Palladino: Giants' Beckham Should Tread Carefully Among The Kardashians
By Ernie Palladino
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As head coach Ben McAdoo said at the Giants' recent offseason practice, Odell Beckham, Jr. is a grown man who can make his own decisions on the women he dates.
But when it comes to getting tied up with a Kardashian sister -- in this case, Khloe -- the pass-catching Superman might want to think twice about getting too close. Those kids are just lousy with Kryptonite.
We're not casting any odious aspersions on the reality show family. They seem like a nice enough bunch. A little loopy, maybe. Certainly a little too much in love with the Instagram and Twitter world.
But really, what does Kim's naked selfies, Khloe's recently-canceled cocktail talk show, and the whole Clan Kardashian's television series amount to but a little bit of tantalizing viewing?
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So if Beckham wants to dally around with Khloe, that's OK. He's a big boy with a big wallet and even bigger star quality, which is kind of what attracts these Kardashians to athletes in the first place. But being a big boy, Odell should probably approach this stuff with a great deal of caution.
Those girls have ruined more than one athlete's career.
Reggie Bush? Down the drain after he fell in with Kim.
Kris Humphries? Reviled throughout the NBA after that short marriage to Kim.
Need we point out the fate Lamar Odom suffered during his marriage to Khloe? Three years after their 2009 wedding, the former Lakers star found himself playing D-League ball. And that doesn't even account for drugs/hookers/coma saga since his 2014 retirement.
There's a trend there that Beckham should regard with care, whether he's really dating Khloe or merely flirting, as she insisted on Twitter. The last thing McAdoo needs is his one truly great receiver going downhill because Beckham took a bad step in the Kardashian minefield.
The intent here is not to pain the sisters as talent-sucking villains. They're just the latest in toxic relationships.
Samson, after all, had a pretty good thing going before he hooked up with a certain someone. Big, strong, conqueror of men. Nobody would dare challenge him until Delilah goaded him into trying a new hair style.
"Something short, cool, and fun," she said. "You'll love it. Promise."
The theologians still laugh about that one.
In our world, it wasn't long ago that Jets sack master Mark Gastineau sent his career reeling during his relationship with B-movie star Brigitte Nielsen. A year after moving in with the Danish bombshell, Gastineau led the league in sacks through seven games.
And then he left practice one day and never came back. Gastineau retired, claiming he had to be with Nielsen as she battled ovarian cancer. It was a dubious claim, considering they had a child together a year later.
As crazy and self-destructive as heavyweight champ Mike Tyson was, many still believe his stormy 11-month marriage to actress Robin Givens that ended in 1989 was the chief contributor to his 1990 downfall to Buster Douglas.
It's not that all celebrity hookups end in athletic tragedy. Alex Rodriguez' girlfriends run a gamut from Madonna to Cameron Diaz and beyond. He seems to have done all right.
Wayne Gretzky never lost a beat after marrying actress Janet Jones.
None of those ladies have built quite the trash heap Kris Jenner's little girls have, though.
As McAdoo intimated, Beckham is a big boy. Beckham will do what he does.
But McAdoo also made himself available to any player who asks for personal advice.
Before OBJ goes any further with Khloe, if that is his intention at all, he might want to take McAdoo up on that.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino