The X-Factor

The X-Factor

Desmond Bryant, better known as Dez Bryant, has been “THE X-Factor” since his high school days at Lufkin High School. Dez was born November 4, 1988 in Galveston County, Texas and later moved to Lufkin where he became a Texas football legend. Lufkin, Texas is a small city two and three hours outside Houston and Dallas, respectively, with an estimated population of just 36,000 people. Throughout Dez Bryant’s Lufkin career, he was undoubtedly his team and his town’s X factor.

As a junior, Dez amassed 48 catches, 1,025 yards and 21 touchdowns, an average of two first downs for every catch. In his senior year he was even more impressive, finishing with 53 receptions, 1,207 yards and 21 touchdowns. After his dominant senior season, Dez was a named to the Texas football super team. The accolades didn’t stop there, as Bryant was named 1st team All- State, and was rated a 4-star recruit by Rivals.com, a sign of future stardom. With multiple scholarship offers, Dez committed to play for Oklahoma State University. There, it didn’t take Bryant long to showcase his skills, and become the X-Factor.

At OSU, Bryant finished second on the team with 48 catches, 622 yards and 6 touchdowns his freshman year. Dez also set a freshman record for most receiving yards in a game with 155. During his sophomore season,  he more than doubled his stats to 87 catches, 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns and made an impact on special teams, returning 2 punts for touchdowns. Going into the 2009 season as a junior, the “X-Factor” was considered one of the best wide receivers in college football and a potential Heisman candidate. However controversy would prove to be a derailment, as his season was cut short because of a NCAA violation concerning his relationship with Deion Sanders. With little recourse and abundant talent, Bryant declared for the 2010 NFL Draft.

Before the 2010 NFL Draft, some analyst arguably saw Dez Bryant as the best receiver in the draft. Bryant’s pre-draft measurables were impressive, grading out at 6’2”, 224 pounds with a  4.52 40 yard dash and a 38 inch vertical. While his on-field talent was undeniable, concerns about his behavior off of the field led to Dez dropping to the 24th spot in the draft, were he was selected by the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys signed Dez Bryant to a 5 year rookie deal worth $13.06 million. When it was time to decide on what jersey number Dez would wear, symbolism would play a huge factor. Dez and the Cowboys organization agreed on the number 88, worn by Cowboys legends Drew Pearson and Hall Of Famer Michael Irvin. The number also had negative connotations as it was worn by another Cowboys wunderkid receiver who flamed out, Antonio Bryant.

In Dez Bryant’s first career game as a pro, he had 8 catches with 56 yards. In week two versus the Chicago Bears, Dez showed why he was worth being a first round pick with his first career touchdown. Returning a punt 62 yards to the end zone, he showcased his explosiveness and elusiveness, and announced his arrival on the biggest level by celebrating and forming the ‘X’ with his arms. On one of the brightest stages in the NFL, Monday Night Football, Dez had a very impressive game with 3 total touchdowns, 2 receiving and 1 punt return for 93 yards against the New York Giants. Dez continued his strong play, and finished his rookie season with 8 total touchdowns (6 receiving and 2 punt return). Going into his second season, Dez would become more involved in the offense, increasing his totals in every receiving category. He finished the season with 928 yards, and 9 touchdowns.

The third year of Dez Bryant’s professional career was his breakout year. It put him in the discussion as one of the league’s best wide receivers and established him as the “X-Factor” for the Dallas Cowboys.

Dez recorded new career highs in three categories with 92 catches, 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns. In the 2013 season, the Cowboys X-Factor continued his dominance on the field. Finishing his second consecutive season with 1,000 receiving yards and double-digit touchdowns, he was selected to his first Pro-Bowl. This past 2014 season, the last year of his rookie contract, was the Dallas Cowboys’ best season as a team. Dallas reached the playoffs for the first time since Dez was drafted with a 12-4 record. Not only was it the best season as a team, it was a record setting year for Dez in Cowboys’ history. Dez Bryant recorded his third consecutive 1,000 plus yard season to go along with double-digit touchdowns. He also set the new Cowboys’ single season touchdown receiving record to 16, previously held by Terrell Owens. Dez also had one of the best games in his career, in one of the most important games last season against division rival, the Philadelphia Eagles. He caught a career best 3 touchdowns in a game Dallas had to win in order to make it to the postseason.

