Corsicana — Well, what in the world is going on with the alleged house rules that Dez Bryant must abide by in order to receive his rather generous allowance from “Big Daddy” Jerry Jones? Some reports say the rules were mandated by the Cowboys and some say “Desperate Dez” requested them in order to stay, I mean get back on, the straight and narrow. To say that Dez’s allowance is generous is a gross understatement — he signed a four-year deal with the Boys for $11.8 million with $8.3 million of that guaranteed! Last year’s allowance, including signing bonus, was $2.84 million. He is getting a mere $1.1 million this year (boo-hoo).

Reportedly, the house rules are: he must abide by a midnight curfew; he must avoid drinking alcohol; he must avoid strip-clubs, but he may go to an approved list of night clubs for team functions; he must attend formal counseling sessions twice a week; and he must have a personal security detail to take him to/from practices, games, and team functions and make sure the aforementioned rules are met.

These are the kinds of restrictions I had on me when I was a freshman in high school — well almost. Strip clubs were non-existent in Norfolk, Conn., so that was not a problem. However, many of my contemporaries (not me, of course) would slip over the state line into New York where, if you could stand up taller than the bar, you could be served a beer. I wasn’t a bad kid but I got counseled on a regular basis by my mom (Dad was in charge of the corporal punishment). She also had to drive me to my first two years of baseball and basketball practices and games. The worst was when she drove me and my first real date to a dance at the YMCA in nearby Winsted.

These rules for Dez are problematic for a couple of reasons. Reports say the Cowboys imposed the rules but J.J. denies they have imposed any rules other than the general NFL and team rules. Also, if the rules are directed by the Cowboys, the NFL Players’ Association will probably object to him being singled out. In addition to all that, if the Cowboys are paying for the round-the-clock security team, then that money will affect the salary cap.

Old Dez had it kind of rough growing up in Lufkin. When he was just eight his mother was hauled off to the barbed-wire hotel for dealing crack cocaine. As a result, by the time he completed high school, he had kicked around eight different homes. He then went to Oklahoma State University where he played a couple years of All-American football. I don’t know what it is about the water in Lufkin, but that town has produced no less than nine past and present professional football players.

Dez’s troubles started when he got suspended from football for the 2009 season for violating a ticky-tak NCAA bylaw. It had to do with him having a tete-a-tete with “Prime-Time Neon Deion” Sanders and denying it to the NCAA fuzz. It seems like “no harm, no foul” to me. However Deion may have been the cause of his next problem which is an obsessive need for “bling.” He came to “Big D,” signed for the big bucks, and then allegedly ran up over $861,000 in jewelry bills, sports tickets, and loans which he failed to pay. One law suit has been settled but, two years later, he’s still facing a law suit for about $600,00 of that original splurge.

His other legal exploits have included being served with a criminal trespass warning from a Dallas mall, being detained by the Miami police for an altercation at a nightclub with rapper “Lil Wayne,” and having a little tussle with his mamma which resulted in her calling 911 and having him arrested for assault.

As of this writing, Dez has not commented on the house rules but his advisor, David Wells, has repeatedly said they were set up at Dez’s request and he is all for them. I wonder about how valuable Mr. Wells (a former private investigator and bail bondsman) is as an advisor. So far he has enhanced his client’s image about as much as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has enhanced Iranian tourism.

One of his proposals was to hire those fired Secret Service guys from the Columbian hooker scandal as the security team. After all, they have extensive experience in the seamier side of society and they already have matching trench coats and sleeve mikes. They would be called (are you ready for this...hold it...hold it) “The Dez-ciples!”

I’m closing this rant by quoting some anonymous pearls of wisdom that might well be included in those mandatory “counseling” sessions for Dez. Background and circumstances may influence who you are, but only you are responsible for what you become. Maturity has more to do with what you have learned from your mistakes and less to do with the number of your birthday parties. It takes years to build up trust and confidence but only seconds to destroy them.

Oh, did you notice my new picture? I was getting tired of folks telling me I didn’t look like the old one. Hollis “The Clipper King” Riggs is responsible for the coif and I call my stash the “Grouch-Fu Manchu.”

See ya ...

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Dick Platt is a Daily Sun columnist. His column appears in the Tuesday print edition of the Daily Sun. Want to “Soundoff” on this column? Email: soundoff@corsicanadailysun.com