Just ahead of the Dallas Cowboys welcoming the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots to town, defensive lineman Greg Hardy came back from his suspension with an interview that could charitably be called tone-deaf. The man convicted of throwing his then-girlfriend on a mattress full of assault rifles said he hoped to come out “guns blazing” and expressed his hope that Gisele Bundchen would come to the game and bring her sister. Somehow the Cowboys thought it would be a good idea to publish this on their website, which makes me wonder where their public-relations staff got their degrees. The internet can’t even decide what’s more offensive, Hardy’s gun metaphor, his lack of contrition for his girlfriend-beating, or his attempts to hit on Tom Brady’s wife and sister-in-law. Nobody took him down with the ferocity of Katie Nolan, who also laid waste to the Cowboys organization and the NFL for not realizing the problem here:
Is there anything left to say after that? Well, yes, actually, after I read Jerry Jones’ comments defending Hardy, saying that when Jones saw who Brady was marrying, “Tom went up in my eyes 100 percent.” I find myself being offended on behalf of Brady. I’m no particular fan of the quarterback or his team, but here he is being rated as a man on his wife’s attractiveness. Did Hardy or Jones point to Brady’s fistful of Super Bowl rings, or his 400 career touchdown passes, or the fact that he’s leading the league in passing yards per game at age 38? No, they said his wife was hot. That’s insulting to him as a football player. He has a legitimate claim to being the greatest quarterback in history. That wouldn’t change if he were a lifelong bachelor or gay or married to a hideously ugly woman. Apparently, though, Hardy and Jones think otherwise.
This probably won’t matter regarding Sunday’s game, with the Cowboys so wounded that they couldn’t beat your high-school team right now. Still, this interview is an even lower point in a season that is quickly starting to look cursed.
Tried to hit on her? Ah NO!