To say the Dallas Cowboys are the most hated team in football is, well, an understatement. Sure, they proclaim themselves as “America’s Team,” but there are really two type of people in America: people who love the Cowboys, and people who absolutely, one hundred percent, without a doubt, despise the Cowboys.
In Columbia, South Carolina, around 3:45 am, officer Michael Blackmore was responding to a call about a man who was contemplating suicide. He found a man sitting atop the guardrail of a bridge, staring into the darkness as the man told Officer Blackmore that he was tired of living.
And so, Blackmore turned to sports, and more specifically football. He asked the man what his favorite NFL team was. The Washington Redskins, and that’s when the officer dropped the one-liner that makes the interaction all the more great and beautiful.
“I hate the Cowboys.”
The Redskins and the Cowboys are division rivals in the NFC East, so it comes to no surprise that the man on the ledge had natural animosity towards “America’s Team.” While it’s unclear where the officer’s loyalty lies, Blackmore was able to focus on that brief moment to get close with the man before laying a gentle–but firm–hold on him and pulling him to safety.
In all, the exchange lasted eight and a half minutes. The man was taken to Palmetto Health Richland hospital for evaluation. For Blackmore, it wasn’t the first time he’s used football as a way to pull people away from the brink. Last month, he turned to college football to prevent another man from committing suicide.
“It was pretty much the same exact thing,” Blackmore said. “I ended up talking to the guy about football. He told me he was a Notre Dame fan.”