After beating Detroit for their first playoff win, Dez would forever be immortalized as the victim of “The Dez Rule” in the following week’s divisional round. Down 26-21 to e Green Bay Packers, on 4th and 2 with 4:43 in the game, Romo threw the ball up to his best playmaker. Being the “X factor”, Dez caught the ball, took three steps, switched the ball in his hands, and stretched out across the plane of the endzone for an apparent touchdown. After being initially ruled a touchdown, the call was challenged by the Packer’s head coach Mike McCarthy and overturned in the most controversial playoff moment of the decade. Off the strength of a dubious call, the Cowboys and Dez saw an impressive season dissolve before their eyes.

In the offseason, the Cowboys used the franchise tag on Dez, meaning he would be paid the average salary of the top 5 paid players at his position, but he would have no guarantee beyond the year. If Dez got hurt or suffered a decline in production, the Cowboys could release him with no financial consequences. Using his staggering production over the last three years as leverage (273 catches/3,935 yards/41 touchdowns) He threatened to hold out if he didn’t receive a contract extension before Week 1. The X-Factor eventually agreed to a 5 year deal worth $70 million, with $40 million in guarantees and a $20 million signing bonus. The deal made Dez the second highest paid wide receiver, with the most guaranteed money in his contract. On the top 100 players list voted by NFL players, Dez Bryant was voted number 15. He was the fourth wide receiver on the list, a slap in the face in comparison to his production. A man of few words and many emotions, Dez simply responded by tweeting “@NFLNetwork lol”.  That response told me Dez will be on a mission to prove why he should be the highest ranked wide receiver on any list.
At the outset of the 2015-16 season the Cowboys had high expectations, coming off their most successful season in 19 years. They were able to get off to a good start by winning the first two games against division rivals New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles. In that initial game against the Giants, Dez broke a bone in his foot, finishing the game with only 5 catches for 48 yards. Projected to be without their playmaker for six to eight weeks, the Cowboys struggled to replace the production of Dez Bryant, losing 4 of 5 games without him. With a healthy Dez, and a returning Romo, cowboys fans can hope look  to seeing the Dallas Cowboys’ “X-Factor” Dez Bryant produce at a high level, and Throw Up the X on their way to a playoff berth.

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Deron Williams With Something to Prove

D-Will with Something to Prove

From his days at The Colony High School, a suburban high school in Dallas, to the University of Illinois, and the NBA, Deron Williams has consistently to prove that he belongs amongst the elite point guards in his generation. Despite guiding The Colony to back to back state semifinals in his final 2 years with averages of 17 points and over 8 assists a game, Deron found himself overshadowed by teammate Bracey Wright, a future star in his own right. The oversight wasn’t strictly local, as Deron Williams found himself snubbed for a spot in the Mcdonald’s All America game, the premier showcase for the nation’s top high school ballers. Going into his college career D-Will was motivated to prove himself as one of the best point guards in the world. Recalling that motivation, Williams confessed to the Dallas News that “It motivated me a lot to see the attention Bracey was getting. He deserved it, but at the same time, I wanted the same attention. It made me want it a lot more.” As a freshman Williams started 30 of 32 games and led the Big 10 in assists during conference play. In that impressive freshman campaign, he managed to lead  the Fighting Illini to an NCAA tournament bid and a victory over Western Kentucky in the first round. In his first postseason outing, Williams proved he wouldn’t be easily rattled finishing with 11 points, 4 assist, plus 3 steals, shooting 3-3 from the three point range. After his freshman season, D-Will was selected to the USA men’s national junior team. Starting all eight games for his country , he led the team in assists while providing a nice scoring clip at 8.4 points per game.

During Williams’ sophomore season, he doubled his scoring average to lead the team with 14 points per game and increased his assist average to 6.17 a game. In his second season at Illinois, Williams went on to lead the team to their second straight NCAA tournament appearance as well. Recognizing his excellent play and consistent output, the coaches and media selected D-Will to the first team All-Big 10. For the second straight season, D-Will led the conference in assists. In the process he became the third player to do so in his first two seasons in the conference, joining the legendary Magic Johnson and Bruce Douglas.

The 2004-2005 season for the Fighting Illini was one of the best in the school’s basketball history. D-Will was the driving force and floor general of an Illini team that made it to the National Championship game. Williams was named to the Final Four All-tournament team and was honored with his second consecutive first team All-Big ten selection. After this successful junior season at the University of Illinois, D-Will declared for the 2005 NBA draft with the hopes of being the top point guard drafted. The Utah Jazz selected Deron Williams with the third overall pick, one ahead of fellow point guard and career nemesis Chris Paul. In Utah Deron was attempting to fill the legacy left behind by John Stockton, Utah’s first great point guard.

