New York Giants release player over Beats headphones fight, reports say
Technically Incorrect: Damontre Moore was reportedly upset that some players took more than one pair of free headphones, leaving him with none.
Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
Damontre Moore. Blue over a lack of Beats?
The Beats brand was built on the appearance of stardom and cool.
The headphones were placed around the necks and onto the ears of sports stars such as the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James and the Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green -- and lesser players such as dethroned San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
The headphones are striking -- even if some headphone aficionados claim they're not exactly the finest quality merchandise.
Are they, though, worth fighting over?
Reports emerged Friday that the New York Giants had cut defensive end Damontre Moore after he allegedly became upset because he didn't get a pair of free blue Beats headphones.
This was first reported by the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, who tweeted: "#Giants DE Damontre Moore got into a fight with Cullen Jenkins, sources say, over not getting free @beatsbydre headphones like other players."
CBS Sports reported that Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was spreading a little Christmas cheer by handing out the free headphones to teammates and coaching staff.
Some players, though, reportedly couldn't get enough of a free thing, so they grabbed more than one pair. This allegedly incensed Moore to such a degree that he got into a Beats By Brawl with Jenkins, who plays defensive tackle.
The Giants organization said Friday on its website that Moore's release was in his interest and the team's. The site carried news Saturday of the team signing defensive end Stansly Maponga, off the Atlanta Falcons' practice squad, to fill the vacant slot. The Giants didn't respond to my request for comment on the circumstances behind its parting of ways with Moore.
It wasn't as if either Moore or Jenkins hadn't displeased Giants' management before. They both had incurred previous fines for breaches of team rules.
For his part, Moore confirmed the Beats beatdown when he called into to ESPN Radio, where former Giants punter Steve Weatherford has a show. As NJ.com reports, Moore explained: "I don't really necessarily look at it more as over a Beats By Dre headphone."
Instead, he said: "It was more of a respect thing. It was, you know, a combination of things that build up over time. And the way the situation fully just unfolded and evolved, I just felt like, as a teammate and a brother, things should have been handled a certain way."
He did admit it might have been better to walk away. I wonder, though, where the allure of free Beats did just make him boil that little extra.
Cool gadgets have become quite the bonding tool in sports teams.
In June, the Cavaliers' James organized a group hugfest with the team's players in order to motivate them to play (and ultimately lose to) my Golden State Warriors in the NBA finals. He gave them all the coolest new gadget of the time: the Apple Watch.
Some found this mildly disturbing as James is a Samsung spokesperson; why didn't he offer them different gear -- or Gear?
If it's the case that Moore was upset not to get blue Beats headphones, it's quite sad. He made around $600,000 with the Giants this year. How much would those blue headphones have cost him, if he'd tried to buy them? Two hundred dollars?
Still, when there are free status symbols being given out, perhaps it's an effrontery to your status if you don't get one.
Moore's current status is teamless.