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So, Dez Bryant refused to carry Roy “Visor-Hands” Williams’ (or anyone else’s) pads. First of all, Roy shouldn’t even have been leaving the practice field with Dez. Roy’s sorry ass should have STAYED on the field another couple of hours, running routes and catching (and dropping) many balls. Heck…Roy should live in a tent on the practice field so he’d have no reason to ever leave. If anything, Roy should be begging to carry Dez’ bags, hoping some of Dez’ DNA might drip on Roy in the form of Dez’ sweat.

The world is filled with long time-honored traditions that are simply cases of one set of humans hiding behind “tradition”, “unwritten rules”, “team work”, etc as excuses to demean, abuse, take advantage of, and/or dominate another set of humans. In other words, that this crap has gone on for 60 years in the NFL, simply makes it just one more giant piece of USELESS BULLSHIT amongst a world chock full of USELESS BULLSHIT.

Pro athletes are grown-ass millionaires, not broke-ass, immature high school students who have to find thrills via put-downs. Pro athletes have plenty of avenues in which to get their egos (or body parts ) stroked or to look down on someone without hazing or demeaning their own team mates.

Wanna build team work? How about EVERYONE showing EVERYONE else on the team, RESPECT. How about EVERYONE on the team taking turns carrying each others pads. How about EVERYONE on the team taking turns bringing each other a cup of Gatorade. How about EVERYONE sharing in the trials as well as the fun of being on a team. If it’s so funny, why not have everyone get a good laugh? I know….TOO radical a concept.

I studied martial arts under the tutelage of a Sensai who had been trained by an Asian Sensai. Thus, my Sensai taught martial arts vis a’ vis Asian culture. Asian culture comprises a far different…and in my opinion…better philosophy of building team work and character.

In Asian culture, the superior does not abuse the subordinate. The Sempai (teacher) does not demean the kohai (student). The higher-ranked belts do not haze the lower-ranked belts. In all of the aforementioned cases, it is the upper-echelon who first serve the lower echelon. It is the superior fighter/teacher who, while will put the student thru hard, vigorous training, teaches and protects the lesser fighter/student.

The superior asks nothing of the student that s/he will not still do (not just once did) themselves. My Sensai used to make me go get him water. But he’d also, many times, bring me some…just because he knew I was thirsty following a rigorous routine…and would bow to me before handing it to me. In doing so, he showed me respect, taught me respect, and demonstrated to me how to SHOW and RECEIVE respect, while always maintaining a sense of honor but with a clear definition of who was the superior and who was the subordinate. Do that and you can’t help but develop team work and a sense of belonging to something special…with team mates who are special.

To Sensai James Foley…Origato Gozaimashta!

To Dez Bryant…You GO Boyeeeee…Keep calling & exposing traditional bullshit for what it is…BULLSHIT!

To Roy Williams & all other bass-ackwards full-of-shit traditionalists…Go run into a wall about 20 times in a row, head first, with or without a helmet (preferably without)…and then don’t see a doctor. Great tradition! And then….GROW THE FUG UP!

Reg DeVone is co-owner/admin: Sports Jabber.

http://forums.sportsjabber.net/sjforums/showthread.php?t=59572