As our Tanner Friedman blog quite often discusses people behaving badly, it is a refreshing change of pace to put ‘pen to paper’ on individuals who are doing the right thing. And athletes no less! Last week a story was relayed to me from an individual who had had dinner the night before at a local fine dining establishment and witnessed an interesting scene. The first part was not surprising but the final outcome surely was.
Evidently a group of Detroit Lions players, no doubt in the area for informal workouts, was seated together at this restaurant and making quite a bit of noise. Nearby was a smaller group of women of foreign descent wearing veils. I add this only to underscore that this second group was much more reserved and conservative then their counterparts. After a few expletives flew between teammates at the adjoining table, the women asked to be moved to another part of the restaurant; something that did not go unnoticed by a couple of the Lions.
And what was their reaction? More expletives? Laughing or rude comments? How about two of the players getting up, going over to the women, apologizing and then paying for their dinners, followed by toned down discourse for the remainder of the evening.
How refreshing that these players had the maturity, wherewithal and understanding of the tremendous responsibility they have, as public figures, to set an example and represent their team and organization in a professional manner. Actions, without a doubt, worthy of a standing ovation.