Posted on August 13, 2016, by Travis Pulver
When guys go from being broke college students that happen to be excellent at playing football to millionaire athletes getting paid some serious money to play a game, it is not unusual for them to indulge in a few things that most people would consider—eccentric.
Expensive cars, houses, jewelry, furs, clothes, electronics—with the means and time on hand, nothing is holding them back so many of them go nuts. It is not unusual to see guys on some crazy shopping sprees after they cash their first check, but some eccentricities take time for a player to be comfortable enough to indulge in.
That was certainly the case with Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant.
Like many guys, he went nuts in the jewelry store after he was drafted to the point where was eventually taken to court for allegedly not paying for thousands of dollars in jewelry. But he didn’t make what is probably one of his more eccentric purchases till last year—a capuchin monkey he named Dallas Bryant.
“I always wanted a monkey, and I got him. He was one of us, the monkey was one of us. He got pure-A1 treatment.”
NFL players have been known for making unusual pet choices over the years. Guys have been known to spend thousands of dollars on enormous aquariums for sharks and other exotic fish. Every so often, someone is foolish enough to buy a tiger cub. Some guys have had alligators and other enormous reptiles (like pythons). Colin Kaepernick bought an African-spurred tortoise because he didn’t want to outlive his pet (they live to be around 135 years old).
So while Bryant’s monkey be an unusual choice, it is far from the craziest.
There were still plenty of people that were not happy about it. Someone from PETA even called the local police to ask them to take the monkey from Bryant. They did not, but Bryant recently decided it was time his little buddy go to a better home.
So he sent him to live with a friend in the country. Bryant has not said why he gave up his monkey, but he did say he will be visiting him. He may need to bring his boss with him from time to time as well. Apparently, Jerry Jones loves monkeys:
“Missed the monkey,” Jones told 105.3 The Fan, a Dallas-area Radio station. “The monkey thing is pretty humorous. I am a monkey fan. I can stand in a zoo and look at them all day long and die laughing. My dad was in the wild-animal business and had over 5,000 wild animals. And he was always, no matter what, handing somebody a card and saying, ‘Be sure to come out and visit my monkeys.'”
From a tweet the monkey sent from his Twitter account, it appears that Bryant might have been having the same issue Ross had with his capuchin monkey on Friends:
It’s true. I’ve been put out to pasture if you know what I mean #breedingprivileges
Poor guy is going to be disappointed when he discovers there are no cute female capuchin monkeys roaming the Texas countryside.
