Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, who was at the center of the 2009 controversy that resulted in Dez Bryant being dismissed from the Oklahoma State football team--after it was discovered that Bryant had lied to NCAA investigators about having lunch with Sanders.
Now approaching his second season with the Dallas Cowboys, Bryant has run into yet another controversy, this time involving a criminal trespass warning stemming from an incident at NorthPark Mall. As of this weekend, the matter had reportedly been resolved, with Bryant being welcomed back to the mall in a statement by a NorthPark Center spokesman, but Sanders believes that this latest Bryant needs help.
"He needs help. He needs help," Sanders told ESPN Dallas. "I told the Cowboys from day one that he needs help. Matter of fact, they have a team in place to help him. But you cannot tell a grown man what to do.
"I don't have a problem with you lying to me. That's one thing," he continued. "But when you lie to yourself as a man, you have a serious problem and that's where this kid is. And I can't condone it. I really can't. It tarnishes everything else I'm trying to develop in these kids [in his youth program]. I can't allow you to poison other kids that I'm trying to mentor and take to another level."
Meanwhile, Dez responded that he wished Sanders would have come to him personally, and has made clear, both on Twitter and to reporters, that he considers the NorthPark Center incident over.
"I wish Deion would come to me as a man and talk to me," Bryant said. "I've been reaching out to Deion. I've never done anything wrong to Deion or disrespected him. I've never lied to Deion.
"I'm done with this," Bryant said Friday night. "It's not a big issue, I'm just getting ready to play this year. I know I'm doing fine, this is old news to me."
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