Cowboys Tyron Smith had to get protective order against family members

In this new age of social media, a lot of athletes off field drama becomes headlines. 21-year old Dallas Cowboys lineman Tyron Smith has had to get a protective order against family members who have been harassing him for money.

Smith requested the order against his mother, Frankie Pinkney, stepfather, Roy Pinkney and as well as three sisters and two brothers (all from his mother’s marriage to Pinkney.)

According to sources, family members have continued to ask Smith for money even after he gave them a large sum after he was picked ninth overall in the 2011 NFL draft and signed to a four-year, $12.5 million contract by the Cowboys.

Smith’s family members were even removed from the team’s practice facility during training camp in Oxnard, Calif., about two hours from Riverside, where Smith’s parents own a cleaning business.

We hear the stories all the time about athletes going broke. Often times friends and family look at those numbers and feel the athlete is an unlimited supply ATM. If the player refuses, he’s being disloyal, forgetting where he came from and not holding down the people that have held him down.

To have to go and get a protective order against your family is heartbreaking and embarrassing. Perhaps the public shame will cause his family to fall back and recognize what he’s already done for them. But if it’s gone this far, that’s probably not likely. Smith is said to be missing over $1 million. While his mother claims the accusations aren’t true and that it’s her son’s girlfriend, Leigh Costa who is the source of the family rift. Sad.