Well, that didn't take long.
Four days into his Dallas Cowboys' career Dez Bryant started blaming that damned ol' media for his mistakes. Be patient Dez, your Diva Club card is being laminated as we speak.
Bryant, whom I wholly endorsed on draft day and who has dazzled on the field at training camp in San Antonio, made a mistake when he refused to carry veteran Roy Williams' shoulder pads off the field Sunday. No biggie, but an oops.
Dez could've diffused the scenario and endeared himself to teammates, media and fans. Like say, I dunno, grabbing an equipment truck at The Alamodome yesterday, gathering up the pads of receivers Williams, Miles Austin, Sam Hurd and Patrick Crayton and driving into the locker-room tunnel with a big grin. He would've made a funny memory out of the incident, and we wouldn't be talking about it today.
Of course, as I've heard all week, Dez should keep it real and be no one's little bitch. Right?
Instead, Dez took the cowardly, crappy way out.
1. He first dodged the media.
2. Then he blamed it.
I don't think it will prevent Bryant from catching a single pass in the NFL, but his refusal to carry Roy's pads smacks of an ego so big that he also refuses to conform to the traditions of a winning team.
But blaming the media...He may be a special player, but so far he's just another receiver with big talent and grandiose self-importance.
Let's dissect Bryant's statements after Tuesday morning's practice:
"You're trying to turn us against each other, but it's not going to happen." -- Really? If you would've picked up Williams' pads in the first place I guarantee it wouldn't have been a story at all.
"No, I didn't know nothing about no tradition." -- Liar.
"The only thing that bothers me is when I try to do something right, you all try to turn it negative." -- Remind us again what it was that you've tried to do right. Buck an NFL training-camp tradition that's decades older than you are?
"I'm trying my best to do the right thing. But it seems like I can't do the right thing, because every little thing that I do, you all watch it and try to make a huge deal out of it." -- Need a tissue? You jackwagon!
"It was never an issue. The media made it an issue. It was never nothing." --100 percent bullshit. If it wasn't an issue, why did team leaders Jason Witten and Keith Brooking say it was addressed in the locker room on Monday? Pretty sure the Cowboys aren't in the business of addressing media-manufactured "nothing."
As for Cowboys' fans who'll scream "Leave Dez alone!", I thought you were better than that. You have your silver-n-blue panties in a bunch, and I don't get it.
When the New Orleans Saints claim to be the "new America's Team" you clamor for the Dallas media to take up arms and defend its team. But when Dez tramples on protocol you clamor that it's a non-story because, after all, "it's not about football." Last time I checked, team monikers don't make field goals either.
Sorry, can't have it both ways.
Dez goofed up. But his real mistake was compounding it. He'll learn -- just ask Michael Irvin -- blaming the media never works. Funny how DeMarcus Ware never blames us.
