Greg Hardy has seldom done himself any favors by talking, yet he continues to talk about his attempt at an NFL comeback.
In his latest bout with words, as communicated by Natalie Weiner of Bleacher Report, Hardy’s still sounding like he’s the victim here, of something other than his self-inflicted professional wounds.
“I’m kind of on the black side of things right now, with the perception of my persona,” Hardy said. “It’s hard to fight the fans. You can’t be right about somebody if you don’t know them — that’s just a basic common decency fact.
“But nobody wants to attest to that, so I have to show that Greg Hardy is not a f--king psychopath. And I say f--king because it’s that extreme. I want people to see that, instead of reading and believing the latest stories.”
Oh.
Hardy’s latest gig is in the Spring League, the West Virginia-based series of exhibitions for cast-offs and long shots holding onto the dream. Of course, football ability isn’t what’s left Hardy there. It was his domestic violence arrest when he was with the Panthers, and a year of being a headache for the Cowboys while not producing sacks commensurate with his pay.
And as he’s done in previous attempts at soul-cleansing interviews (Adam Schefter just twitched and he doesn’t know why), Hardy never quite gets to the point of contrition.
“I did do some s--t wrong,” he said, without referring to the 2014 arrest for throwing his girlfriend into a futon full of assault weapons, among other things. “It gets crossed up when I say certain thing. But there were some lines that I crossed as an athlete, responsibility-wise.”
He really regrets being unprofessional with the Cowboys, including arguing with coaches on the sidelines and being casual about his attendance at team meetings.
“That was just me getting back into the swing of things, realizing where I was,” he said.
But he stands by his contention that he the domestic violence incident shouldn’t be a factor. The charges were expunged from his record after the prosecution never proceeded, when the victim didn’t show up in court. There was a civil settlement.
“Guilty? I mean, the United States of America said I wasn’t,” he said. “But apologetic, most definitely. I’m sorry for anything I did wrong. I never wanted to do anything wrong. . . .
“I’m working to get the Greg Hardy name back in good standings, and for redemption. An apologetic, happy comeback. Get to the Hall of Fame.”
I’m sure that sounded sincere on its way out of his mouth. Again.