Odell Beckham Jr wears light-up Christmas shoes, then behaves in a most un-Christmas like manner

Odell Beckham Jr had a day he - and the millions of people watching him on television - will never forget.

Christmas-themed shoes. An over-the-top, physical confrontation on-field with an opponent. An off-field meltdown. Apologies to teammates. A game-tying touchdown. Wild gesticulations with adoring home fans. A three-point loss.

That's a brief summary of Beckham's day as the star wide-receiver for the New York Giants.

Hectic day: New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham jr in action against the Carolina Panthers. Photo: Getty Images

The day was one which started  in a most-festive mood as Beckham wore cleats resplendent with lights, candy canes and even small presents during pre-game warm-ups. Shoes like this are banned from matches by the NFL. 

Before every game Beckham sports a new pair of outlandish boots supplied by Nike. His latest cleats on Monday morning were arguably the most ridiculous of the lot - a pair of green and red sparkling Christmas-themed kicks. 

 

@iam_objxiii cleat game = Amazing vision brought to life by the people at #Nike. A great collab between Joseph Skiba, Odell Beckham Jr and Nike. Making dreams reality! #merrybecksmas #Becksmas #skibabeckhamcollab #christmascollab @josephskiba @iam_objxiii @usnikefootball @nicekicks @solecollector @espn @complex @uniformswag

A video posted by New York Giants (@nygiants) on Dec 20, 2015 at 7:44am PST

The reason why the NFL - sometimes sarcastically referred to as the No Fun League - doesn't allow such individual statements from players? According to the rule book: "All players on the same team must wear shoes with the same dominant colour" and in summary, all football boots must be approved by the League office. 

It is another case of the league wanting to stamp their authority on what players can and can't wear - something that applies to more than just footwear. 

The NFL recently fined Pittsburgh Steelers running back DeAngelo Williams $US5787 ($8026) for wearing 'Find the Cure' strips under his eyes after his mother Sandra died of breast cancer, while Steelers cornerback William Gay had to pay the same amount for wearing purple cleats to honour his mother who was killed in a domestic violence incident. 

In October, players are able to wear some pink items for the NFL's annual pink campaign to raise awareness for breast cancer, but these instances of players being fined are more to do with the NFL's strict uniform policy than the message players are looking to promote. 

Despite the in-game restrictions, Beckham, who has had a spectacular start to his NFL career, continues to sport a variety of crazy shoes before matches. 

Last week he wore "The Joker" cleats which many thought  to be a reference or challenge to Carolina Panthers quarterback Josh Norman, who goes by the nickname of "Batman". 

Norman didn't think the cleats were a coincidence, telling reporters: "That kind of gets me going a little bit because I know what they symbolise. At the end of the day, I think they're pretty cool cleats."



So when the pair faced up against each other on Sunday evening in New Jersey, Beckham had arguably the most frustrating game of his two-year career, one which included three penalties for unsportsmanlike play in his side's 38-35 loss to the Panthers. 

At times he was visibly angered after becoming involved in heated confrontations with Norman. 

Norman, arguably the best pass defender in the NFL, had been involved in a war of words with Beckham leading into the match and emotions spilled over. The most powerful incident came in the second half when Beckham appeared to launch himself - head-first - into Norman's head at the end of a play. 

Beckham was penalised for his challenge and earned a rebuke from Giants coaching staff. The Giants star was then seen to stage an outburst on the sidelines before later appearing to apologise to teammates for his conduct. 

After regaining some composure, he was able to score a touchdown which tied the scores at 35. A final second field-goal gave the undefeated Panthers the win.

Odell Beckham Jr's Christmas cleats. They light up. pic.twitter.com/79C08jnjn9

— Kimberly Jones (@KimJonesSports) December 20, 2015

Light Up Christmas Cleats for Odell Beckham Jr (Exclusive Look) https://t.co/mFZxSSqE0L pic.twitter.com/xN1S58gTAT

— Heskicks (@Heskicks) December 20, 2015