I somtimes find it difficult to parse the words of athletes who, at a point of unfathomable turbulence, success and financial prosperity in their lives, manage to put something as thoughtfully as Odell Beckham Jr. did during his long-form interview with GQ magazine.
He is a genuinely interesting person—pursuing first his internal happiness, seemingly unafraid of the industrial complex that has managed to flatten or reshape anyone with interests traditionally opposed to those of Big Football. Unlike other marquee athletes of his generation, though, he seems to also be unafraid of flashing those moments of petulance, which provide an opening for his critics, thus refueling the endless cycle of what keeps him brilliant and involved in the sport that made him famous.