José Ramirez On Sam Franklin: “He Just Needs To Pray More”
December 5th, 2024
Tight-lipped about incident.
So it still seems to be a mystery what exactly got into Stinking Panthers safety Sam Franklin after Sunday’s game with the Bucs.
Apparently, Bucs outside linebacker José Ramirez and Franklin had an incident of some sort on the field.
Ramirez was tight-lipped about the incident yesterday, or what may have sparked Franklin’s outburst near the Bucs’ postgame room at Bank of America Stadium.
Video floated across Twitter Sunday of Franklin apparently hollering for Ramirez. Franklin charged at the Bucs’ locker room entrance hollering and was grabbed by a Stinking Panthers staffer and hauled away, all the while Franklin was woofing and pointing towards the Bucs who were exiting the field.
Joe read from a Panthers credentialed media member that Franklin was going to try to bum rush his way into the Bucs’ locker room. Joe asked Ramirez about this Wednesday and Ramirez busted out laughing.
“He ain’t getting in no locker room!” Ramirez said, guffawing.
When Joe initially walked up to Ramirez, he said, “I already know what you are going to ask.” When Joe asked about Franklin, Ramirez began chuckling.
It appears in one video of the hassle included Franklin hollered, “Hey, tell 33 imma see his ass,” Franklin said, pointing toward Tampa Bay players. “On my grave, boy!”
The “33” is Ramirez’s number.
Something clearly set off Franklin but Ramirez refused to offer Joe any clue what may have ignited his temper.
“Naw, we’re just playing football, you know,” Ramirez said. “Lot of football going on.”
Ramirez and Franklin play defense. So if the two had an altercation on the field Sunday, maybe it came on special teams. Ramirez played 13 snaps on special teams Sunday. Franklin had 29.
Franklin, who played at Temple, is a fifth-year veteran. Ramirez is in his second year and he played at Eastern Michigan. So the two didn’t cross paths in college.
Franklin went to Citrus High in Crystal River. Ramirez went to school at Auburndale. So Joe isn’t sure if the two had old high school grudges to settle.
Joe asked Ramirez why Franklin got so upset. Ramirez had a cryptic response.
“I don’t know, he just needs to pray more,” Ramirez said. “Find God. Once you find God, all that emotion and all that — you can be an emotional person but you’ll be able to handle all that emotion that’s in you.”
Franklin, per Charean Williams of Pro Football Talk, was contrite about his part in the hassle saying, “That kind of stuff isn’t accepted in the NFL. Regardless of what happened on the field, we’ve got to keep those things in between the lines. It can’t spill out into the locker room or afterward, so I’d just like to apologize to the organization, my teammates and the owner, because that’s not how we want to view ourselves as professional athletes.”
Like Ramirez, Franklin wouldn’t go into details.
Per Williams, Franklin and Stinking Panthers coach Dave Canales had a sitdown about the incident, and Franklin said he will accept a fine from the league if he is slapped with one.
December 5th, 2024 at 5:45 am
prayer therapy haha. whatever works man
December 5th, 2024 at 6:19 am
Jeffrey Becker, try it sometime ,you might not think it’s so funny. It’s what this world needs
December 5th, 2024 at 6:46 am
Sure would be nice if Ramirez made headlines for something he did in his time between the whistles. On this team it seems like he should be seeing more playing time so that’s the real mystery.
December 5th, 2024 at 6:47 am
Superstitious bs is NOT what the world needs, Zeus or any other fictional thing is NOT coming to help you, you must rely on yourself and those you place around yourself. personal discipline isn’t magic you primitive nut jobs.
December 5th, 2024 at 6:55 am
Oh, here we go. The thumpers v. the atheists.
December 5th, 2024 at 6:56 am
@ Mike C
Sure man. Finding some type of inner peace and not acting in violence is totally not what this world needs.
Derp
December 5th, 2024 at 7:01 am
99 you ain’t wrong bro. Mike C you right Zeus ain’t coming to help ya but my lord and savior will his name is Jesus Christ 😁
December 5th, 2024 at 7:12 am
The Joe Bucs Fan comment section all stars is a family Thanksgiving dinner we need to see
December 5th, 2024 at 7:13 am
Jose Ramirez needs to pray more that Todd lets him on the field
December 5th, 2024 at 7:19 am
Joes, why was my last comment rejected by moderators?
