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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Ivan Lambert

Robert Griffin III again fails to deliver

Similar to his NFL career, Robert Griffin’s tell-all book has also gone south very quickly.

Griffin who had an outstanding 2012 season and then informed coaches he would no longer run the offense that fit him perfectly, quickly learned he was not the pocket passer he fancied himself to be, never again experiencing NFL success.

Only months after boldly proclaiming on November 30 he was providing NFL and Washington fans an exclusive tell-all book, it has apparently died just as quick a death.

Griffin had promised details of the medical mismanagement he had received, the sexual harassment permeating the organization’s walls and the deep power struggle between Mike Shanahan and Daniel Snyder.

Griffin in his audio promo said, “I am so excited to announce I wrote a book, and it’s coming out August 2022, entitled, “Surviving Washington.” So, Griffin was claiming to have already written the book?

Why has Griffin deleted the promotional video from Twitter? Why is the pre-order link on Simon and Schuster’s website inactive? Voluminous, terribly written books are published annually. So, why wasn’t this book published? Do you think there was a book written?

“The Sports Junkies” Eric Bickel deserves some credit on this one. While nearly everyone announcing the book was speculating how much Robert would detail, Bickel from the start was having absolutely none of it.

Raising his voice in confidence, he had proclaimed on the Sports Junkies that this book would never occur, never see the light of day.

Even more, when many Washington commentators in 2014 (print, or airwaves) were taking the safe route, wondering when Griffin would develop into an NFL quarterback, who could succeed in the pocket, it was Bickel who boldly proclaimed on the Sports Junkies that fans were clueless and did not understand that it was already over for Robert Griffin. (Actually what Bickel declared was much bolder–and more entertaining; here is the link).

Bickel is an admitted homer; a homer who has always rooted for the team and objectivity sometimes gets lost (it does for all of us). However, he has been on to Robert Griffin longer than most. Therefore, Thursday’s Sports Junkies segment announcing the cancellation of the Robert Griffin tell-all project was in essence a victory lap for Eric Bickel.

When Ryan Fitzpatrick went down in this season’s first game, there was Robert Griffin tweeting for Washington to make the call to himself, so he could come in and rescue the 2021 team. Bickel proclaimed Thursday, “I don’t think he is a bad guy, but he is the biggest attention-whore in football… I know him so well, and I’ve never met him,” expressed Bickel.

The more things change, the more things stay the same, for Robert Griffin.

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