On Tuesday afternoon, ESPN Dallas reporter Calvin Watkins published a piece about Dez Bryant. And while the piece wasn't really all that inflammatory with regards to Bryant, it did feature a bunch of rules that the Cowboys still apparently make Bryant follow. The rules were created back in 2012 after the wide receiver got into some pretty serious trouble for allegedly assaulting his own mother. And according to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, those rules are still on the books.
"He doesn't need to drop his guard," Jones said at the NFL owners meeting earlier this week. "In some respect, none of us do."
The rules say that Bryant can't stay out past midnight. They also say that Bryant can't have any alcohol and that he can't go to strip clubs. And they also say that Bryant has to basically be tended to 24/7 by a security guard that is paid for by the Cowboys. The rules essentially indicate that Bryant is incapable of taking care of himself.
So when Watkins wrote his piece for ESPN Dallas, Bryant was, understandably, not happy. But rather than contacting Watkins directly to speak about the rules or ignoring the article and stewing in silence, Bryant called Watkins out on—what else?—Twitter. He sent him this angry tweet:
The tweet has since been deleted. But because he chose to respond in that way, Bryant has found himself in hot water again. And what he's basically done here is taken an article that probably would have gotten overlooked otherwise and turned it into a really big deal. So while we don't blame him for being upset about it, he inadvertently just hurt himself and his reputation by responding to the piece in such a negative way.
Is "Don't use Twitter" going to be Bryant's next rule? After this, maybe.
RELATED: The Most Awkward Athlete-Reporter Interactions in Sports History
[via Black Sports Online]
