We can put one scandal from the 2014 season to rest. NFL Vice President of Officiating Dean Blandino was spotted by TMZ departing a Dallas Cowboys “party bus” last summer. This set in motion a ton of criticism from around the league, most notably from rival NFL executives.
Courtesy of TMZ.
Now months removed from that scandal and following a drama-filled season as the league’s officiating czar, Blandino is finally ready to talk about his excursion into the realm of Jerry Jones’ nightlife.
He specifically spoke about baseless claims that his appearance on the bus had anything to do with his stance that officials made the right call in the Dallas Cowboys loss to the Green Bay Packers in the divisional round of the playoffs.
“I understand all of that stuff and that’s great for everybody to talk about and it’s juicy, but that had nothing to do with the call.” Blandino told 105.3 The Fan in Dallas on Tuesday.
When pushed about whether he would take members of the Cowboys organization up on a return trip to the party bus, Blandino responded…
I’m not going anywhere near that bus.
This may seem like a small issue in the grand scheme of things, especially when taking on larger issues such as domestic violence (and under-inflated footballs), but any sign of impropriety from the top official in the league should be addressed.
Blandino surely has to understand how that looked back in August. Let’s just hope he doesn’t make the same mistake again.
Photo: USA Today