Beast, I share many of your concerns. I lived in Harrisburg for many years, having left to come back "home" as it were in 2018. I bring this up because right now is a great time to direct your attention to an article on Pennlive.com regarding Micah, this trade, and what he did this past off season. If you read it, for the record I lived in Susquehanna township, not the city proper. You'll understand the relevance when you read the article I'm referencing.
Originally Posted by: dfosterf
Well you could link it, to make sure we read the correct one. I believe it's this one,
Micah Parsons doesn't forget his roots. And that's great to see, and it seems like Parsons has that Micheal Jordan/Kobe Bryant gene, that intense competitive desire to continue to build, push the limits to extremes, which sometimes seems to come with being an A-hole, including to teammates.
Though pushing someone's limits is one thing, getting physical with them away from the sports/workout work is also another. And I haven't heard of Jordan and Kobe crossing that line, but the full context of what happened has never been made public, so we can't fully judge, just be a bit appropriately wary or needs watching. And maybe Parsons was in the right, I've been around teammates when they deserved an ass whooping, and I've been around teammates when they have thrown a punch when they shouldn't have. And again not all the details are out there. But in theory there was the general thought that if it was a less talented player, then they would of gotten more of a punishment than Parsons got. Again, we don't know the full context, and Parson could of been in the right, but that wasn't the general feeling that made it's way into the public at the time.
But that's absolutely great that he's extremely loyal to those whom he trust and doesn't forget his roots and he seemed to deeply trust his agent, and his trainer, and tries to help improve his teammates and himself.
And that article reaffirms my beliefs that while Parson may or may not have some potential competitive issues, I don't think lack of caring or lack of interest is among them, but more the other way away, he may push himself and those around him too hard... especially when he feels it's not enough for whatever reason.