OBJ, a Boat Party and the Bieber Curse: Should NY Giants Fans Be Worried?

I thought we had all agreed to love Justin Bieber. "Where Are U Now" dropped, and we made the joint decision that human beings over the age of 12 were allowed to listen to Bieber songs in public for maybe the first time in recorded history. Legitimate clubs were even playing his music. I'm sure there had been a few places in the past that used "Baby" as a late-night hype track, but I hadn't been to any of them. They were probably in Eastern Europe.    

But maybe the Bieber-ssance was just a 2016 thing.

Biebs is yet again in the cross hairs of the nation just days into the new year, this time for ruining the Giants' chances against the Packers in this Sunday's playoff game, simply by hanging out with Odell Beckham Jr. It's really quite a feat for a man who weighs slightly less than the average Edible Arrangement.

On Tuesday, USA Today asked "Is there a Justin Bieber curse?" The findings of the article—backed up with plenty of photographic evidence—is more or less "well, maybe?"

To best understand the Bieber effect in sports, one must divide his career in half, with his 2015 Comedy Central Roast as the point of departure. On one side, you had a guy perfectly happy peeing in a mop bucket and abandoning his pet monkey in Germany. On the other side, you have that dude who dropped "Sorry," perhaps the most blatant musical mea culpa since Eminem's "Cleanin' Out My Closet."

The moments USA Today cited in its investigation, though, all seem to have occurred before the dividing roast. Bieber took a photo of the Stanley Cup, and the Blackhawks didn't repeat in 2014. Bieber showed up at a 2014 Steelers Bible study, and they lost to the Jets. Our guy posed with a Spain soccer jersey, and the reigning World Cup champions didn't even make it out of the group stage of the tournament in, you guessed it, 2014.

It seems grossly unfair for us to cast aspersions on Biebs for much of what he did in that pre-roast life.

Really, this whole thing isn't about Bieber anyway. He's screwed up enough times in his life that another controversy seems about as surprising as when the Dodgers choke in the playoffs. It's all according to plan.

It's OBJ who has "disappointed" pundits across the country.

Never one to pass up an opportunity to take a few shots at his favorite punching bag, Fox's Skip Bayless was among those scolding the "diva receivers" of the Giants for being "soft" and partying "all night and into the daylight" with the diminutive Canadian pop star.

"This is a huge deal," Bayless says.

The Bieber Curse (which is about as real as any other trumped-up curse in sports history) strikes again, say the Beckham haters.

I don't know about you, but it doesn't look like such a big deal to me. From a certain angle, it even looks like a team-building, bonding moment. Just a few co-workers sharing a much-needed day off...with Justin Bieber, Trey Songz and a quick cameo from a boat. Perfectly normal behavior.

If the Giants lose this weekend, it won't be because of the presence of Bieber or because they partied too hard almost a full week before the game. It'll be because they're playing in subfreezing temperatures in Green Bay against a team that is about as hot as any in the NFL right now. A singing leprechaun putting a hex on your favorite football team might be a comforting notion for aggrieved fans to hang their woes on, but it's a complete illusion.

Professional athletes are people, just like us. Granted, they make millions more dollars than I do and don't get winded going up the stairs of a parking garage, but they put their pants on exactly like I do: laying on their back and squirming like a dying fish. That's a fact.

Rich Barnes/Getty Images

What I really don't understand is why Beckham, Victor Cruz and Roger Lewis found themselves under attack for their conspicuous vacation, while I'm almost certain half the NBA just lives at Drake's house during the offseason. Sure, it's the playoffs, but 1) it was their day off and 2) it's the Giants. The only person who can decide their fate is Eli "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" Manning, who, for fairly obvious reasons related to his supreme corniness, did not attend the wide receiver conclave in Miami.

Some day, we're all going to have to learn to accept that athletes are going to socialize in their free time, and that in that free time, they will likely be around celebrities. This is usually true because athletes are also celebrities, especially in an age when social media amplifies every single moment that the user chooses to memorialize, for good or ill.

As long as OBJ does his job and stays on the right side of the law, what good does chastising him do? In a league in which players are routinely busted for all manner of anti-social behavior, this barely seems like an infraction, other than the sin of choosing one's friends poorly. No one peed in a bucket and no one crashed his Ferrari (that we know of).

For what it's worth, I'll be cheering on the Giants on Sunday, just so that we can bury the Bieber Curse, as we have the Curse of the Bambino, the Curse of the Billy Goat and, my personal favorite, the Curse of the Jade Scorpion. I also hope OBJ scores eight touchdowns and in lieu of a touchdown celebration, Bieber and Ludacris run onto the field for an impromptu performance of "Baby." A fitting end to the legendary Bieber-ssance.

Dave is a writer-at-large for Bleacher Report and B/R Mag and hosts the Roundball Rock podcast—a comedic look at the NBA. Prior to joining B/R, Dave wrote for Grantland, the Guardian and Vice.