From the start, it seemed like a bad-but-harmless joke, the kind you hear on schoolyards across America.
But the Wheel of Offense was spinning yesterday, and some Lions said they were insulted by Panthers quarterback Cam Newton referring to Ndamukong Suh as “Donkey Kong Suh.” (As it turns out, that was the answer to just five of the 27 questions asked to Newton on Wednesday, according to Bill Voth of Black and Blue Review.)
Nicknames like that never caught on for the Lions defensive tackle, whose teammates either call “9-0,” or just by his name.
“A man like that demands respect,” defensive tackle C.J. Mosley said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “He’s going to get the last name, he’s going to get the salute, so nobody has a nickname for him. If he comes in here and says, ‘I want my nickname to be this,’ I’m pretty sure everybody’s going to call him it.”
Suh didn’t respond to a question about Newton yesterday, and said years ago he wasn’t interested in plays on his given name.
“I have a name my parents gave me, and I’m going to stick with that,” he said.
Lions coach Jim Caldwell was disinterested, saying he didn’t want to “waste any time” trying to cipher the meaning.
But the silliest reaction came from Terry Foster of the Detroit News, who suggested it was racially insensitive, and Newton should apologize.
It was a joke. A bad joke. One Newton probably thought was funnier than it actually was when it fell out of his mouth. It happens. Trust me.
Hopefully we can be done with this now.