CAN HE BE FOR REAL?
Dallas QB Dak Prescott seems almost too good to be true. Let’s hope he doesn’t fall into life’s potholes that swallowed Tigers Woods and Derek Fisher
FRISCO, Texas — Standing next to the statue of Lamar Hunt, Dak Prescott wrapped the sculpture with an FC Dallas scarf and then participated in the franchise’s pregame chant of “Three more points!”
Soccer was one of the few sports Dak didn’t play as a kid, but like so much else, he is a quick learner.
“I have so much respect and appreciation for these guys. A different type of athlete, I guess you could say,” Dak said after his pregame festivities Saturday night.
Prescott has attended a number of high-profile events as a featured guest during the offseason.
Seemingly every person who has met Dak has arrived at the same destination: This guy is good. Almost too good. There is a level of political awareness to his rhetoric that sounds like BS but comes across as sincere and believable.
The last guy to enter the league this polished and this aware has the last name Manning. Eli or Peyton.
Dak is not perfect, and he will stumble eventually. One of the biggest challenges he will face is how he deals with it. Will it derail him or will he just move on?
I have no idea, but I am pulling for him if for no other reason it would be nice to believe in a “hero” again. One who does the right thing or whose mistakes are simply kept to an interception, a fumble or a loss.
Heroism is a tricky proposition, and one that the many who are tagged with it do not desire. While the benefits of the label are bountiful and fun, it sets up an implausible level of expectation from the adoring masses.
Since 9/11, we have updated our definition of hero. There has been a conscious effort to categorize entertainers as something other than heroic because we know that hitting a home run just doesn’t compare to entering a burning building or serving our country against a hostile enemy.
We in the media began the process of slaughtering our sports heroes decades ago by exposing them for their fallibility. For their stupidity. For their shameful arrogance.
Not all of our favorite players or entertainers fit into these categories, but there are plenty of examples.
Looking at Tiger Woods’ recent mug shot for his DUI we forget that for a long time this man had cultivated a carefully crafted public image of perfection, complete with a beautiful wife and equally gorgeous children.
On Monday morning, Bill Cosby entered a courthouse to begin his sexual assault hearing. Bill Cosby and sexual assault should not go together, but now it’s disgraceful to mention the first without adding the second.
Former NBA point guard Derek Fisher briefly spent some time with the Dallas Mavericks before he left the team because he said he missed his family. But he was tired of losing with the Mavericks and eventually signed with the vastly superior Oklahoma City Thunder.
For a while there was no better “Good Guy” in the NBA than Fisher. Well, Fisher is now a divorced, former NBA head coach who was arrested on a DUI charge Sunday after he flipped his car in a wreck.
These are just three of the latest high-profile entertainers who cultivated Mr. Family Guy personas only to be revealed as frauds. They were exposed as weak and stupid.
Dak has not hit a bump on this wonderfully charming story. He will. We all do.
Whatever it is, hopefully the bump won’t be too big and it won’t change our impression of a person who, thus far, seems too good to be true.