The NFL uniform police are back at it again…this time blocking the request of the Dallas Cowboys to honor the five Dallas police officers killed in the attack back in July with an “Arm in Arm” decal on their helmets.
According to Jerry Jones’ son, and Cowboys executive vice president, Stephen Jones, it all has to do with the NFL wanting uniformity in the looks of its 32 teams.
“Everyone has to be uniform with the league and the other 31 teams,” Jones said after practice Wednesday. “We respect their decision.”
It wasn’t as if the Cowboys weren’t expecting it, as the younger Jones admitted earlier in training camp that the chances of the league allowing it to happen in games this season were slim.
“There are so many wonderful, wonderful causes, the league has to be careful,” Jones said earlier in camp about the possibility of wearing the decal in games. “If you allow one, then what do you do about every team that has a great reason to have something on their helmets?
“There are tons of things out there that need to be recognized. Once you open that Pandora’s box, how do you ever stop?”
The Cowboys won’t be able to wear the decal on their helmets for any preseason or regular season games this season, according to the league ruling. However, the team does plan to wear it on their helmets during training camp, which was allowed by the league.
Jones’ team came out to start training camp in a huge show of support for the officers and their families, walking to the field arm-in-arm with Dallas Police Chief David Brown, Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings, and family members of the officers slain in the ambush in Dallas last month.
While one can understand the NFL not wanting to get into politics, or advocating for one position or another, it surely has to see honoring the fallen in a tragedy in one of its cities is a smart move.
Then again, when has the NFL not stood for the “no fun league” over its 30-year meteoric rise to the top of the American sports landscape? It also appears to now stand for the “no foresight league” as well.
