As a Staff Writer for Inside The Star, it is not always easy to come up with ideas to write about the Dallas Cowboys, especially during the downtime between the end of mini-camp practices and the start of training camp.
Well, I was experiencing every writer’s worst nightmare and had developed writers block. No matter what I tried I couldn’t come up with any kind of an idea that I could build an article around. That was until I was scrolling through twitter over the Fourth of July weekend and saw a picture that Bryan Broaddus had posted to his account.
This just happened. Love to be on the lake. pic.twitter.com/BYq5ywS2py
— BryanBroaddus (@BryanBroaddus) July 3, 2016
Now, you may be asking yourself what does Bryan Broaddus’ picture posing with a largemouth bass have to do with the Dallas Cowboys? My answer to you would be absolutely nothing.
What the picture did for me however was provide a spark of inspiration and gave me an idea of how the Dallas Cowboys can handle the backlash from Rolando McClain, DeMarcus Lawrence, and Randy Gregory being suspended.
You see, I used to be really into all the outdoorsy types of activities before becoming a quadriplegic, and bass fishing was hands down one of my favorite things to do. There used to be no other way I would like to spend a nice relaxing day than on the lake fishing. Unfortunately, those days are in the past, but that still doesn’t keep me from thinking about it and reminiscing.
Well, while reminiscing after seeing Broaddus’ photo I had a thought in the back of my mind that wouldn’t go away no matter how hard I tried. I kept thinking to myself how would I handle the suspension situation if I was a decision-maker for the Dallas Cowboys.
The word that kept popping up for me was backlash, but probably not the way you are thinking of the word as being defined. No, you’re probably thinking of backlash as when a large number of people have a strong reaction to some type of social or political development, but that’s not the type of backlash I’m talking about. I’m talking about a fishing backlash.
What is a fishing backlash?
Backlashes are going to occur if you’re a fisherman and fish with an open face reel. It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional or just a novice. It’s going to happen sooner or later.
There are several ways a backlash can happen, but I’ll try to walk you through the process of how backlashes occur.
It all starts with pushing the release button on the reel, which allows the spool to spin freely. You keep your thumb firmly on the spool while you are winding up to cast and remove your thumb at the end of your casting motion. This allows the spool to spin and release line.
Then, just before your lure hits the water you want to put your thumb back on the spool and keep it from releasing more line. If you fail to reapply your thumb in time to the spool, the end result will end with you having a tangled mess which is commonly referred to as a backlash.
Understand? Good.
Fixing a fishing backlash and how it applies to the Cowboys suspended players.
Fixing a fishing backlash can only be done two ways and those two ways are exactly how I think I would handle the entire suspension situation for the Dallas Cowboys.
First, I’ll start with the most time-consuming way to fix a fishing backlash and this is also how I would personally handle DeMarcus Lawrence and Randy Gregory’s suspension.
You’ve seen the picture above of a backlash by now and probably have a good idea how difficult it would be to untangle all of that mess. In reality, it’s not all that difficult. It just takes a little bit of time and patience, and that is how I see the Dallas Cowboys dealing with Lawrence and Gregory.
You start by pulling the line out from the reel and every time it gets hung up you use your fingers to try and un-kink the line. You continue this process until everything is untangled and you can reel all of the fishing line. Like I said, it’s a time-consuming process and something that not everyone is willing to try and accomplish.
I think that is kind of the same mindset that the Cowboys have with Lawrence and Gregory. They are going to take the patient approach and hope that it pays off in the long run. They have big plans for both players, but there recent suspensions is concerning. They will receive the benefit of the doubt for now, in the hopes that they can turn their careers around for the betterment of the team.
The other way to fix a fishing backlash is exactly how I would handle the entire Rolando McClain suspension situation.
Last year, the Dallas Cowboys decided to go ahead and reel up the fishing line that was not wrapped around the spool, choosing to address the problem at a later date. The problem with this is that you’re going to have to deal with it sooner or later and that is the situation they are faced with currently with Rolando McClain.
At this point, there is no way of untangling the fishing backlash. It’s not worth the time to try and fix. It’s easier to grab a pair of scissors or a knife and start cutting away the tangled line, thus starting all over.
I think it’s time to cut Rolando McClain out right and move on. He has continuously proven to be untrustworthy and that’s simply not the type of player you want on your team.
Unfortunately, the talent that he possesses is what has kept him with the Cowboys organization for so long, despit his untrustworthiness. On the field, when he is mentally focused and physically prepared he is one of the better linebackers in the entire league.
But the time is come. The Dallas Cowboys need to send a message to the rest of the team and let them all know that this type of behavior is unacceptable and won’t be tolerated.
Would you handle the backlash situation differently?
Use the comment section below to share your thoughts and opinions. I would love to hear what you think about this topic.
