EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – While they understand the public's concern over what might be perceived as an apparent hazing incident involving Prince Amukamara, several New York Giants insist that throwing the second-year cornerback into a tub of ice water was a football tradition and not bullying.

Amukamara and Jason Pierre-Paul, the Pro Bowl defensive end who threw him into the metal ice tub, maintained Monday that they are friends and there was nothing personal involved.

Neither would say what triggered the obscenity-laced incident.