Romo's comments and his lifestyle invited the polarization. Once Aikman got through to him that what he says does matter, he backed off and stopped feeding the fire.
The other issue, and I do think it's the toughest, is Romo lacked the pedigree. He was an UDFA QB, what team has a UDFA QB as their guy? Certainly not the Dallas Cowboys. Aikman was not just a #1 pick, he was THE #1 pick from a big school and he'd already had the exposure to hone his speaking skills and he was surprisingly self aware for such a young man not to take the bait the local media dangled when he was getting battered on the field.
Romo took the bait and ran with it. There was nothing wrong with what he said unless it comes from the DC QB after a loss. But he was this guy from nowhere, he got invited to the Combine to throw to TE's and just who the hell does he thinks he is dating Carrie Underwood and Jessica Simpson and what does he do next, marries a former Miss Missouri. Just who in the hell does this "cover of People magazine" think he is, he is ringless!
One thing to consider, the internet and forums like this one and the old DC.com weren't around when Meredith and White were the DC QB's. How do they think they would have felt about "Dandy Don"? He doesn't care about football, he's always making jokes in the huddle. And how about Danny White's eyes at the los. Oh hell, the man is terrified! Then we have the swinging QB door with all of those guys passing through.
Dak is pretty keep to himself and has had the benefit of Aikman and Romo giving him some guidance on staying away from the bait. Even when the kneeling situation came up and being a black QB, he got that question. He handled that exceptionally well. He doesn't give people reasons to dislike him. He also doesn't play high risk football like Romo did which is it's own problem just waiting to happen. Romo was like his idol only Favre at least delivered one ring so he could be more easily forgiven, Romo never delivered anything but ultimate polarization. And what do you think would have happened if Romo has sent a text to that reporter like Favre did or go into rehab, would he have been forgiven as quickly as Favre?