In Deron Williams’ rookie season in the NBA, he notched 80 games while averaging 10.8 points, 4.5 assist to go along with a healthy 2.4 rebounds per game. As a result of this successful rookie campaign, D-Will was named to the first NBA All-Rookie team. The first four seasons of his career Williams increased his assist and point per game totals every season, solidifying himself as one of the top point guards in the NBA. In his second season he led the team all the way to the western conference finals, before falling to the San Antonio Spurs, the eventual world champions. On February 23, 2011, in the midst of his sixth professional season, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets, who would relocate across the Hudson River and become the Brooklyn Nets. The Nets immediately made him the face of their franchise, signing him to a five year deal worth $98 million. After signing that monstrous deal, D-Will’s numbers saw a steady decline in every subsequent season. In fact this past season Williams had his lowest averages since his rookie year, including career playoff lows. Although he’s struggled to meet the lofty standards he set early on, D-Will has not been without moments of brilliance in Brooklyn. In game 3 of the 2014-15 playoffs against the Atlanta Hawks, D-Will showed a flash of why he was drafted third overall and was once considered the best point guard in the NBA. He finished the game with 35 points 7 assist and 5 rebounds, while shooting 7-11 from the three point line to carry Brooklyn to a win.

During the off season Deron Williams and the Brooklyn Nets reached an agreement on a contract buyout. While this was the culmination of a disappointing run in Brooklyn, it left Williams free to sign with any team in the NBA. Being a three-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection, and an olympic gold medalist, it didn’t take long for him to sign with a team. Once the Dallas Mavericks came with a offer, it was a no brainer for D-Will to return to the place he once called home. The Mavericks have been contenders every year, and consistently one of the top offensive teams in the tough western conference. Led by NBA champion and future hall of famer Dirk Nowitzki, D-Will should fit right in.

It was a very busy offseason for Dallas, who lost their top scorer, combo guard Monta Ellis. The Mavs used their abundant cap space to replace him with the versatile Wesley Matthews, a former teammate of Williams in Utah, forming a strong backcourt trio with Chandler Parsons. With these additions, the Mavs have a chance to contend once again in the Western conference, where the champion Warriors play. I think D-WIll has that hunger he had coming out of high school and college; the hunger to prove he’s still one of the best players at his position. His talent is definitely still there and if he gives Dallas 20 points and 10 assists a game, the Mavericks might finish top 5 in the tough western conference! The only question is will he return back to All-Star form, for his hometown team the Dallas Mavericks. For now, however, only Williams knows the answer to that question.

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My Million Man March experience

My 7 Important points from the Million Man March

On my way to the Million Man March, I was both anxious and nervous. I questioned, “will this actually bring upon a change?” I’ve accepted all the challenges from Minister Louis Farrakhan, to do my part in helping better my family, friends and community. I, too, encourage all males to accept these challenges to study and enlighten themselves on the brutal realities of our society. Here are seven important points I took away from the Million Man March. I believe all are essential to bring upon a change.

• Legacy of the Million Man March

October 16, 1995 was the day of the first Million Man March. An estimated 1.1 million people gathered at the National Mall in Washington, DC to march for equality. The number of attendees were significantly higher than the March on Washington in 1963, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr where he delivered his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech. The first Million Man March went down in history as the largest assembly of Black men in United States history. Twenty years later, the Nation of Islam’s leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, who assembled the first march in 1995, called for another march titled “Justice Or Else”. After the first Million Man March, many Blacks accepted the challenge to better their communities. There were increased numbers in community organizations, Blacks voting, churches and mosques memberships, and the number of Black people adopting children. In spite of all the killings of unarmed Black people from police and citizens such as; Freddy Gray, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Eric Gardner just to name a few. It seemed like the right time to call for Justice.

• Justice Or Else

This march is not only for justice for Black people but also for Native Americans, Latinos, Dominicans and Haitians. Sixty percent of the prison population is Black or Latino, one in every four Native Americans live in poverty and nearly thirty percent are without health insurance. Chief Ernie Longwalker of the Red Wine Nation, was one of the first to speak, he greeted the crowd by saying “I don’t know what to say my brothers and sisters. 500 years of oppression, 500 years looking for equality and justice…. If we can get our minds together and unite, we are the majority. We wouldn’t have to ask for equality and justice. We could just wave our fingers and demand it.” Minister Louis Farrakhan said during his speech, “There must come a time when we say enough is enough…. the OR ELSE is going to come from God.”

