St. Louis Rams' Tavon Austin Shouldn't Call Out Baltimore

Recently, Tavon Austin of the St. Louis Rams made it known that people in Baltimore are asking him for money. This is what Austin had to say at stlouisrams.com: “The whole (city of) Baltimore is my cousin now. We’re going to just try to keep focused and let my mother and all of them handle it.”

Really? The whole city of Baltimore is your cousin now? Can you identify every citizen that resides in the city that is asking you for money? Are you implying that everyone who lives in Baltimore is broke and needs your help?

It’s one thing for there to be a group of people that are asking you money and you are annoyed. I get it. It happens. You are a great talent and people see your potential. I believe you will be one of the best at your position in the league very soon, but bringing the whole city into this situation is wrong.

You are not the first person in sports that has been asked for money and you certainly won’t be the last. Derrick Rose, a star for the Chicago Bulls, was born in Chicago. I’m sure he has had his issues with some people in the city asking him for money too.

But, I don’t recall at any point in time where Rose implied the whole city of Chicago is asking him for money. He might have felt like that privately, but he never blasted the entire city publicly.

Austin, you represent Baltimore. It is important that you put the city in a good light … or at the very least in a respectable light. The city of Baltimore gets a bad rap in some areas, especially from those that are not familiar with the city, and saying what you said hurts the image of the city.

It’s bad enough that people who live outside of Maryland think they know Baltimore because they watched the Wire, but it is what it is. You have to take that into consideration, Austin.

Help build the image of the city. Don’t blast them in public. It was irresponsible of you to suggest that.