Cowboys in trouble not something new

By DENNE H. FREEMAN
AP Sports Writer

DALLAS (AP) - Cowboys in trouble have always been around this town.
Michael Irvin, Alfredo Roberts, Leon Lett, Clayton Holmes, Shante Carver and Erik Williams didn't invent bad judgment.

They are following Bob Hayes, Hollywood Henderson, Tony Dorsett, Rafael Septien and Lance Rentzel, to name a few, in the Dallas Cowboys fallen hero department.
Nowhere does the light shine as bright as it does on the Cowboys, who invented the name America's Team and reveled in it much to the disgust of anyone outside of Texas. When one of them slips, it creates a certain amount of national snickering.
Jokes are made and fingers pointed.

Irvin's indictment on two counts of drug possession had hardly cleared the wire before the anti-Cowboy jokes began. Like: "Have you heard? The Cowboys play better on grass."
It matters not that Irvin is innocent until found guilty in a court of law. He's the target of such barbs as "Irvin is no longer the Playmaker. He's about to be the Platemaker."

Other professional athletes act up and it gets a few paragraphs. Have a Cowboy get in trouble and it's national headlines.

Pittsburgh running back Bam Morris being charged with drug possession and Indianapolis linebacker Quentin Coryatt being charged for pointing a pistol at somebody doesn't sell like a Cowboy in trouble.

Hayes was one of the few professional athletes who actually served some time for breaking the law. He was found guilty of trying to sell dope to an undercover officer. Hayes said it was a setup and even had Tom Landry and Tex Schramm testify to his good character. It didn't work and Hayes did time at Huntsville.

It cost Hayes endorsements and probably a chance to ever be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame or even the Cowboys Ring of Honor.

Henderson, who also served time behind bars, even admitted he sniffed cocaine out of a nose inhaler DURING a Super Bowl. Understand, this was not before or after. This was while the game was going on. Henderson says he has gone straight and is lecturing against the evils of drug and alcohol.

It's too bad some latter day Cowboys didn't get Henderson's message. Somehow, some Dallas Cowboys think they have immunity from acting like a regular citizen.
Rentzel was a sad case. He was found guilty several times of indecent exposure and you can imagine the field day the anti-Cowboy crowd had with his troubles.

Septien was drummed out of the Cowboy corps after he got nailed on an indecency charge with a minor. Dorsett got in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service and had to get an advance on one of his contracts to bail himself out of trouble.

It was good stuff in the NFC East cities such as Washington, Philadelphia and New York. A fallen Cowboy always gets kicked when he's down.

Lett had to miss some games this year because he didn't pass the NFL drug tests. Holmes was suspended for the season and given a ticket out of Valley Ranch.

And who can forget one night after a party in which two Cowboys wrecked their cars, Williams and Carver. Williams is still recovering from damaging leg injuries and, of course, was involved in the incident with a teen-age stripper at his home that brought more pain to the Valley Ranch hierarchy.
Carver rolled his car and walked away with minor bumps and bruises.

Owner Jerry Jones has done his part to hurt the Cowboys image, according to Jim Dent in his book, "King of the Cowboys" which named names of women in Jones' company other than his wife on road trips.

Irvin's case is one of the most damaging to the Cowboys prestige. He is one of their superstars in the same class with Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith.

It's an embarrassment that he was caught by police in the same apartment with two strippers and some dope. Irvin was indicted. Roberts was cleared. Still, Roberts admitted to "bad judgment, putting my family and my friends through something like this."

Bad judgment seems to be a common thread weaving through a few of the Cowboys from the old days under Landry to the new under Jimmy Johnson and the bootlegger's boy, Barry Switzer, who had his problems with players out of control at the University of Oklahoma.

Which brings to mind the old Peter, Paul and Mary song where they ask "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?"

Apparently, some of them never will.

Back to Sports......Dallas Cowboys.....Back to Reporter OnLine