The Story: By MJD – Yahoo Sports
Back in July, there was a big to-do about Cowboys rookie wide receiver Dez Bryant(notes) refusing to carry pads for fellow wide receiver Roy Williams. It’s tradition in the NFL that rookies perform menial chores for veteran teammates, so Bryant’s refusal drew some attention and criticism.
The mini-controversy blew over quickly. Bryant apologized, Williams accepted and everyone moved on. Williams did mention, though, that Bryant would have to pick up a dinner tab, and at the instant that Bryant refused the pad-carrying, Williams suddenly got a little hungrier and a little thirstier.
After the Cowboys beat the Texans, it was finally time for that dinner. The end result? Bryant probably wishes he’d have carried those pads. From Calvin Watkins at ESPN:
Monday night at Pappas Bros. Steakhouse, Bryant took the offensive players out, then Williams invited the defensive players and when the night was over the bill came: $54,896.
“They got the young fella,” said Bryant’s adviser David Wells. “What could he say? He had to pay it unless he wanted to wash dishes for a month.”
Players ordered basically everything on the menu and even took home bottles of wine.
Well played, Roy Williams. Not only was it a nice touch to invite the defense, but to also wait until everyone was in a celebratory and festive mood? That’s a veteran move.
Even when you factor in the number of players who attended, it still comes out to a ridiculous amount of money spent on food and drink for each person. Active game-day rosters include 45 people. Figure that some people probably skipped the festivities, and some coaches and other personnel might have been there, and we’ll guess it was around 50 people. That’s still well over $1,000 per person.
Revenge must have been delicious.
My Thoughts:
Really??? $54,896 dollars on dinner??? Really??? It’s crazy how much money is out there. This restaurant just made $54,896 in one sitting. Some people save months or even years to spend that amount of money on a down payment for a house, and some people spend that much money on a wedding. This was spent on a dinner. Now I know the “tradition” is for the Rookie to take some heat and do things for the veterans and I know Bryant was being a little bit of a spoiled brat for refusing to carry Watkins pads, but damn, he’s a rookie and he just started making the big bucks and he’s already had to dish out $54,896 (Okay so that might not be much to a person who’s possibly making millions) but it’s still a lot of money in the eyes of you and me who don’t even make that much a year haha. I guess a part of me believes he got what he deserved for not picking up slack and helping out and even though he apologized I guess the guys just wanted to teach him a lesson. But isn’t this a harsh lesson guys? I guess MJD is right:
Revenge must have been delicious. and I bet he’s wishing he would have not been so stuck up about helping carry a few pads out to the field for practice. This should be a lesson to any future rookies out there. Carry the pads, it’s cheaper than a dinner out with the boys.
xo,
kristin nicole
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