Oakland Raiders wide receiver Darius Heyward-Bey is getting teased pretty hard in the morning papers. It seems maybe well-deserved.
Heyward-Bey sat out practice for the fourth day in a row Thursday, the Oakland Tribune reports. He's not injured. He just says he's tired.
"Just a little fatigued. Coach Cable is holding me out a little bit for that," DHB told the Tribune. "That’s pretty much it."
"Body, legs... you know, just fatigue," Heyward-Bey said. The guy is 23-years-old and in his physical prime. No one else on the team is missing time for this reason.
Someone ought to make sure the liquid in his water jug isn't purple.
The local papers and the blogs are not taking it easy on DHB for his taking it easy.
"Is it just me," Jerry McDonald asks in the Tribune, "or does it seem a little odd that the Raiders have a 23-year-old receiver who worked so hard in the offseason he sits out four practices in the middle of training camp for no other reason than he is tired?"
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Over in the Chronicle, Vittorio Tafur takes stock of all this time off. "If Heyward-Bey misses Saturday's game," Tafur writes, "that will make seven days of rest (before Tuesday's practice) for a 23-year-old NFL player who his coach says is not injured. Unbelievable."
The Raiders play the Chicago Bears Saturday at 5:30 pm PDT. You'd hope Heyward-Bey has enough cookie dough ice cream to get himself through watching the game.
Joe Kukura is a freelance writer who wonders if DHB has the bottle opener-remote control.
