I'm surprised just how little attention this is receiving. Maybe I missed it and there's another thread on this but Nelson's "victory lap" bothers me almost as much as Terrell Owens celebrating on the star at midfield.
I've had a day to reflect on how I feel about it and I thought that maybe after a few hours my opinion would change but it hasn't. If you want to give a ball to your girlfriend that's fine, do it on your own time after the game. To take a victory lap around 3/4 of the home team's stadium (AND publicly objectify your significant other like that) is pretty uncalled for. Especially when it's only the first quarter and you're already down by 14 points. I don't know if this was Nelson's attempted gridiron representation of an invading soldier claiming a wife from the conquered land but I think it's pretty obvious that he was playing to the cameras. Normally I'm opposed to the barrage of fines levied out by the league each week but in this case I hope there's a sizable portion of his paycheck missing.
What bothers me most is that a stunt like this was discussed earlier in the week which leads me to believe that his girlfriend had a pretty good idea that it was going to happen. If she truly valued her position as a member of the Cowboys cheerleading squad she should have told her boyfriend during the week that she didn't feel this was in her best interest. I want the players, cheerleaders and staff to feel as passionate about the team as the most dedicated fans. It irks me when I see players joking and yucking it up with the opposing team after a loss the same way it irks me to see this young lady proudly clutching the ball and preening for the camera while wearing a Cowboys uniform that's arguably more recognizable then the players uniforms. Jerry Jones has a reputation of being unreasonable but I give him a lot of credit for the patience he is exhibiting here. If it had been me, she wouldn't have made it through the game. I would have told her to hit the showers and clean out her locker at halftime.
