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.
