The NFL appears to be having a collective values breakdown. First the Miami Dolphins lose two players in an alleged bullying scandal, and last Sunday, star Cowboy wide receiver Dez Bryant walked off the field with more than a minute left to play in the game. After Dallas quarterback Tony Romo threw the last of his two second-half interceptions to virtually ensure a humiliating come-back defeat at the hands of the Green Bay Packers, cameras followed Bryant as he left his team for the locker room with 1:21 remaining on the clock. Later, he apologized and explained his actions by tweeting:
“I walked back to the locker room because I was emotional…it had nothing to do with my teammates we had it…We fought and didn’t finish”
Oh. What?
That’s no explanation. To reporters, he said that he didn’t want the cameras catching him crying. On the professionalism scale, this is minus 1000. He’s emotional? So what? Suck it up! He doesn’t like to lose? Who does? He couldn’t take it any more? Tough—he’s paid to take it, and damn well too.
I never heard of such a thing in pro sports. I’m sure someone will dredge up an incident in 1956 when Minneapolis Lakers forward Brack Caudell walked off the basketball court with 46 seconds remaining in the final period of a rout by the St. Louis Hawks because he saw his wife in the stands with another man or something similar, but the fact that this may not be completely unprecedented is beside the point. This is a cardinal sin in any profession. A lawyer who quits before the end of a trial because he’s losing gets disbarred. A doctor who walks out of the operating room because his patient is dying and he’s upset about it will lose his license. A soldier who leaves the field of battle while his comrades are still fighting is a deserter. What is a football player who quits a game before the final whistle because he’s unhappy that his team is losing? A child.
The fact that Bryant wasn’t instantly suspended and fined for such egregiously unprofessional and selfish conduct shows that the Cowboys are in the throes of the Star Syndrome, allowing one of its most talented players to degrade the whole team’s standards of conduct because the coach doesn’t have the guts or the integrity to enforce basic discipline. A second team rookie that behaved like Bryant would be cut, though it is hard to prove that because no second team rookie has ever been so crazy, juvenile and self-indulgent as to try it. To say Bryant’s walkout was unprofessional doesn’t even capture how outrageous it was. This wouldn’t be tolerated in Pop Warner football.
Just as telling as Bryant’s behavior has been the excuses, rationalizations and shrugs being communicated by coaches, sportswriters and fans to minimize the worst of all professional breaches—quitting before the job is done.
Here’s Bryant’s coach, Jason Garrett:
“He loves his teammates, he loves this team, has a great passion for winning. You have to understand how to handle yourself in those situations. He’ll learn from this situation.”
Why would Garrett think that? Every other player has learned not to quit on his teammates by the age of 13, and Bryant is 25, playing in the NFL for millions of dollars. This isn’t a learning problem. This is a character problem.
Now ESPN writer Calvin Watkins:
“Bryant is a good guy, who made a mistake. We’ve all made them.”
Not that mistake, buddy, not that mistake…not since I started shaving. This is a rationalization classic: we should forgive outrageous conduct because everyone makes mistakes. This is more than a mistake, it’s signature significance. Professional athletes who understand what team play is, what persistence is, what courage is, what fortitude is, what duty is, what it means to have a job to do and doing your best even when things don’t go your way never do this past puberty, not even once. If someone will do it once, he will do it again, and worse things as well, because he just doesn’t comprehend the concepts of responsibility and obligation.
Naturally, the fans are even worse. On Bleacher Report, they pretty much covered the Rationalizations list:
- “Wut difference would it have made if he stayed or not.” No harm, no foul! (#8)
- “Tom Brady cusses at his post game conference and is called passionate and a truly caring player. Dez doesn’t cuss and walks away so as to avoid another yell on the sidelines (which was shown to be positive btw) and is once again called immature. So tell me, why is Brady given a cussing pass on live tv while Dez can’t walk away?” “The Favorite Child Excuse” (#25)
- “I don’t blame him, he’s tired of losing the same way over and over again.” This is so stupid (there are many versions of it in the comments, too) that it doesn’t even rate a rationalization. Essentially the logic is that it’s all right to violate your obligations as long as you’re unhappy enough. Apparently a lot of football fans were raised like Dez.
- “wow, people should really be talking more about how T. Romo blew that game for the 100th time” The “They’re Just as Bad” Excuse (#2)
- “A LOT of players have done that in the past it’s really no big deal” The granddaddy rationalization of them all, Numero Uno, “Everybody does it” (but everybody doesn’t…)
- “Leave the man alone. He’s not a freaking robot.” “Nobody’s perfect!” (#18)
- “Dez played a great game yesterday and I have no problem with him leaving.” The King’s Pass (#10)
- “I’d rather see Dez leave the field than him go on another rampage on the sideline.” The Comparative Virtue Excuse (#21)
- “I’m not a cowboys fan at all but I probably would have felt like doing the same thing” The Unethical Role Model (#31)
See what I mean?
This is how much of America judges conduct. No wonder we elect the leaders we do. Still, I never thought I’d see a quitter defended like this.
Maybe it’s not just the NFL that is having a values breakdown.
______________________
Source: ESPN, Bleacher Report, Sporting News
Graphic: BuzzFeed
Ethics Alarms 
“Maybe it’s not just the NFL that is having a values breakdown.” Somehow I seriously doubt you are JUST coming to that conclusion.
