On Sunday, November 1, 2015 Dallas Cowboy’s Wide Receiver,
Dez Bryant was accused of one of the worst things you can accuse another player
of doing. He was accused of making inappropriate comments about Seattle
Seahawk, Ricardo Lockette who was knocked unconscious during the
Cowboys-Seahawks game. For those of you
who are not sports fan, when a player has been injured, specifically knocked
unconscious, it is customary for players to show a sign of respect for the
injured player. Some players get down on one knee, some say a prayer, and others may have
a moment of silence. During Lockette’s injury a fight broke out between Cowboys
and Seahawk players. A vine video was later circulated showing Bryant saying
something and pointing. It was interpreted that Bryant said “that’s what the F he gets” The video
has no sound. The interpretation was made by the creator of the Vine video
Marcus Sullivan who is a FOX 26 digital reporter. When Bryant was asked about
this in the locker room after the game, he went on a tirade. To politely sum up his tirade he said he would never wish
harm on another player. Dez Bryant is
not a Saint to say the very least but he is a person who is trying hard to turn
his life around. This summer, Rolling Stone Magazine did a great cover story on him that
humanized him more than any piece I have read or heard. He had a rough
upbringing. His mom had him when she was 14. She got pregnant by her mom’s
boyfriend who was in his 40’s and she went on to have 2 more children with him.
She started selling crack when Bryant was a young boy and did time in jail for
selling drugs. Once you have an understanding of who Dez Bryant is and what he
has been through, you can now go back to the tirade in the locker room and
understand his reaction better. This is a man who has seen more ugliness in his
life than most. He was probably told he was never going to amount to anything
and has probably rarely been given the benefit of the doubt. I can empathize
with that. The concern I have about Bryant, is that I feel that no one has
helped him work thru the emotional ugliness. When you let those emotions fester
inside of you, they come out in an emotional tirade like they did this past
Sunday. Bryant could have calmly “checked” the media in the locker room about
that comment and moved on if he had received the proper counseling and media
training. Once the media saw that they had hit a “hot button” they kept digging
at him because everyone is looking for that "hot sound bite" to put up on their website
or play during their newscast. He unknowingly fell into the trap of the media.
