I think this is the "maturity" I was worried about. He should've just shut up and carried his bags. But I truly don't think he has ever heard about hazing, much less understand the underlying meaning behind it and the tradition. I'm betting in his relatively naive mind he thinks its an insult. But at the very atleast he has the attitude of "hey I just want to play foosball and win games" But I hate how people are blowing this thing up though. yet when he signed the contract (and became the first 1st rounder to sign), said all the right things and showing up 45 minutes early and was the last one to leave for the first training camp-all of this have not been brought up the big national talking heads ; instead they all just focus on this minor baggage. I dont' like how he handled this particular situation (aka just shut up next time, you don't have to like it but dont' tell the press how you feel.....) but atleast he still just wants to play and win and help the team when you break it down.
I remember Joey Dorsey also resisted rookie hazing -- and he never quite seemed to make it work in Houston. I think folks are wrong about establishing dominance and all that. Hazing is about sublimating your identity in the team, being part of a unit and not an individual. If I were a coach, I would worry about the rookie who is too proud to submit to hazing -- will he be a knucklehead who won't follow directions? I think that was an issue with Dorsey. Talent can overcome knuckleheadedness, but obviously it's preferable to have someone who will be a team player.
Carrying Roy Williams' pads doesn't help the team in any way, shape, or form. It just helps Roy Williams. If you want to see if he'll put the team above himself, there's a much easier way: see what he does and how he acts on the field. Hazing is one of the stupidest things around, and the whole "well, we've always done it" is one of the stupidest rationales to justify things like that. Kudos to Dez Bryant for standing up for himself.
Thats funny, Dez Bryant IS better then every other WR on that team, i wouldnt carry Roy Williams pads either. Dudes washed up and never gave anything after he got paid. Dez Bryant is gonna blow up.. you watch. (and this is coming from a cowboy hater).
If we are going to analyze what his refusal to be hazed means, maybe the coach would look at it that Bryant is finally willing to think for himself instead of just following whatever his teammates tell him to do. Just doing whatever other people (especially teammates) tell you is a great way to get yourself in trouble off the field. He's gone through plenty of that in his life.
If I'm Dez Bryant, and I'm competing against someone for the same spot, I'm not losing face by carrying his pads.
it's not about "who is the better receiver." would you feel the same way if it weren't another wide receiver? if it was tony romo? or some veteran defensive player?
Here's a quote from someone who was close to the OSU football program and also a DALLAS Cowboys season ticket holder, from an OSU board:
i have a hard time considering this "hazing". Although it does fit the bill striclty speaking i typically think as hazing to be a little more serious than something to ridiculously stupid and minor as this (granted, a lot of it depends on if Roy was doing it in a big dick way or not). If Dez was so concerned with building cohesion with the WRs, he would have laughed it off and grabed the pads with a little joke like..."sure thing old man" Rather, he's created the opportunity of awkwardness. I dont think this represents him badly, per se, but it does create a potential issue that was never there before
I agree. That's why I said that this reflects more on his maturity, and his way of handling things in the professional world. I don't think this should be misconstrued as a diva act in any way, but the national media are already running with this little side story (partly because they probably have nothing else to talk about) and pretending to know everything about Dez based on this , as if this is the premonition of him becoming the next T.O. or something
Speaking of hair, I remember when Cushing entered the league with his long ass hair as part of his rookie hazing the team made him shave it off and gave him the "Cush Hawk." Carrying someones pads is nothing. Love watching this Diva crap from the Cowboys though. I cant wait till Dez gets to meet Bernard Pollard in week 3.
Upstart. Look, it's silly, but it's not going to hurt you, and everyone understands it. Ask Sam Cassell if he had to do it. It's not just football. You don't just come in to a new team and act like you're better than the rest of them, and if you refuse a couple of the simple rituals that everyone else in the league has gone by just because "you don't think things should be like that" then you are acting like you're better than them, and will nurture feelings in some of your teammates, if not all, that you think you shouldn't have to do the things they did to be part of that team. Silly or not, he has just put himself in a bad position with his teammates, and technically, the entire league. Ask Chan Ho Park what it means when you refuse to accept the hazing of the vets. It separates you. It shows you're too sensitive to take one for the team without question. It shows you lack humility. It also shows shortsightedness for someone who will need to learn something from the vets. And anyone that thinks Dez can't learn anything from Roy Williams, as well as the rest of the team, about playing in the NFL, doesn't get it. I can see that perhaps Williams may have (a source close to huh? whatever) handled it poorly, and that some have a certain lack of respect for him since getting here, but it's not about who's better, or establishing a pecking order. He shoulda just carried the pads and smiled, knowing they're giving him a chance to fit in, whether it was handled well or not, whether he agreed with it or not. Good luck on your new team, rook. He may never know what he might have learned from someone had he just carried the pads. Now they have every reason to think "He already knows it all, and didn't want to do what was asked of him when it was ridiculously simple and symbolic. How can we expect he'll be selfless and put the team first in other situations, when it counts, when it isn't silly, when it isn't simple?"
How awkward it must be to be the best player on your team and to go through the rookie 'hazing' (Durant and Rose some examples).
Awkward? It has nothing to do with skill level. In fact, I would say that the hazing purpose would be better served if it were handed out by the worst vets on the team.
Apparently Shane told Joey to get him a bowl of a single colored M&Ms(don't remember the color) when Joey was a rookie.
Except his teammates don't seem to care outside of Roy Williams. And the rest of the league probably couldn't care less either.