“The fact that Bryant wasn’t instantly suspended and fined for such egregiously unprofessional and selfish conduct shows that the Cowboys are in the throes of the Star Syndrome”
Suspended?
I’d fire him immediately.
If he is willing to be on the side lines and celebrate with his teammates when they win he damn well be willing to be on the sidelines with them when they lose. That’s being a good teammate and being a man.
Exactly, Bill. I wouldn’t want to play on a team or fight on a battlefield with a guy like that.
It was two interceptions in the last 3 minutes. Sounds much more exciting than just the last half. I wouldn’t call a one point win by GB humiliating. OTOH, I kind of wish GB had kept playing for that last minute instead of running down the clock without attempting to actually move the ball after the last interception.
Phlinn;
Why on earth would any coach worth his Dodge Ram Truck advertising contract EVER not kneel to run out the clock, especially on the road.
You just don’t tempt the football gods.
The loss per se wasn’t as humiliating as the disgracefully embarrassing second half meltdown (after the first half dominance) that led to it.
The playcalling?? Fuggedaboudit!
Those 1st half skybox shots of Jones grinning like a Cheshire Cat gave way to stinging karma; a tie for the largest deficit ever overcome by the 13 time World Champion Green Bay Packers.
Packers’ owners (the City of Green Bay and its…um…stockholders) grinned last!
Not a football fan myself, just engaged to a GB fan, so my view is probably out of sync with the views of NFL fans and players alike. The only reason to do so would be good sportsmanship, of the same sort that keeps one from walking off the field when you are sure you’re going to lose. Keep playing until the game is over. Kneeling to run out the clock isn’t really playing, it’s delaying to lock in a win.
Football fan and player just registering disagreement- everyone on the field knows it’s insane to try and run a play that has a chance of becoming a turnover and a loss. On the other hand, I also don’t agree with the people who say it’s “football etiquette” for the defense to ALLOW the offense to take a knee. Kneeling it out is a pretty safe play, but it’s subject to a maniac linebacker hurdling the line and forcing a fumble, the Defense is on the losing team and better give it their all to change that.
Phlinn;
“Kneeling to run out the clock isn’t really playing, it’s delaying to lock in a win.”
That opens a HUGE can of worms that you best not ask your intended unless you have a couple of hours to burn.
Throwing out of bounds to avoid a sack or an int, staying inbounds to keep the clock running, squib-kicking to avoid a runback, calling a timeout to ice a kicker; the list is endless.
Something you’ll find if the subject’s ever broached. Good luck in your marriage! I know how you’ll be spending at least 16 three + hour sessions each fall.
4 simple words you should consider taking to heart: The Bears Still Suck!
She’s doesn’t actually expect me to watch football with her, although I catch bits here and there. We have our own past times.
If I’m trying to keep her happy, it’s the Vikings who suck…
Repeat after me:
“Can you believe some of those flags?”
“Did you see that no-call in the fourth?”
“How about that gutsy third-and-long play, huh?”
Aaaand now you’re a football fan.
DISCLOSURE: I bleed Badger Red but my essence is Green-n-Gold.
“Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.” Auric Goldfinger.
Bryant has a storied history of diva-like behavior and was channeling his inner Randy Moss.
The Evil Empire (Dallas) has enabled him all the way along; they shouldn’t be surprised.
The weakest position on that team sits in the owner’s skybox, and things won’t change until Jones (micro-manager extraordinaire) replaces himself for the good of the team.
I honestly can’t recall the last time all the NFL talking heads were so united on one subject; the consummate dysfunction in Dallas.
That said:
GO PACKERS!!
Agree totally, though I’d add that I find the reactions of the commenters at Bleacher Report almost as distateful as Bryant’s behavior. Whether it happens all the time or it almost never happens, Bryant’s behavior is unprofessional, pure and simple.
Especially since there are many thousands of them, and only one of him. Those commenters will do far more damage before they are through; you can bank on it.
I don’t follow football, and it sounds like I’m not missing much. But, when sports stars become whiny divas instead of team players and their fans approve it’s a sign of massive social failure. Sports is supposed to be one of the last bastions of decency (at least as far as decent team behavior is concerned, like being a knight, there’s an expectation of honor) because if it isn’t then why would anyone care about it enough to invest time and money in it? Why are fans supporting this behavior? What do they get out of it? Can you support and love your team even if they’re complete asses? If so why?
Excellent questions.
Because people like to see their own ethical / moral / social failings justified and defended in the public eye. So they no longer have an excuse to aspire to a better life, because hey, the celebrities act like this and don’t get in trouble.
Why is reality TV so popular, with all it’s vicious, conniving, pride-ful, dishonest, envious, wasteful lifestyles going un-condemned?
wyogranny;
With the travelling roster numbering ~ 50, the chances of all “them” being asses are slim.
But to speak to your point, were Jay Cutler a Packer, I would still think he’s a d**k!!
Being a Chicago Bear surely doesn’t help place him on the asset side of the ledger.
No and thats one of the reasons I no longer root for the my local football team. From now on its just baseball and hockey.
Well, if his mentor Deion Sanders didn’t dump him maybe Bryant would have better sense.
Actually, I would like to retract that statement. 🙂