for the dunking. “I don’t think I did [anything to provoke it],” Amukamara said. “I don’t think I did. Ask them.”
It may still happen, at least for a while. Amukamara said that the veterans have told him that he has three more regular-season games to complete before he’s considered “one of them.”
Based on how “them” were acting in that video, Amukamara may decide to pass on the invitation.