Lions linebacker Zack Zollett's choice of words, "China doll," to describe Matt Stafford's injury troubles was unfortunate, especially in this town where they were used over and over to describe often injured first-round draft pick wide receiver Charles Rogers' plight.
But in the context of his entire statement about Stafford on a radio station in Fresno, they were little more than a blip on the screen. Follett's all-encompassing point is he essentially praised Stafford, and intimated he was more unfortunate than lacking toughness.
In other words, Follett is a relatively young man who speaks a lot, but may not have command of his vocabulary to match, and obviously didn't know what a match stick of controversy "China doll" represents when discussing football injuries.
He was contrite about it, except...
I thought it was a little strange the "flaming arrows" video he posted in which compared tweets on Twitter criticizing his comments to "flaming arrows" from the media. It was like he was comparing the media to Satan.
I do think, however, the media - and this is a generality - is often two-faced with athletes and celebs in interview situations.
On one hand, we want them to say what is on their mind. We chastise them for rattling off cliches and being boring. Or not speaking at all.
On the other hand, when they do speak freely, there is often this "got you" mentality. We take two words like "China doll" and blow them up into a big issue.
Then we wonder why athletes and celebs are so guarded with us.
Just food for thought.