Two WRs both leave the field before the game is over, but one has been repeatedly slammed, while the other was given a pass. Why is that?
Let’s go to the videos first.
You know the expression “Life isn’t fair”? Well, neither is media. In an ideal world, two equal actions (I would even say Andre Johnson’s was worse, because he yelled at Schaub and then left the field) would be reported consistently, regardless of your personal opinion of the player. The fact you like Johnson doesn’t change the fact he walked off the field. The fact that it is out of character (I even question that because he is someone he beat up a man on the field, so you could say he has anger issues) doesn’t make it any less wrong or right. Your job is not to make excuses, but to be consistent in your reporting.
If you didn’t have a problem with Johnson walking off, you wouldn’t have a problem with Dez walking off and vice versa, but that isn’t happening with the majority of media. I don’t expect fans to be fair and unbiased, but I do expect media members to be.
But since you know this isn’t an ideal world, life isn’t fair and the media are terribly biased in this new Skiptized world, I have some advice for Dez Bryant.
He needs to realize what “World” he is living in. He is in a world that has a 24/7 “Dez Cam”, a world that anything a Dallas Cowboys player does is magnified 10x, a world where he won’t get the benefit of the doubt and a world where people are hoping he blows up. This is a world that Andre Johnson doesn’t live in, so it is easy for him to have a slip up and have people move on from it. It is the same reasons Adrian Peterson gets passes that say a Chris Johnson wouldn’t.
Dez’s blow ups are good for business, ratings, views and etc. I am not hypocrite, when Dez does something newsworthy in a negative way, the numbers spike, including mine. Andre Johnson not so much, so it is downplayed or completely ignored by mainstream media.
It is the same problem that Terrell Owens had for many years and like Owens a lot of Dez’s perception problems are his own doing, but what he needs to do now is minimize the potential damage going forward. I know he is emotional and I never got the feeling he is purposefully trying to damage his reputation or the team, but he has to understand he is living under a different set of rules.
There will always be individuals who call it straight and treat all athletes the same regardless of their reputation, but that is just the minority, the majority will pile on, so they can have a good first take.
The sooner Dez understands this, the sooner he will be able to keep himself out of the line of fire.