The Sports Idiot

It’s been pretty well documented over the past season that Philip Rivers likes to talk it up a little. While there has been much debate and criticism from the pundits, you have yet to get my moronic thoughts on it. I have mixed feelings, to tell the truth. Part of me screams at Philip to shut his pie hole, while the other finds it a little refreshing to see a QB wear his emotions on his sleeve like that. I’d rather he was fired up and bumping his gums than sitting on the bench completely disinterested (see one Eli Manning during any loss his team suffers). AP writer Bernie Wilson penned a nice piece on Philip’s jawing that I stumbled across while searching for something else.

more after the jump…

Here’s what Philip has to say about his talking and about others talking about him, well, talking:

“I’m aware of it,” Rivers said. “I really don’t get too caught up in it. It’s kind of surprising, really, to be honest with you. But, again, I’m out there having a good time as I did in the backyard since I was 5 years old. I’m not saying anything out of line. There’s no profanity being used. I know what I’m about. My teammates know, my family knows, everything else, I can’t worry about.

“When it stops being fun, that’s when I’ll stop playing.”

Rivers compared his talking to ribbing a buddy while playing in the backyard.

“That’s all it is. If we can’t do that, I don’t know. I really don’t,” he said. “Anybody can be critical and criticize, but nobody knows what’s being said. Other than what’s caught on camera, and as far as I know, everything that’s been caught on camera is clean, and that’s all that it’ll ever be.”

Those of us who know Philip’s character know that he’s telling the truth here. However, he needs to learn when to tone it down. And as far as it always being clean, some of us remember his tirade at the end of the Pats game last postseason, when he justifiably went after them for mocking his teammates.

I guess what it boils down to is his play on the field, and his leadership in the lockerroom. If neither of these things are being effected by his loose lips, then I guess it’s okay for him to continue to run smack. That being said, I do think it’s a little lacking in the class department, and I do wish he would cut it out.