Peter King Blasts Cowboys $55,000 Dinner Tab

King has burr up his ass today regrding the $55,000 dinners tab that Dez Bryant's dinner mates had him pick up, From Kings twitter:

# I get it, I get it. No one other than the school teacher who wrote to say 55k is double his salary is offended by 55k dinner. Sad. less than 20 seconds ago via TweetDeck



# The Bryant tab is disgusting in all ways--his mates for joyously taking advantage of him, plus blind spending when all of USA is strapped. about 2 hours ago via TweetDeck

King must have forgotten his obscene abuse of his SI expense account.

Aggravating/Enjoyable Travel Note of the Week

"Is Sports Illustrated paying tonight?'' Mitchell asked me last Thursday night. We were seated at a new Philadelphia steakhouse, Barclay Prime.

"Yes,'' I said.

Uh-oh. That's trouble. An NFL player, a former first-round pick with some dough, has a blank check. At least he thinks he does.

Mitchell then took the menu out of my hand and said to our waiter, "I'll be ordering for Mr. King."

He ordered me Kobe sliders, and the Kobe cheesesteak sandwich, which I'd heard some legendary stories about. The waiter, Matthew, said there was some really fancy cheese, some really interesting imported mustard and even a dollop of lobster thrown in for good measure. Because they're sporty, I guess, the place threw in a half-bottle of champagne with the cheesesteak. Uh-oh.

The sliders were White-Castle-sized mini-burgers, only round. Two to an order. Just phenomenal. The meat was terrific -- tender and tasty.

Mitchell likes to go to Barclay Prime Saturday nights before home games and he knew quite a few people there. He signed a few autographs, shook a lot of hands, accepted lots of good-lucks. Living large, as they say.

And here came the cheesesteak. Very good. What beef. Incredible beef, really. So good and so big that I couldn't finish.

A shame, seeing as the cost of said cheesesteak was $105.

That is not a misprint.

Worst abuse of SI expense account by yours truly since 1991, when Phil Simms ordered a $75 glass of brandy the week before the Scott Norwood Super Bowl in Tampa, and, of course, I had to buck up and have one with him.

Please go easy on me, Time-Warner Business Dept. I have been good, really good. But it's the playoffs and Freddie Mitchell had a chance to be a really good hero story this week. I promise I won't ask for anything for Christmas this year.

The bill, with tip: $449.

 

I'm sure the wait staff isn't complaining. Must have been a decent tip.

I understand the point though. This wasn't a player wanting to show appreciation for his teammates, this was teammates wanting to "punish" the guy with a high bill, just for the sake of it being a high bill. Why not make him donate $50k to a food bank instead?

 

Something similar happens on most teams at least once a year, the difference is it's usually a thank you from a QB or a RB to the offensive line or something like that.

 

Wetzel wrote a good column about how this is a bad time for players to be displaying extravagant excess with the labor battle looming.

 

Everyone needs to calm the fuck down.
Why do the players need to stop spending? It's their money, they should do what they want with it, as long as they don't cry about health care and stuff like that when they're 50 and their money is all gone.
It's way too much money to spend, but guess what - that 11K tip just made the wait staff's year.

 

Bryant got an 8.5 mil guarantee from the Cowboys so I think he could afford the tab.

 

Yeah, if people don't go apeshit when the players buy their ninth car, they really should have no reason to gripe about this.

 

You just know some waiter is griping about that cheapskate Dez Bryant only tipping 20 percent.
Seriously, even without the tip, how in the holy fuck do you spend $44,000 on one meal? The most expensive meal I've ever eaten, for my wife and I, was $180 at Ruth's Chris -- with the tip. Even if you double that for each person and multiply it by 50 people you're only halfway there. That's the most mind-boggling thing about this.

 

From one of my fave tweeters, cnbc's Darren Rovell:

'Fact: Dez Bryant could take the Cowboys out to 151 meals @ Pappas Bros. @ 55K B4 he'd run out of contract $.'

 

Lots and lots of booze.

 

All it takes is a few idiots ordering expensive wine or scotch and what was going to be a big bill turns into an insane one.

 

Lots of booze makes sense, I guess, especially a high-end place with some expensive wine.
Makes me glad I married a relatively sober woman. I got off cheap with that $180 dinner.