Mike Leach Replaces One Crabtree Dig With Another

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach wants to stand up for his former receiver Michael Crabtree, who presently finds himself stuck in a protracted holdout while what would be his rookie season trickles away.↵↵As with any rookie with the godawful temerity to conduct a holdout that extends into the regular season, Crabtree has been hit with any number of damaging labels, deserved or not. Leach would like to counter the idea that Crabtree isn’t in a 49ers uniform because he’s an attention-starved, money-grubbing diva, or a prima donna, or any of those other terms from Italian opera that are often used to slander NFL players. Instead, according to the guy who coached Crabtree last year, he’s the victim of a ruthless svengali.↵

↵↵⇥“Well, you’d have to know him to understand. He’s not a diva. He’s a guy that kind of goes and does his stuff alone and I’m sure he’s got all the people advising him saying ‘do this, do this’ and Michael goes about his business. You wonder if maybe he shouldn’t take a more assertive part in this. I deliberately haven’t gotten involved. If he had followed my advice he’d still be at Texas Tech. No, he’s more of a loner than a diva.↵↵↵I’m not entirely sure “malleable loner” is any less of an insult than “selfish diva” is when it comes to a football player. Fair or unfair, the prototypical wideout tends to be the outgoing and, while not quite stubborn, at least headstrong type. And just for good measure, there’s a little told-ya-so quality to the Leach quote as well. While Leach likely has the best of intentions when discussing the mess that Crabtree and his agent have landed themselves, consider this attempt at character-vouching to be an abject failure.↵

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