You are allowed to have certain opinions. Make sure you pick the right ones:
“I wouldn’t have taken him,’’ said former Bucs and Colts coach Tony Dungy, now an analyst for NBC. “Not because I don’t believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it.
“It’s not going to be totally smooth … things will happen."That quote has set off a firestorm. Here's a typical measured response, from Dan Wetzel at Yahoo Sports:
This is Dungy not standing up for his own convictions. It's Dungy using the same old buzzwords that caused society to move so slowly to grant equal rights and opportunities to minorities of all kinds, choosing what's easy over what's right (even if it likely will be easier for the generation of guys who actually play than an old man like Dungy realizes).You see, you're supposed to cave to Dan Wetzel. A few points:
Integrated third grades weren't "smooth." A black man on the Dodgers caused "things to happen." The first female executives in the business world weren't welcome by all. Lots of people were aghast at the thought of minorities owning homes, especially in their neighborhood. Politicians that didn't look like the Founding Fathers were upsetting to some. Many bristled against the idea of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, women, gays, whatever on factory lines, boardrooms, school boards and on military front lines.
This isn't even worth arguing. Caving to the most ignorant and obstinate among us is an embarrassment and should never, ever, be the basis for anything. Ever.
- Dungy is trying to explain how coaches think, especially NFL coaches. They want to keep the focus on the game itself.
- Anyone who follows the local team understands full well how distractions can mess up a season. Remember the Love Boat? Up until that moment, Daunte Culpepper was considered a solid citizen and a leader of men. Not long after, he tore up his knee and he was out of the league entirely by 2009.
- Speaking of distractions, how much fun are the Vikings having now, dealing with their former punter? Our friend First Ringer has an excellent synopsis of that mess over at Shot in the Dark.
Wetzel sees a more malign motive from Dungy:
Dungy is an outspoken conservative Christian and if he were to say that he wouldn't have drafted Michael Sam because the Bible that Dungy believes in condemns Sam's lifestyle that would be … well, that would be ridiculous, hypocritical and wrong also, but at least it would seemingly jibe with Dungy's sometimes expressed beliefs.Dungy will get his mind right. There are plenty of people who will see to that.
Sometimes being the operative word.
5 comments:
Demonstrating dungys point already...
What's interesting here is that 31 other teams (for nearly 7 full rounds) obviously had a similar thought to Dungy, otherwise Michael Sam would have been drafted far higher than he was.
Am I saying all those other teams passed because Sam was gay? No, but I do think every GM was considering the balance between Sam's on-field talent and the off-field distraction (regardless of how you view the value of openly gay athletes) and decided it wasn't worth it. Dungy's making the same point, complete with ellipsis which mean we have no idea what else Dungy said, and everyone else in filling in that blank space.
Lost in all of this is Sam himself - a player who may not even make the team. He's a 7th round pick, and few of them go on to have NFL careers. Could Sam be the exception? Sure. But you tell me the reaction if the Rams cut Sam sometime later this summer and no one picks him up. Combined with the Kluwe mess, the meme will be about the NFL's "homophobic culture" or some such nonsense. I'm sure those 31 other GMs realized, as the Rams either do or will learn, that they can't cut Sam.
I'm sure those 31 other GMs realized, as the Rams either do or will learn, that they can't cut Sam.
Yes.
I sure hope Dungy doesn't apologize. Much better to put NBC in the position of having to fire him for saying something entirely unobjectionable. Make these fascists own the extremity of their thought.
W.B.
Too late, WB. He has "clarified" his earlier remarks.
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