Baby sitting rules for professional athletes

[Bob Hunter]

The Dallas Cowboys set up a baby sitting service for their star wide receiver, Dez Bryant. The rules are as follows:

1. Midnight curfew and no alcohol
   
2. Can’t attend strip clubs and may only attend nightclubs that are team approved.
   
3. Must attend counseling twice a week
   
4. Rotating 3 man security team will monitor Dez Bryant 24 hours a day in 8 hour shifts.
   
5. Security will drive Dez Bryant to and from team activities

Should professional teams take these measures? It seems to me that if a player cannot stay out of off-field trouble, then maybe they need to get a job at Wal-mart instead of making millions.

I'm not even sure this kind of babysitting program can work. It is basically sin management that doesn't really produce inward change in a person's heart.

Thoughts? Comments?

[Ryan Scott]

I heard they put the rules in place because he was having trouble paying his bills and taking care of his family. I imagine he may even have had something to do with them - not to the extent that Josh Hamilton does with the Rangers, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

[Benjamin Burch]

Dez has no ceiling. The guy is so talented. Why should the Cowboys not utilize their resources to protect and aid an investment as large as he might be worth if he can produce? This is sports. It is what it is.

[Bob Hunter]

Dez has no ceiling. The guy is so talented. Why should the Cowboys not utilize their resources to protect and aid an investment as large as he might be worth if he can produce? This is sports. It is what it is.

So we should be in the business of babysitting an athlete that should know better? Whatever happened to responsibility? Hard lessons?

This is enabling Dez Bryant. And I have yet to see where forced counseling is really going to work. I'm just slightly skeptical...

[Benjamin Burch]

So we should be in the business of babysitting an athlete that should know better? Whatever happened to responsibility? Hard lessons?

This is enabling Dez Bryant. And I have yet to see where forced counseling is really going to work. I'm just slightly skeptical...

Being skeptical is one thing. However, "the business of" isn't really a phrase that has much meaning here. Sports is a business of profits. Profits come from two things:

(1) Exciting play
(2) Winning

Dez offers a good chance at both in big D, and Jerry Jones is going to invest in that. If that requires some extra investments, Jerry is well within his rights as a business owner and employer to do so. It might backfire on him. That's his choice, though.

[Ryan Scott]

It's good someone is helping learn some boundaries and responsibility; he certainly hasn't gotten it anywhere else. We criticize owners for not caring about the players well-being, we shouldn't criticize them when they take steps to look after it.

[Bob Hunter]

It's good someone is helping learn some boundaries and responsibility; he certainly hasn't gotten it anywhere else. We criticize owners for not caring about the players well-being, we shouldn't criticize them when they take steps to look after it.

But these guys get paid millions of dollars to have the owners who cut their paychecks babysit them? My attitude is that if you pay millions of dollars to an athlete then they better be able to take care of themselves or they won't get paid. If I were an owner, I would not pay for Dez Bryant's babysitting. He needed to institute the help and pay for it himself, not a team owner. He is having it done for him. He has no choice, do it or get cut.

[Jim Franklin]

Is Dez a man or a child. Your discription makes one wonder. Where are his parents? It's 10 o'clock, do you know where your child is?

[Nate Pruitt]

I don't even recognize the Cowboy organization anymore... what happened to the days of the house full of cocaine and, um, "women of ill-repute"?

[Jim Poteet]

The Dallas Cowboys set up a baby sitting service for their star wide receiver, Dez Bryant. The rules are as follows:

1. Midnight curfew and no alcohol
   
2. Can’t attend strip clubs and may only attend nightclubs that are team approved.
   
3. Must attend counseling twice a week
   
4. Rotating 3 man security team will monitor Dez Bryant 24 hours a day in 8 hour shifts.
   
5. Security will drive Dez Bryant to and from team activities

Should professional teams take these measures? It seems to me that if a player cannot stay out of off-field trouble, then maybe they need to get a job at Wal-mart instead of making millions.

I'm not even sure this kind of babysitting program can work. It is basically sin management that doesn't really produce inward change in a person's heart.

Thoughts? Comments?

This is part of the reason I have no interest in the NFL.

[Jim Poteet]

Dez has no ceiling. The guy is so talented. Why should the Cowboys not utilize their resources to protect and aid an investment as large as he might be worth if he can produce? This is sports. It is what it is.

