Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson can't seem to keep himself out of the spotlight this offseason. From his protracted contract impasse with Seattle, to his continued flirtations with the MLB, to his recent assertion that he has a direct line of communication to God - who he believes spoke to him after the last-second interception in Super Bowl XLIX - and that he and new girlfriend, performer Ciara, have been abstaining from premarital relations because the Big Man told them to, Wilson's name has popped up time and again in the media for both, seemingly, good and bad reasons.
Wilson, entering the final year of his contract with the Seahawks and reportedly looking for a major raise somewhere in the vicinity of $20 to $25 million per season, and his increasingly bizarre off-field antics have, of course, not escaped the notice of his fellow NFL players.
It's not surprising then that one of them - Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett - took to twitter recently to lob a few softball jokes at the Super Bowl-winning signal-caller (h/t to Kyle Thele of the Chicago Sun-Times).
I wonder how loud God had to yell for Russel to hear him/her at that moment in the super bowl.
— Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) July 8, 2015
YOOOO RUSSEL. It's me God. Can you hear me? Aye Jesus is this thing on. Come help your pops out. Lol — Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) July 8, 2015
Jesus. Seriously Jesus. Get over here and turn this thing on for me.
— Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) July 8, 2015
I didn't hit any. But God told me to keep swinging so I did. — Martellus Bennett (@MartysaurusRex) July 8, 2015
Bennett is no saint himself, having flamed out with the Cowboys despite a second-round draft pedigree before reasserting himself as a legitimate offensive NFL threat with the Bears and then assuming that he was then due a pay raise because hey, why not, so he has little room to cast stones.
The frailty of Bennett's glass house aside, it's a pretty funny joke on his part and it seems to be intended in a playful manner, but it's doubtful many in the religious community would deem it as such.
Bennett's likely to get a talking to from his Bears coaches and Wilson probably isn't going to start operating in a different manner just because one of his fellow NFL brethren thinks his claims of speaking to God are a little silly, but it's certainly fun to watch as professional athletes let their guard down a bit and start acting like the real - and extremely blessed - human beings they are.
