For once, I found myself agreeing with egomaniac wide receiver. And I thought that merited it's own article in and of itself. Dez Bryant, the Dallas Cowboys first round pick from last April's draft, angrily reacted to teammate Roy Williams' demand to carry his pads, stating "I'm not doing it. I feel like I was drafted to play football, not carry another player's pads."
Usually hazing is generally funny or light-hearted, resulting in rookies paying for dinners or buying donuts for the team. And to me that is okay, especially if one is that rookie who gets the JaMarcus Russell type contract without playing a down.
But the whole carrying pads thing or taping the player up to the goal post for general embarrassment purposes is ridiculous. When ESPN analyst Mark Schlereth defended the practices this morning his sole defense was just to say that's how it's always been done. If tradition was society's sole paradigm for acceptable social practices, well, progress would be as undefinable a word as love.
So bravo Dez Bryant, thank you for taking a stand on an important issue. Hazing in the NFL is just silly.
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