• Atmosphere

October 10, 2015, a day I will always remember for many reasons. The unity of all the people from different ethnic groups and religions astonishing to me. When I got out of the car and turned onto the block of the National Mall the first thing I saw was a group of people standing, selling t-shirts that read Black Lives Matter and singing “we shall overcome”. As I continued to walk towards the west lawn of the National Mall, where the speeches were being held, I started to see more vendors selling t-shirts, pins, pan african flags, posters, along with barbeque. Once I reached the lawn and saw the thousands of people standing, sitting, cheering, laughing I was overwhelmed with pride and joy. I witnessed one man offer to put a woman’s son on his shoulders, just so he could see. The loud cheers of my people was music to my ears. I got as close to the stage as I could, everybody welcomed me by saying “hello brother, come on in here” as I squeezed my way through the crowd. I ended up standing next to a man named Charles and his 15 year old son Joshua, who traveled from Chicago. I asked him did he attend the first Million Man March. He told me “Yes, it gave him a spirit of brotherhood, unity and a feeling of empowerment. I had never seen so many Black people united in one place. That’s why I had to bring my son to witness this!”

• Unity (Black on Black crime)

The horrific account that sticks out to me is how the numbers of Black on Black murders have increased since 1995. Homicide is the leading cause of death among the Black youth ages 15-24. Minister Louis Farrakhan addressed the problem by saying, “I’m asking for 10,000 fearless men, to go into our communities because our war is on two fronts. We have to stop the killing in the inner-city and stop the killing of us from police wickedness. I want 10,000 men that we can train, because we have to stand between the guns... But you know when we go in our community to clean it up, we are going to run into rogue cops and wicked Black people… That means we have to be strong to stop the killings. I was with Martin Luther King III, he said “Farrakhan what can we do to turn this around?” I said brother we have to take your father’s philosophy of nonviolence and redirect it to Black people…. Teach love for one another; teach us to forgive each other for our acts of evil done.” Spotted among the thousands were notable celebrities such as J.Cole, Snoop Dogg, Diddy, Jeezy, Common and more. Such entertainers have the influence and platform to encourage young Black males to stop the killing of one another.

• Education System

In my educational experience especially in history class, I was not taught about the significant contributions of Black people. During the quest of educating myself on the history of my ancestors I was truly inspired to learn about their knowledge and way of living dating back to the world’s first civilizations. Minister Farrakhan suggested that the whole education system should be restructured. He said, “There’s no way we can make a good people and leave them under the education of white supremacy. We have to take over the education system, because the education that you’re receiving hasn’t made you a good people or better people. That system has to GO! All educators I am calling on you, we have brilliant educators. We don’t need to accept this poison doctrine of white supremacy any longer. Tomorrow morning I’ll like to see the scholars, at the JW Marriott. We have to talk about what we are going to do after today. I would like engineers of every kind, navigators, pilots, farmers, I want college presidents especially the black colleges. You got to know that you’re not a plantation to produce more dumb negroes with degrees. You got to make the colleges teach the things that will make young people builders instead of beggars.”

• Women

“Our women are the key, a nation is taken down through the woman and a nation goes up through the woman. Women are the greatest gift from God to man.” said Minister Farrakhan. Two million children are exploited every year in global commercial sex trade, 80% are girls. Women make up half of the world’s population and yet represents 70% of the world’s poor.  The United States is one of only three countries in the world that DO NOT guarantee a paid maternity leave. Women in the U.S. earn on an average 75 cents less than men. Reverend Jamal Bryant said “We would be further along if 20 years ago we had brought the sisters with us. I’m thankful that the woman are standing with the brothers today!” Sister Andrea James representing the group “Returned Citizens for Justice said, “There has been an 800% increase of incarceration of Black women in the last 20 years. While in prison women are reduced to a number, stripped naked, groped, video taped, too often raped and exploited by male prison guards. When women are pregnant, while given birth they are shackled both limbs to the bed. Every woman is from the creator, her womb is the workshop of God. So when a man sees a woman, he should bow to her. Through the womb of a woman, every great one was born and every no good one was born. It is your body, you can do with it as you please. It would be so tragic if the next Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., Moses, or Abraham or Jesus was flushed away. If you’re wise, your child would be the answers to your prayers,”  said Minister Louis Farrakhan.  

• Martin Luther King Jr.

“I went by Dr. King’s monument, I’ve learned to love my brother. Because if you would go study the speeches of the last two year’s in his life you would know Dr. King is not just a dreamer. Dr. King had awaken from that dream, he said and I quote “My dream have turned into a nightmare.” He was not a dreamer, he was a revolutionary thinker like his brother, brother Malcolm… Did you know that we spend almost half of the money that we take in, in a year during Christmas? We have 1.1 to 1.4 trillion dollars and 400 billion of it is spent during the Christmas holidays.  Dr. King wanted us to redistribute the pain. Now suppose we decided this Christmas we are kicking santa to the curb.  ” said Minister Louis Farrakhan.

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