Dallas Cowboys: Dez Bryant stays positive amidst boycott criticism

ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 27: Dez Bryant #88 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates his touchdown against the Washington Redskins during the first half at AT&T Stadium on October 27, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TX - OCTOBER 27: Dez Bryant #88 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates his touchdown against the Washington Redskins during the first half at AT&T Stadium on October 27, 2014 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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A friendly twitter jab by Dallas Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant to a pizza joint waitress somehow led to him being called out for what he doesn’t boycott.

Dallas Cowboys All-Pro wide receiver Dez Bryant has always been a target for negative attacks on and off the field. Earlier this week, he tipped a pizza waitress $75 in which I would hope she was grateful, but she made it clear on twitter that she still hated the Cowboys.

Bryant then clearly jokingly replied to her that he wouldn’t be dining at that particular Blaze Pizza location again, adding a laughing emoji to further support he was joking.

Just Dez and an anti-Cowboys fan exchanging friendly online stabs at each other. But it didn’t take long for someone to escalate the friendly exchange into criticism of what Bryant particularly isn’t protesting during games.

That someone, ESPN host Jemele Hill, slid in her own critical tweet at Dez insinuating hypocrisy that he will stand up against a pizza place but won’t use his platform to take a stand against the widespread racism that has hit this country hard these last few years.

It just got silly from there. Hill then tweeted out that she was also joking but that there’s truth in every joke. I don’t see how something that serious could be a joking matter, especially when you’re publicly attacking someone for not doing something you would like them to do. She’s been especially critical of his responses lately of his feelings towards the protests of the national anthem.

Which is pretty unfair considering he’s heavily expressed that the protests by some players around the league are not wrong, but quite the opposite actually. He wants people to do what they feel and stand (or kneel) by their beliefs.

But Dez stood his ground in the twitter battle and maintained his stance of being a positive influence. For that I fist bump him. Criticize him all you want, but Dez does a lot for those around him.

"“I love who I am. I stand for what I believe. You know. I believe in making people smile.. I like to see people happy. I think people should enjoy themselves. I think people should live. You know. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion.” – Dez Bryant when asked if he feels pressure of proving himself on his beliefs via DallasCowboys.com August 24th, 2017."

I wish more people would hear this man talk. How can you knock a guy for trying to be a positive influence? In the same interview above, he goes on to explain that he wants to lead by example in a positive way, and he’s proven that.

He’s proven that by throwing a massive barbeque last month for his hometown of Lufkin, Texas in which he reportedly spent around $16,000. He’s proven it by bringing a 9-year-old birthday boy out of the stands in Oxnard, California to play a game of catch in which the boy was brought to tears.

Even his signature celebration of throwing up the ‘X’ is partially another one of his ways of ‘X-ing’ out negativity in his life.

I wrote a piece on Dez a few weeks ago on how he is a monumental piece on why the Cowboys bond like a family now. That’s his way of doing things. All positive.

He’s even hinted that he has something bigger and better planned later this season for his hometown, and he’s doing it all because he wants to be a positive icon.

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It’s a very touchy subject talking about the anthem protests, and Dez knows that. If he chooses to stand over kneeling and do other things outsides of football that brings smiles to people’s faces, I don’t see how anyone could dismiss that.

Dez just wants to do things his way and people should respect that.