Yes, Dez has a ceiling. It is at the top of his neck.

[Mike Schutz]

This is likely unusual for the NFL, but it is rather common in the NBA, as they draft 18 year old kids that would be receiving similar type of rules if they were freshmen on campus.

[Mike Schutz]

But these guys get paid millions of dollars to have the owners who cut their paychecks babysit them? My attitude is that if you pay millions of dollars to an athlete then they better be able to take care of themselves or they won't get paid. If I were an owner, I would not pay for Dez Bryant's babysitting. He needed to institute the help and pay for it himself, not a team owner. He is having it done for him. He has no choice, do it or get cut.

Bob, You are confusing me. If the Cowboys know he has never received the type of disciplinary training necessary to internalize such behavior control, what should they do?
Sorry to sound like the preacher that both of us are, but the story of God giving the Ten Commandments was a wonderful illustration of teaching people who had not been in control of their lives for ten generations that this is how free people live - with boundaries and good choices that affirm God, themselves, their family and their community. Obviously, Bryant has made bad choices, but he has also been prepared poorly for his life as a person with the financial means to satisfy all of his carnal urges. Helping him learn those boundaries and some personal discipline is exactly the right thing to do. They are trying to create the best possible environment for him to succeed. It sounds as if you are suggesting that they should offer no guidance, but just punish him when he messes up.

[John Reilly]

The Dallas Cowboys set up a baby sitting service for their star wide receiver, Dez Bryant. The rules are as follows:

1. Midnight curfew and no alcohol
   
2. Can’t attend strip clubs and may only attend nightclubs that are team approved.
   
3. Must attend counseling twice a week
   
4. Rotating 3 man security team will monitor Dez Bryant 24 hours a day in 8 hour shifts.
   
5. Security will drive Dez Bryant to and from team activities

Should professional teams take these measures? It seems to me that if a player cannot stay out of off-field trouble, then maybe they need to get a job at Wal-mart instead of making millions.

I'm not even sure this kind of babysitting program can work. It is basically sin management that doesn't really produce inward change in a person's heart.

Thoughts? Comments?

I LIKE THESE RULES!!! I KNOW SOME NAZARENES THAT COULD BENEFIT FROM THIS PLAN!!!!

[Bob Hunter]

Bob, You are confusing me. If the Cowboys know he has never received the type of disciplinary training necessary to internalize such behavior control, what should they do?
Sorry to sound like the preacher that both of us are, but the story of God giving the Ten Commandments was a wonderful illustration of teaching people who had not been in control of their lives for ten generations that this is how free people live - with boundaries and good choices that affirm God, themselves, their family and their community. Obviously, Bryant has made bad choices, but he has also been prepared poorly for his life as a person with the financial means to satisfy all of his carnal urges. Helping him learn those boundaries and some personal discipline is exactly the right thing to do. They are trying to create the best possible environment for him to succeed. It sounds as if you are suggesting that they should offer no guidance, but just punish him when he messes up.

You have a point Mike. I'm for a guy like Dez Bryant getting the right kind of help, no question there. It just seems a bit over the top for an employer to provide around the clock babysitting so Bryant can go out on the field and perform. I would advise him to step away from football altogether and enter a residential treatment program designed for men, such as a teen challenge program or the like. It is very difficult to rehab a guy who is as messed up as Bryant when you also expect him to keep to a grueling NFL schedule. My advice: take the season off and get your life in order, then come back and play. Life rehabilitation is more important than scoring Touchdowns.

[Gina Stevenson]

You did mean "designed for meN" and not "designed for me," we are assuming (without the usual wariness of what assuming can sometimes mean).

[Nate Pruitt]

You did mean "designed for meN" and not "designed for me," we are assuming (without the usual wariness of what assuming can sometimes mean).

Of course he did, when is Bob not talking about something designed for men?

[Bob Hunter]

Of course he did, when is Bob not talking about something designed for men?

Hah! For sure.

Joke time:

What did God say after creating man?
I must be able to do better than that.

What did God say after He made Eve?
"Practice makes perfect."

[Gina Stevenson]

Oldie but goodie, Bob.

[Jim Franklin]

The originator of the term "WOW" was Adam when he first saw Eve. If God can do that with a spare rib just what can he do with a person who has given Him his/her entire being?