Born and raised in South Jersey and growing up wearing a McNabb jersey, you already know how I feel about the Cowboys. Jerry Jones makes me cringe and don't even get me started about Tony Romo. I'm not even sure why I'm going on about this because, let's be honest, they ain't winning anyway.
However, I do have a serious problem with this Greg Hardy character and that is precisely the problem: his character. The 27-year-old defensive end for Dallas was absent from the game for over a year prior to this season due to charges of assaulting his former girlfriend and threatening to kill her. According to testimonies given by Hardy's former girlfriend, he physically threw her around his apartment, slammed her arm with the lid of the toilet seat, dragged her by her hair, and threatened to kill her with a variety of rifles he had in his possession. Charming. After being dropped by the Carolina Panthers due to these charges, he was picked up by the Dallas Cowboys by some sort of miracle in terms of his career. Although one would think that an experience like this would serve as a serious wake-up call, his idiotic decisions did not stop there.
Prior to his return to the 2015 season, Hardy publicly made inexplicably vulgar comments about Tom Brady's wife, even using the term "guns blazing" during his rant. Mr. Hardy, due to your recent criminal history, this was probably not the wisest choice of words. Further more, once on the field with the Cowboys, Hardy reportedly slapped a clipboard out of the hands of a special teams' coach and continued to shove him on the sidelines. Really? You have about a foot of height and 100 pounds over this 56-year-old man and you're going to push him? Pick on someone your own size.
That's all fine and good, but what is worse to me is the fact that these actions are not only allowed, but encouraged. The public nuisance and poster child for idiocy that is Greg Hardy is now in the works for an extension with the Dallas Cowboys. The only person stupid enough to let this happen would be none other than Jerry Jones, and he is indeed letting it happen. The owner/general manager has recently spoken out about how Hardy is a team leader and will be offered an extension to his contract to further serve as a big, bad, stupid leader to this team.
What does this say about the Cowboys as an organization? Clearly, neither the general manager nor the head coach has any respect for their coaching staff or other players that could be, and have been, effected by this out-of-control behavior. They are mindlessly gushing over the greatness of the menace that is Greg Hardy, while neither has made one comment about his attempted assault of an assistant coach. Furthermore, there seems to be absolutely no regards for the type of person that a player should be. These men in the National Football League play on a national stage and are supported by thousands of young fans, those who see professionals as role models. Do you want your child to look up to an individual who has nothing but air in between his ears? I didn't think so. However, the Dallas organization sees this to be perfectly fine.
I am a firm believer in second chances, and I feel as if this is what Dallas had given Hardy when they signed him after his charges. However, third and fourth chances are hard to give when someone doesn't learn, or even pretend to learn, from his "mistakes." Those who run the Cowboys have no standards and are simply encouraging harmful actions of this disgraceful "leader." As long as they keep losing, they can hire as many big bad criminals as they want, but I will not be supporting them.
