Michael Irvin talks with Dez Bryant about responsibility

Tax tips from Wesley Snipes, hair care advice from Donald Trump and career-planning management courtesy Lindsay Lohan are a few of the things I'd value more than a talk with Michael Irvin about how to be a responsible football player. This is the guy who once slashed a teammate's neck with scissors and was the subject of this excerpt from the Aug. 5, 1996 issue of Sports Illustrated:

On the night of March 3 Michael Irvin was caught in a Dallas hotel room with 60 grams of cocaine, about three ounces of marijuana, two topless dancers and an array of sex toys; he pleaded no contest to a felony charge of cocaine possession; he and several of his party-boy teammates were found to have frequented the infamous White House, rented by several Dallas Cowboys players and used as a haven for extramarital liaisons; he flouted the law in Texas by ignoring a grand jury summons until the Dallas County DA threatened to arrest him; and he shrugged off inquiries by NFL officials about the incident, defiantly proclaiming that he "definitely" didn't have a substance abuse problem.

Yet there was Irvin this weekend preaching to newest Cowboys receiver Dez Bryant about the responsibilities of wearing the hallowed No. 88 in Dallas. (A number worn by Irvin and Drew Pearson, among others.) The Hall of Famer met with Bryant in front of cameras for about five minutes to give him some words of encouragement after his first practice sessions with the team. Said Irvin:

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