Though Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) told a sobbing player in “A League of Their Own” that “There’s no crying in baseball,” evidently it’s okay for the tears to flow in football. NBC 10 in Philadelphia reports that Wide Receiver Terrell Owens cried during a press conference following the Dallas Cowboy’s disappointing loss to the New York Giants on Sunday, January 13.
Owens became misty-eyed when members of the press directed the blame for the Cowboy’s loss at Quarterback Tony Romo, mentioning Romo’s well-publicized Mexican vacation with celebrity girlfriend Jessica Simpson the week prior to the game. Owens came to Romo’s defense when he said “It’s really unfair. That’s my teammate. That’s my quarterback. You guys do that, it’s not fair. We lost as a team. We lost as a team, man.”
Terrell Owens’ words and tears may be cold comfort to long-suffering Cowboys fans, but they do point to the interesting phenomenon of sports celebrities bursting into tears in public. ESPN’s Jemele Hill even wrote a wonderfully detailed piece about the rules of crying etiquette in professional sports.
As Edmund Muskie and Hilary Clinton have shown, people sometimes take a dim view of politicians who cry, but it does make sports superstars appear more human when the tears flow:
The Terrell Owens Crying Game: Kerri Strug and 1996 Olympics
During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, Kerri Strug helped the U.S. gymnastics team secure a gold medal by landing an almost picture-perfect vault with torn ligaments in her ankle. Limping her way to her final vault, Strug achieved something that many might consider impossible and collapsed, crying tears of pain and joy.
For a few months after the Olympics, Strug, with a high-pitched voice that could shatter glass, became an unlikely celebrity, even appearing on “Saturday Night Live” opposite Chris Kattan, who played her brother Kippi in one comedy sketch.
Source: Infoplease.com, “All Strug Out,” Gerry Brown
The Terrell Owens Crying Game: Michael Jordan
These days, everyone still wants to be like Mike, even going so far as to wear the same brand of underwear that he does. We all respect the phenomenal abilities that Michael Jordan demonstrates on the basketball court, but it’s his humanity that really wins us over, which he first demonstrated by bursting into tears after winning his first NBA Championship in 1991.
Source: NBA Encyclopedia Playoff Edition
The Terrell Owens Crying Game: Jack Nicklaus
After a long and distinguished career on the greens, golfer Jack Nicklaus tried to retire from the game for years, but he missed an opportunity to go out in grand style by one putt. At the US Masters in 2005, Nicklaus said he had tears in his eyes as he prepared for his final shot, but it didn’t turn out to be the birdie he was hoping for. Still, Nicklaus, who earned the nickname of the “Golden Bear,” officially retired after the British Open a few months later.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald, “Grandmaster checks out in tears,” Richard Hinds
Additional Resources:
ESPN.com, “Crying etiquette of the sports world,” Jemele Hill
Addition Resource: NBC10, “T.O. Cries During Cowboy Press Conference”
