After the infamous Hail Mary game of December 1975, a Vikings fan upset with uncalled offensive pass interference on Cowboys receiver Drew Pearson threw a whiskey bottle that struck game official Armen Terzian in the head. After Sunday’s playoff game between the 49ers and Cowboys, disgruntled Dallas fans threw bottles and other objects at the officials as they left the field.
After the game, quarterback Dak Prescott didn’t express disapproval of the behavior. On Monday, Cowboys executive Stephen Jones did.
“That’s just unfortunate,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan, via Jon Machota of TheAthletic.com. “That’s not the way I see our fans. I think we are a class act. There is just no place for that.”
While not as catchy as the Sam Wyche snowball message from years gone by, Jones is right. Buying a ticket doesn’t give those who attend the game the right to engage in lawless, unsafe acts. Hopefully, the available technologies will be utilized to find those who did it -- and to punish them accordingly, even if the end result is that they’re banned for life from attending NFL games.