Venus Vs Mars

Chapter 28

Massy continued her dominating in training camp, with one more week left before she would return back home for Christmas break and her birthday. She solidified her spot as a starter, nothing but positive reviews were coming towards Massy.

"Massy Arias seals spot as a starter for Team USA."

"Team USA Women's Soccer reveals its starting lineup for the 2016 season."

"22 year old Massy "Ace" Arias revealed to be Team USA secret weapon to getting them The World Cup."

She stood on the sidelines sighing any and everything that people gave her to sign making sure she got as many people as she could, young girls seemed to already have her jersey. Training camp was open to the fans, friends, and family, media coverage on ever side of the field getting footage of Massy working with the team seeing what she had to offer, was she actually as good as they said. Sports sites, and blogs captured and calculated her every move. 

A new athlete was an obsession once you got a certain amount of hype circled around you people wanted to see you all the time, they wanted to see how you practiced, what drills you did to become so good, they wanted to know how long you practiced. Massy could completely understand how Odell felt. Once he made that catch his rookie year against the Cowboys, things seemed to just go up from there.

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While Massy's soccer reign was just beginning, the nasty storm that was brewing above Odell was about to knock him clear off his Giants thrown. If you were to tell him he was getting ready to be in a Clash of The Titans type battle and not a Football game, he'd look at you like you were crazy and laugh. 

Week fifteen of Sunday Night Football, New York Giants host the Carolina Panthers in one hell of a game. Odell Beckham Jr and Panther's Cornerback Josh Norman spent four quarters taking cheap shots, shoving, helmet smacking, and fighting with one another. Refs having to split the two men up several times. 

The Giants tied the game at 35 when Odell got behind Norman for a 14-yard touchdown catch with 1:46 to go. Odell had lost his cool several times as Norman was getting the best of him in their high-profile matchup. But he got free for a 40-yard catch and run that led to the tying touchdown. However it wasn't enough. Panthers Graham Gano's 43-yard field goal as time expired ultimately kept the Panthers undefeated with a 14-0 season so far. 

Odell was penalized three times for unnecessary roughness, and Norman drew several flags due to him constantly grabbing Odell's face mask.

''He's got the maturity of a little kid,'' Norman said about Odell. 

''You got two bulls going at it in a physical sport, a field full of alpha males, they're not going to be playing patty-cake, patty-cake,'' Panthers Quarterback Cam Newton added.

''You are a competitor. I'm a competitor. We are always going to go at it. Anybody who has played sports you are competitive and you are going to go as hard as you can.'' Odell said defending himself and his actions. But what wasn't shown all over television was the taunting that Odell endured from select Panther players on the field before the game, which was the real reason Odell took to defending himself on the field. 

Multiple eyewitness and video footage of Panther player Marcus Ball who intentionally walked over to the Giants' side of the field during stretches, holding a black bat pointing it at Odell calling him a b***h, a ballerina, and that he was going to "end his career" then went on to yelling gay-slurs at him. Odell, pulling his helmet off his head and stepping forward yelling back at him. Punter and good friend Brad Wing was seen stepping in between the two men to protect Odell as Ball closed in on him.

Josh Norman was also seen multiple times during warm ups also pointing a bat at Odell, then proceeded to take a swing as if he was practicing a hit, Odell untimely felt threatened, putting him in that dangerous state of mind, his anger and temper began to build up before the game even started. 

Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders took to Sports Nation in Odell's defense. "Then you start talking about his hairstyle, then you start talking about his sexuality. So now when you're talking about things like that of that nature, it goes way off the field into something different because now this is personal! You start calling a man something that he's not, you're going to have a issue."

Odell's Godfather, who he also refers to as "Uncle" four time NBA Champ Shaquille O'Neal also stepped in to defend his nephew. "I've known him all his life. Since birth. He's not a troubled kid. He's not a troublemaker, but by any means, he's not soft. I guess the guy got under his skin. There's a lot of stuff we did not see like the spitting and the trash talking and the disrespecting. I'm a true believer that sometimes you have to touch people up to let them know that you're not soft. The play was dangerous, him launching his helmet, but football is a dangerous, violent sport. But I think he showed the world yesterday that he's not soft. It's my understanding that some derogatory comments were made about his sexuality. Just a lot of disrespectful stuff, bats on the sideline, and people talking about ending people's career. Maybe it got under his skin, maybe it didn't...Every now and then you have to touch people up in the nature of the game ... You're hard, I'm harder, I'm coming at you just like you're coming at me. And that's how we do it."

Massy stood in her hotel room packing to get ready to go back to New York, her blood boiling as the media defamed and attacked Odell's character, people took to Twitter, calling him a menace, that he was dangerous, that he has too short of a temper to be playing football. Panther fans demanding that he be suspended for the rest of the season. Her jaw clinched in frustration at people not looking into what started the whole situation.

Though she hadn't spoke to or seen Odell in three weeks, still being on bad terms, a feeling of needing to protect him rushed over her, the urge to take a bat to Josh Norman's head and anybody who talked down on Odell had never been so heavy on her hands.