Agree 100%.

Especially a guy like him who has probably been a star athlete since at least Jr. high.

On top of that, he's a ****ing adult.

We're not taking about a Teenager anymore.

You're going to tell that somewhere along the line of growing into a man, that he didn't learn right from wrong?

Bull ****ing shit.

[QUOTE=Detoxing;11345733]As someone who came from a ****ed up background similar to Dez's: Bullshit

Complete bullshit.

We live in a country where we're constantly exposed to success and moral high ground. You don't need parents to teach right and wrong anymore. Society does it well enough for anyone who's willing to give a shit.

I've lived with troubled teens and even worked in a Juvenile court school and have seen enough to know better than to buy into that line of "victim" bullshit.[/QUOTE]

Did you have kids that begged you not to send them back home? In the place I worked at that dealt with adjudicated youth, it was more common then not to have the kid not want to return to the home environment. I remember 1 kid that was from Chicago telling me that "They'll kill me if you send me back. I've already got 1 contract out on my head, and if I refuse to join back up with the gang I was in, I'll have 2." Some make it out of those types of upbringing (apparently you are 1 of those, and I commend you for that). However, most don't. No easy answers

Tons of star athletes come from poor, uneducated backgrounds like Bryant and turn out to be great human beings.

So you dont think growing up with no father and a drug addict whore of a mother can have a lasting effect on one's psyche and effect their decision making for their entire lives?

Again, Im not saying that legitimizes the mistakes he has made but to act like he's no different than your typical suburbanite white kid with loving parents is dumb.

[QUOTE=stonedstooge;11345786]I was one of those kids who begged not to go home. That's how i wound up in a group home. The therapist evaluated me and came to the conclusion that i was just being a "rebelious teen", despite my myriad of horror stories, my father's criminal history and substance abuse.

I was in awe after the therapist came to that conclusion. How anyone could come to that conclusion after what i shared was unbelievable and i refused to go home and back into that mess.

When it comes to "escaping" the gang life, it's a bit embellished. There is ALWAYS a way.

In order for me to move forward, i COMPLETELY erased my past @ age 15. Different city, ditched my GF, no family and made a whole new set of friends an hour away from where i grew up. It's plenty doable if that person is WILLING to do it.

And if your home life is so awful, then you'd probably be motivated enough to do it.

There's simply too many resources out there for troubled youth as long as you're willing to do it.

Hootie really is this foolish, huh?

JFC man. Gimme a break. I bet half of NFL black players came from troubled homes and situations. Doesn't mean they still do it when they get to be 26 year old millionaires.

BTW, do you believe me about this now?

It has an effect, certainly. To this day i wonder how different i would be had I had a different upbringing.

But no, i don't believe it's enough to condemn you to repeatedly making extremely poor choices over and over again.

As is the case with the population at large, most fans are idiots.

It's too bad that so many have so much to overcome, but it's not an excuse when so many overcome it.

I think of my closest friend, a black male.

No father was ever in the picture...his mother was a career crackhead, his oldest brother in prison.

He was left mostly alone with his two younger brothers......at age 14 they left home and joined the group home.

Where are they now?

My buddy now lives in China and teaches English to chineese students. One of his younger brothers is sponsored by Monster Energy Drink for snowboarding and tours the world and snowboards at different venues.

The other younger brother? Complete ****ing loser.

Bad upbringings suck, but it's ultimately the person.

I think the degree of how ****ed up your childhood was plays some role in how well you overcome it. A LOT of NFL players had a troubled upbringing, but I doubt many had as bad of one as Dez Bryant. Is he a dumbass? For sure. Is it understandable to a certain extent? For sure.

It's not like Dez Bryant could be "educated," right? What with that full ride scholarship to college, and all.

Not ****ing educated? This dude is 100% responsible for himself. I'm a bleeding heart liberal, but get the **** out of my face with that nonsense.

I think the support group around you, and how motivated you are to change your life is more influential than how bad your life was.

BTW the video is just 1 of the 2 incidents that might end his career. Totally unrelated incidents.

The police have been to his house like 6 times in the last year over the 2 incidents and Jerry Jones used his influence to keep Dez from being arrested for then 2 incidents.