December 5th, 2024 at 7:25 am
See it now, disregard
December 5th, 2024 at 7:40 am
“he just needs to pray more”. Useful advice for all of us.
December 5th, 2024 at 7:48 am
Well, I can tell you ONE of those guys isn’t getting shot in a tittie bar at 3am
December 5th, 2024 at 7:49 am
Mike C, you may be missing the point big fella is making. Prayer is a technique that many people use to develop “personal discipline”. The goals are admirable ones; prayer is simply a pathway many people take to reach them. And it’s a personal pathway that has no effect on you. I’m quite sure you, and others, have “superstitions” that can be easily denigrated by people of differing views (self-help books are one that I -quietly- make fun of). Now, I don’t pray (except on Sundays lately) and am not much of a believer but I don’t have a problem with those that do.
December 5th, 2024 at 8:36 am
Franklin was a powder keg in high school. I can’t count how many games I had to supervise games and he was dragged away by coaches and parents because he would lose his mind after a loss. High school is one thing. Who isn’t guilty of bad choices in high school? But you begin to see a pattern….He was an amazing talent and has done a lot for our community, but he had a lot of mentors and coaches dragging him away from trouble, or he never would have made it to college. I’m happy he has had success, but sadly I’m not surprised when I read this story.
December 5th, 2024 at 9:27 am
It’s funny, maybe it’s a Florida thing (7th generation Floridian here), but I’ve never heard “hassle” used as a noun, though appropriate it seems. I’ve always thought of hassle as being more of a verb, “hassling somebody” for instance and not a noun, “a hassle”. I’ve used/heard the word “tussle” used for this as a noun… for like a small, close quarter fight and not really used as a verb. After reading a few of these articles about this little fight, the word hassle kept popping up to me as being misused, even though it wasn’t. I was thinking Joe meant to use tussle instead. And if you’re thinking it’s my lack of education, I have read hundreds of books, both fiction and nonfiction, and I’ve never run across this before.
So, thank you Jose and Sam for creating the environment to learn a little more about our English language from Joe.
December 5th, 2024 at 9:35 am
So sad that the NFL is turning into the NHL.
December 5th, 2024 at 9:52 am
Citrus High School is in Inverness not Crystal River.
December 5th, 2024 at 10:07 am
Well, someone was hassling somebody Sunday night, for sure. All sorts of video evidence of the aftermath.
Never heard anyone refer to “pain in the ass” as a “hassle?” Like, “Finding good insurance is such a hassle.”
Read Phil Mushnick. 🙂
Joe had to take graduate-level English in college. There was no more boring subject at 8 a.m. then diagramming sentences — which Joe did in the seventh grade! The one thing Joe remembers from that class is how the English language is a living, breathing organism that always changes.
The professor, as an example, had us read the Declaration of Independence. No one talks like that now.
And just in Joe’s lifetime, words have fully changed meanings. For example, the word “hate.” Used to mean a vile, uninhibited dislike of someone or something. Now, it means honest critique.
Sad, really.
December 5th, 2024 at 11:32 am
Jack, when delusional behavior spills into our government (10 commandments in schools) someone has to say something and step in. Can’t just let some dude cut open his son because ” g o d told him to”. We have to have lines.
December 5th, 2024 at 11:48 am
Maybe someone copped a feel and it wasn’t appreciated
December 5th, 2024 at 12:29 pm
Good story.
They made a mistake, reflected, took accountability, and have an experience to build upon.
Good outcome.
December 5th, 2024 at 1:09 pm
Joe, I agreed with your linguistical comment. I’m very familiar with hassle, both as a noun and a verb. I’m glad the air cooled between the two players. Bucs and their division foes talk a lot of smack cos they’re rivals. I don’t mess with peoples’ beliefs. That’s their personal business in my book. Anyway, make it 3, Bucs Sunday!!
December 5th, 2024 at 9:42 pm
Carmada is giving him a call now.