New York Jets strength-and-conditioning-coach Sal Alosi spoke to the media on Monday, and apologized for tripping Miami Dolphins cornerback Nolan Carroll on Sunday, but, while he did apologize for an act that never should have been committed, it’s clear the whole incident has been blown way out of proportion.
Alosi was suspended for the remainder of the season and fined $25,000 by the Jets in what clearly amounts to an attempt on the part of the team to make this disappear as fast as possible. No additional discipline was handed down by the NFL, meaning Alosi will serve his team suspension and this should likely dissipate nearly as fast as people around the league and watching on television, without any access to the inner workings of Alosi’s brain I might add, decided that Alosi had tripped Carroll on purpose.
During his press conference on Monday, Alosi took responsibility for his brain cramp, but never once admitted to tripping Carroll on purpose. Of course, it probably wouldn’t have been the smartest thing for him to do, but, all the same, he could just have easily have played the “total accident” card, but he didn’t do that either. All he said was: “It was just a situation where I wasn’t thinking... Had I been thinking I would have taken a step back instead of leaning forward.”
If you replay the video of the trip, Alosi was standing on the sidelines alongside five other people as Carroll was struggling to remain in-bounds. Carroll could just as easily have tripped on any one of those people’s feet, but because Alosi “stuck” out his knee, he’s become the personification of anything from dumbassery to evil, depending on who you ask, these past few days.
If he really had malicious intentions in his mind, it is likely that he would have stuck out his leg instead of his knee. It isn’t as if it would have been any less obvious when caught on camera, as this media storm has proven, but it would have arguably been much more effective as an attempt to injure.
Think about it: Did the tape show Alosi spitting on Carroll after the fact or kicking him in the ribs when he was down? Did he have it out for him? Did he have any reason to? Does he have a history of making impulsive decisions? The answers to all questions are either “no” or “probably not”. In fact, Alosi earned an award for sportsmanship as a football player during college. That isn’t to say it isn’t possible he tripped Carroll on purpose, just puts the action in the proper perspective. But because everyone from the television colour commentators to the Dolphins’ water boy were left hungry for blood, the Jets had to move swiftly and make Alosi a true villain in all this so as to prevent it all from truly escalating into some uncontrollable blob that would serve as only a distraction in the team’s bid to make the playoffs.
So, yes, he’s admitted to the incident, and people who initially vilified him have given him props for so doing, which constitutes just the latest head-scratcher to arise from all of this. These same people who laud him for telling him the truth, saying that yes, he did trip Carroll, seem to conveniently forget that he can’t deny it because the whole goddamned thing is on tape and that they themselves saw it firsthand. If he were to deny it, it would be like saying the sky isn’t blue, grass isn’t green, and the Jets didn’t just get embarrassed 10-6 at home by the Dolphins. What people should really be asking themselves is if he meant to trip him or not.
But, yes, Alosi does deserve props, not for telling the truth, but for being a good soldier, and doing what’s best for the team under these unfortunate circumstances. No one can go so far as to call him a scapegoat, because he did trip Carroll and he did create said unfortunate circumstances, but no one except Alosi can know for sure whether or not he deserves his punishment. With Carroll thankfully uninjured, Alosi may very be the sole victim in all of this.
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