By Mary Paoletti
CSNNE.com
BREAKING: SARCASTIC REMARK TAKEN WRONG WAY IN SPORTS, JOKESTER ANNOYED
Patriots receiver Wes Welker has a sense of humor.
Unsurprisingly, it has come back to bite him.
In an appearance on WAAF-FM in Boston today, Welker revealed he's unhappy the NFL used one of his lighthearted lockout comments against him in its legal brief. The league's filing -- for a stay of Judge Nelson's injunction from the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals-- twisted player comments out of context to inaccurately support its submission.
Part of the NFL's argument laid claim that players are not bothered by the lockout right now. This is where Welker's quote "Let's do a one every year" was, stunningly, taken as fact. In other words, the guy got hosed.
"I said that as a joke and yet they use it in the court of law," Welker said. "It was a little bit disappointing. It's kind of discouraging they would actually use that in the court of law, and you have to see it everywhere and things like that."
"Shoot, I guess the gloves are off, and they're going after everything," Welker said. "You have to really watch what you say, whether you're joking or not."
It's unknown how Welker, a professional football player with eight years of experience, didn't realize earlier in his career that the sports community constantly misunderstands or abuses humor and sarcasm. Whether it's the fans' inability to laugh at themselves, suits blowing comments and actions out of proportion, or people completely missing the point, the fight for wit has been waged and lost countless times.
Wes Welker is just one more body tossed on top of the heap.
Nothing funny about that.