It's hard enough for a first-round NFL draft pick to get acclimated to the league. But it has to be super hard when your mom keeps bashing the team you play for.
Such is life for New York Giants cornerback Eli Apple. Apple's mother, Annie Apple, is an outspoken survivor of domestic violence, so, rightfully, she was incensed after learning that the Giants not only knew about kicker Josh Brown's history of domestic violence but also elected to keep him on the team.
Annie Apple took to Twitter to voice her disbelief regarding the organization's actions and had some pointed words for Giants owner John Mara. In a follow-up piece for Sports Illustrated, Annie Apple noted that the Giants' London game was hard to watch knowing that the team hadn't parted ways with Brown. The team has since let the kicker go.
"I flew to London last Wednesday to watch a game that by Sunday no longer mattered to me. We went overseas to watch Black Eli back on the field as the Giants faced the Rams. But I never made it to Wembley," Annie Apple wrote. "At that moment I just couldn't cheer for a team I felt had turned its back on what was right to protect an image. It was difficult because I love my son and I've always been in his corner at every game, but for me, this was bigger than a game."
She didn't stop there; she also said the organization was "leaning heavily" on her son to silence her.
"But I was livid with the Giants, not just because of John Mara's comments, but I was disappointed in the organization because I felt they were leaning heavily on a 21-year-old kid in an effort to control what his mother says. That's not fair," Apple wrote. "Did I rob a liquor store in the middle of the night rocking a NY Giants Apple jersey? No. I merely shared my disappointment and sadness in the team's callous response to domestic violence because I am a survivor and it impacted me in a deep way."
On Thursday, Eli Apple was forced to answer questions about his mom's claims that the organization was trying to use him to shut his mom up.
"She was a little bit upset, and I didn't have a chance to really talk to her, and I guess throughout that whole thing that's just how she felt, but I never had a chance to talk to her or anything, so maybe that's just an assumption of hers that she just felt in her gut," he said, the New York Daily News reports.
"But it's definitely false. Nobody's leaning on me or anything telling me things to tell her. It's not like that at all. I think the Giants are a class organization, and I'm just happy to be here," he said.
Clearly Annie Apple is right in her position, but I do feel for her son. Here's hoping that there is an amicable way that mother and son can bridge this gap, but if Eli Apple's mom is anything like my mom (judging by her writings, she is exactly like my mom), then good luck.
Read more at Sports Illustrated and the New York Daily News.