Zeke vs. Dallas Media

[waving monkey]

Was thinking the same thing. Not sure but think DC media relations should have gotten out in front of this one with a statement for or with Zeke aside before subjecting him to the locker-room media blitz. Perhaps not Jerry but a short press conference with DC director telling the press there are limited questions Zeke can answer and he's moving on so please respect his privacy and space. Zeke was doing his best surrounded by the cockroaches and obviously a little overwhelmed. Not sure but a statement with some controllable questions to DC relations and Zeke may have softened the blow in both directions. Just sayin.

Just sayin your right
It's a fail on the DC PR department

 

[DenCWBY]

Now you are including your personal feelings about the media in this. It seems you have little respect for them, It's clear you wish to give Zeke's bad behavior a pass which is exactly how it gets perpetuated. Congrats on being part of the problem.

Really?? So the media is now our judicial system and the medium for which we all should think or judge? Is that what your saying?

 

[diefree666]

It's not a high horse at all. It's reality.

And what does being petted and protected as a big high school and college athlete have to do with this? Are you actually stating that some of his decisions are excusable because he was a pampered high school and college athlete?

You serious?

well if you did not know that already then you are seriously uneducated on the reality of football from High School on up. Excusable; not really but understandable. You seem to be unable to grasp that difference

 

[diefree666]

Now you are including your personal feelings about the media in this. It seems you have little respect for them, It's clear you wish to give Zeke's bad behavior a pass which is exactly how it gets perpetuated. Congrats on being part of the problem.

what has the media done to deserve any of this respect you want to give it?

 

[DenCWBY]

So let me see if I get this right.

Zeke was suspended by the league for something that was never proven. His suspension was not a unanimous decision by the league but by two executives only. With the lead investigator suggesting no suspension be handed down. And at no time was his team of attorneys ever allowed to question the plaintiff, who had witnesses which suggested she was lying.

He fought the suspension as long as he could until it came to a point he no longer could throw money at it because the ultimate outcome would be him sitting for 6 games. Even though he still to this day has not been proven to have done anything wrong.

He sits out his suspension. He takes his unjust punishment and stays silent on it. He works out, and is in terrific shape so it would appear. He is ready to play, focused, and happy to be back with his football family. All his comments since returning have indicated he is a loyal Dallas Cowboy, ready to go into battle, and maybe write a happier ending to this season and chapter if things break right.

Now what happens.

The press asks him about the suspension and what he did when he was away. He very pleasantly stated that is behind him and he wanted to move forward. He asked them kindly to just get past this time and move on. So like the press does, they reframe their questions to be innocuous, and open a door where he will talk about it. He again said he did not wish to speak about this. He took another question which had to do with the time off and he suggested he was ready to speak about the Seattle Seahawks. Then he was asked a leading question which was again meant to open the door to the time off. He ended the press conference.

So here is late breaking news for some of you.

He owes us no explanation about the past six weeks. Just because we are fans does not entitle us to open that wound. He surely still has a bit of animosity about being set down for something he states emphatically he did not do. No telling how much revenue he has lost over a decision by Goodell with no....NO evidence proving he is anything but a young high spirited guy who likes women.

He does not owe the press a story. Even though we get our information through the press, and they get paid for getting that information, he simply did not wish to dredge this up again. We as fans and the press in general do not have any dominion over Zeke and he owes us nothing. Hell. most of us only watch the game on TV, and outside of perhaps cable or satellite TV, we pay very little to see him perform. We have a stake in his career only because he is a Dallas Cowboy. But that entitles us to no information about this past suspension. None what so ever.

He paid his price, served his time, lost wages and revenue, and no telling how much money in his post football career because of this injustice. He owes us nothing.

He ended the press conference by saying it was over. That was not immature. He stated it and turned away. The press will be there again today and tomorrow. And when he has an exceptional game against the Seahawks, they will gather around him.

This questions still will be asked and he will not answer them. But ultimately there will be a point when the journalists and media will stop bugging him because they will lose access in the future.

But to be sure there will be a high octane journalist that will get a one on one interview with him during the off season and will attempt to befriend Zeke and try and dredge this up. "So Zeke can have the final word and tell his side." I do not see Zeke as a dumb athlete. So my thinking is he will see through this charade and thank the journalist to move on.

You will hear people on the radio and on TV like Dale Hansen who will preach from their soapboxes and bully pulpits as if they give a rat's ankle about Zeke. They will castigate him, much like Hansen did Barry Switzer. They only care about the story and the salaciousness of its content. This is now the gotcha press whose heartfelt stories are cats caught in trees and firemen getting them down. Otherwise these people wait like hunters to pounce on prey, only to rend them into a bloody pulp so the journalist gets hits on the interwebs, and his or her story gets picked up nationally.

Zeke owes us nothing. And the people here who are railing on him because he wants this to be about football and not his personal life have the luxury of not being front page news whenever you people screw up. You are anonymous.

He's just one lost soul
swimming in a fish bow
year after year
running over the same old ground
what have we found
the same old fear
wish you were here

Those lyrics just became crystal clear for me. Wish you were here to see this as I see it. Live through it as live through it.

Sorry, I disgress

This is not him being childish or petulant. This is Zeke ending the discussion about the events that lead to the suspension. the suspension itself, and the time he was away from football. Nothing more.

He wishes to no longer be the focal point of the press on the Dallas Cowboys in any way other than tearing the Seattle Seahawks a new rear end. And that is not childish. That is wisdom.

Being in the press gives them no rights to personal issues. Even when they spill across the football page in the paper. Neither does it give us fans rights. The guy is moving on.

