When and how did the diva wide receiver begin?

[Established1971]

What is it with these diva wide receivers? You know, the ones with over sized egos, always whining about play time, wanting to be the center of attention, etc

I go back to watching guys like Otis Taylor, Paul Warfield, Charlie Taylor. Even down to guys like Jerry Rice, Art Monk, all classy.

Now it seems every season there are 2 or 3 divas. I was trying to decide when it began. I guess back to Terrel Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Keyshawn Johnson (who wrote a book titled Give Me the Damn Ball)

Then you have your Steve Smiths, Antonio Brown, Dez Bryants, probably 5 or 6 others

You can even blame Michael Irvin a bit, he was one of the first loud and brash receivers.

I guess its just a combination of free agency. cable tv (24/7/365 highlights) and mostly just copy-catting.

They should do a 30/30 on these guys

 

[Johnny23]

I have read books on The 49ers dynasty. Rice was viewed as a diva. But he was so much better than that people put up with his Barry Bonds like behavior.

 

[darthseinfeld]

WR's and CB's have been diva's as long as I have been watching football.

 

[kskboys]

What is it with these diva wide receivers? You know, the ones with over sized egos, always whining about play time, wanting to be the center of attention, etc

I go back to watching guys like Otis Taylor, Paul Warfield, Charlie Taylor. Even down to guys like Jerry Rice, Art Monk, all classy.

Now it seems every season there are 2 or 3 divas. I was trying to decide when it began. I guess back to Terrel Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Keyshawn Johnson (who wrote a book titled Give Me the Damn Ball)

Then you have your Steve Smiths, Antonio Brown, Dez Bryants, probably 5 or 6 others

You can even blame Michael Irvin a bit, he was one of the first loud and brash receivers.

I guess its just a combination of free agency. cable tv (24/7/365 highlights) and mostly just copy-catting.

They should do a 30/30 on these guys

Always been there, it's simply getting worse due to entitlement. Wait til this generation takes over!!!!

 

[Wolfpack]

Keyshone seems to be the mainstream guy that brought it out.

 

[LandryFan]

WR's and CB's have been diva's as long as I have been watching football.

...it's just that pre-internet/24 hr sports TV, player behavior wasn't nearly so much publicized. If you didn't read about it in the newspaper, you didn't know about it. And even then, people outside of any particular team's regional area didn't see it (or care, even if they could).

 

[Rockport]

What is it with these diva wide receivers? You know, the ones with over sized egos, always whining about play time, wanting to be the center of attention, etc

I go back to watching guys like Otis Taylor, Paul Warfield, Charlie Taylor. Even down to guys like Jerry Rice, Art Monk, all classy.

Now it seems every season there are 2 or 3 divas. I was trying to decide when it began. I guess back to Terrel Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Keyshawn Johnson (who wrote a book titled Give Me the Damn Ball)

Then you have your Steve Smiths, Antonio Brown, Dez Bryants, probably 5 or 6 others

You can even blame Michael Irvin a bit, he was one of the first loud and brash receivers.

I guess its just a combination of free agency. cable tv (24/7/365 highlights) and mostly just copy-catting.

They should do a 30/30 on these guys

Neon Deion

 

[kskboys]

...it's just that pre-internet/24 hr sports TV, player behavior wasn't nearly so much publicized. If you didn't read about it in the newspaper, you didn't know about it. And even then, people outside of any particular team's regional area didn't see it (or care, even if they could).

I had no idea how bad TO was until he got here.

 

[LandryFan]

I had no idea how bad TO was until he got here.

Yep, ol' TO was in a league by himself, I think.

 

[JD_KaPow]

I think receivers have always been this way, at least a little. And I think it's because they have an unusual role: it's largely out of their control when they get to do their jobs. The QB gets the ball every play. When it's a running play, the RB knows he's going to get the ball and he does. On pass plays, receivers can be wide open (or believe themselves to be) and the QB can ignore them and go elsewhere. So they feel they need to speak up so they don't get ignored: "squeaky wheel gets the grease". None of this explains Antonio Brown, though.

 

[ryanbabs]

What is it with these diva wide receivers? You know, the ones with over sized egos, always whining about play time, wanting to be the center of attention, etc

I go back to watching guys like Otis Taylor, Paul Warfield, Charlie Taylor. Even down to guys like Jerry Rice, Art Monk, all classy.

Now it seems every season there are 2 or 3 divas. I was trying to decide when it began. I guess back to Terrel Owens, Chad Ochocinco and Keyshawn Johnson (who wrote a book titled Give Me the Damn Ball)

Then you have your Steve Smiths, Antonio Brown, Dez Bryants, probably 5 or 6 others

You can even blame Michael Irvin a bit, he was one of the first loud and brash receivers.

I guess its just a combination of free agency. cable tv (24/7/365 highlights) and mostly just copy-catting.

They should do a 30/30 on these guys

I think a lot to do with it is all this social media attention. Imagine if they had that back then. Can you imagine Deion and Irvin with a Twitter account back then?

 

[INCowboysFan]

Irvin was the first truly loud, brash WR that I really remember. Always animated on the sidelines, doing the whole first down point after a routine catch, doing coke with hookers, wearing a fur coat to court, stabbing teammates with scissors, etc.

 

[sean10mm]

Hard not to count Irvin as a textbook prima donna.

He was totally worth it of course.

None of this explains Antonio Brown, though.

AB needs his skull X-rayed.