Cowboys cheerleader punished for tweeting about her tackle?

The rampant speculation: the Dallas Cowboys forced cheerleader Melissa Kellerman to delete her Twitter account after she tweeted twice about her run-in (literal) with Dallas tight end Jason Witten.

The story:

In case you missed it (like I did): Dallas tight end Jason Witten inadvertently (or so we’re told) “tackled” one of the Cowboys’ cheerleaders during their Thanksgiving Day game against Miami:

The cheerleader, Melissa Kellerman, has been widely praised for her reaction to the whole thing.

Everyone’s just kind of ignoring how Witten seemed to reach out with his arm as he got close, pulling her down with him.

You telling me he couldn’t just have brushed past on her left side? Please.

Anyway. Kellerman later tweeted about the experience…

…but shortly thereafter, her twitter account disappeared. Speculation was rampant. Did the Cowboys force her to delete her account?

Answer: they say no.

Here’s the reply we got from Rich Dalrymple, the team’s Vice President of Public Relations & Communications: “The Dallas Cowboys Football Club did not. We don’t get involved in administering twitter accounts.”

Monday morning (in fact, while this story was being written), Kellerman’s account reappeared. But now she is protecting her tweets.

We’re trying to contact Kellerman.

Hey, Melissa, if you don’t want to talk to them, drop me an email. Be glad to publish your side of it.

Whatever happened, it’s kind of a shame. These sorts of happenstances are like glittering little shards of diamond – they’re not worth much, really, but they add up. This is a marketing opportunity, both for her and for the Cowboys. More for her, maybe. But still. The Cowboys wouldn’t be hurt by a little fun public relations.

My advice: have the cheerleading squad give her some funny award. Best tackling dummy. Most focused (because she had no idea the play was coming her way, see). Best Reaction to being Publicly Manhandled by a Football Player Twice Her Size.

It’s fun. It garners some positive attention. Downside: every cheerleader will want to be next. Or, at least, every player will suddenly lose the ability to stop when they see cheerleaders in their paths.

Frankly, I’m surprised this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often.

By the way, if you google “Melissa Kellerman” and find a link to a Facebook page…that’s a different Melissa Kellerman. I hope she’s enjoying all the friend requests she’s getting.