2 Deep. You post way too little around here. Miss this type of perspective. Thanks

 

[Sydla]

well if you did not know that already then you are seriously uneducated on the reality of football from High School on up. Excusable; not really but understandable. You seem to be unable to grasp that difference

It's really not understandable because there are hundreds of pampered high school and college players that don't make bad decisions or show a lack of maturity. Essentially you are giving him a pass by trying to provide cover for him using the "pampered college kid" angle.

It's a lame line of thinking. There is nothing or no one to blame for some immature decisions............ that's all on Elliott and as a professional athlete, the media is going to question you on those matters. It's the reality of being a professional athlete and a real consequence of making dumb decisions.

 

[viman96]

You are so wrong! He gets paid to perform! That’s it!

I could be mistaken but I believe the team has to make players available to the media if they are requested to be interviewed. That could be only on game days? The players though are not obligated to discuss their personal life.

 

[JoeKing]

Really?? So the media is now our judicial system and the medium for which we all should think or judge? Is that what your saying?

Nope, that's not what I am saying. Zeke has a perception problem with the public. By being so standoffish with the media, he is giving the perception credence. The first step to fixing any problem is admitting you have a problem. When the people around Zeke give him a pass, they are making it very difficult for him to even take that first step.

 

[JoeKing]

what has the media done to deserve any of this respect you want to give it?

The media shouldn't even be part of this story. They are just doing a job. But when you disrespect them when they are just doing their job, YOU make them part of the story. In this case the "YOU" is Zeke. Zeke will never solve his public perception problem by disrespecting the media. It's really not even about respecting the media, it's about having enough respect for himself to be the good person he really is rather than feeding the bad guy public perception that the media portrays him to be.

 

[diefree666]

The media shouldn't even be part of this story. They are just doing a job. But when you disrespect them when they are just doing their job, YOU make them part of the story. In this case the "YOU" is Zeke. Zeke will never solve his public perception problem by disrespecting the media. It's really not even about respecting the media, it's about having enough respect for himself to be the good person he really is rather than feeding the bad guy public perception that the media portrays him to be.

oh bs. they act like whiny cry babies and you defend them

 

[diefree666]

Nope, that's not what I am saying. Zeke has a perception problem with the public. By being so standoffish with the media, he is giving the perception credence. The first step to fixing any problem is admitting you have a problem. When the people around Zeke give him a pass, they are making it very difficult for him to even take that first step.

no he does not have a problem. you have a problem that he is not licking the medias feet

 

[diefree666]

I could be mistaken but I believe the team has to make players available to the media if they are requested to be interviewed. That could be only on game days? The players though are not obligated to discuss their personal life.

exactly.

 

[diefree666]

It's really not understandable because there are hundreds of pampered high school and college players that don't make bad decisions or show a lack of maturity. Essentially you are giving him a pass by trying to provide cover for him using the "pampered college kid" angle.

It's a lame line of thinking. There is nothing or no one to blame for some immature decisions............ that's all on Elliott and as a professional athlete, the media is going to question you on those matters. It's the reality of being a professional athlete and a real consequence of making dumb decisions.

you take a hard look at the very cream at the top; the first rd top 10 picks year in and year out and you will find quite a few like Zeke who have not yet grown up enough.

 

[JoeKing]

oh bs. they act like whiny cry babies and you defend them

Your flippant response is part of the reason Zeke still has a public perception problem. I guarantee you the people around Zeke are feeding him with the same attitude the you have right now.

 

[DallasEast]

The media has every right to ask questions. It is the obligation of the media to obtain information and disseminate it to the public. Some questioning may lack relevance or is unnecessarily repetitive though. It is unfortunate that unnecessarily badgering someone is found acceptable in certain quarters. However, what is unacceptable is the belief that someone must answer the media's questions without objection. A 'court of public opinion' is not an actual court of law, which is the only place anyone can or should be forced to answer in the fashion that the person posing questions wants to hear.

Mediaheads are not prosecutors. When a mediahead asks someone a question and that person says no, the person saying no cannot be forced by the mediahead to say yes. It is insane. It is like mediaheads feel as if questioning is conducted after the interviewee has been sworn in under oath to answer truthfully and completely. What would be refreshing is seeing mediaheads consider the question they are asking and intelligently constructing a different question based on the answer previously given--which will often mean not simply changing a word or two and blurting out the same question as before.

/rant

 

[JoeKing]

no he does not have a problem. you have a problem that he is not licking the medias feet

Your denial he has a problem is a problem.

 

[Ring6]

And the title of this post is wrong. I haven’t heard one thing from any other media outlet or journalist complaining about Zeke not wanting to talk about it. Just one shock jock idiot!

Cowboys break spent 2/3 of their show talking about it instead of talking about football. Usually that show is ok but it just goes to show you how much they think they are the story.

 

[risco]

Are you kidding? The dude is trying to move on and the media got butthurt he didnt want to talk about it. If anything, they're the ones being childish.

True That!!!

 

[Sydla]

you take a hard look at the very cream at the top; the first rd top 10 picks year in and year out and you will find quite a few like Zeke who have not yet grown up enough.

Really?

Let's take Elliott's draft class.

Goff, Wentz, Bosa, Elliott, Ramsey, Stanley, Buckner, Conklin, Floyd, Apple.

Other than Apple, who else has shown poor decision making off the field after entering the NFL?

You overstate your position.

 

[viman96]

Nope, that's not what I am saying. Zeke has a perception problem with the public. By being so standoffish with the media, he is giving the perception credence. The first step to fixing any problem is admitting you have a problem. When the people around Zeke give him a pass, they are making it very difficult for him to even take that first step.

He was not standoffish as you state.

Growing up we heard there is no such thing as a stupid question. That is wrong. Why? The repeated question is the stupid question. Just like the media did with Zeke. Do not believe me? Go ask your boss something. Wait for the response. Ask again. Rephrase and ask again. And again.