Thoughts on Tony Dungy's comments?

Mr. Obvious wrote:

vragragfda wrote:

I more or less agree with midwestern roll. An irony is that Dungy is somewhat being proven correct by the overreaction of the media to his comments. It's headline news on all the sports sites. This will be the case all season, if Same makes the team. That's a distraction, and is something that most coaches and GMs would take into consideration when drafting a player.

What about this don't you people understand? It is only an issue because of people like Tony Dungy.

Why are you making Tony Dungy the problem? He has no issues whatsoever with a gay player in the NFL. As he said, the NFL is merit based. If you are good enough to make a team better, you will be on a team.

Sam chose to create the media circus. He was working with Oprah on a reality show. If it were not for that kind of publicity stunt, Tony Dungy wouldn't even be a subject.

If you want to blame anyone, blame the media for blowing the whole subject into a headline grabbing frenzy.

Josh Hamilton's Addiction wrote:

Why is it ridiculous to root for him because he's gay? I look forward to the day when someone's sexual preference is not newsworthy, but that day isn't here yet. There are still homosexuals killing themselves every year because they are demeaned or made to think they're worthless. Why is it ridiculous for me to root for a gay football player, in hopes that him succeeding can serve as inspiration for other homosexuals to confidently live their lives in the face of ridicule?

Your motivation is worthy, so I will accept.

Personally, I still can not bring myself to root for him, even for the reason you mention. Gay people have a LOT of role models today and lots of ways to get support and help if needed, and acceptance of greater than ever. Professional sports should be about winning first and foremost, so if he's good enough to make the team and do well, then I root for him. If his not, then I don't. I'm one of the most liberal people here, so of course I couldn't care less about his sexual orientation and am not bothered by it in the slightest.

Flagpole wrote:

Your motivation is worthy, so I will accept.

Personally, I still can not bring myself to root for him, even for the reason you mention. Gay people have a LOT of role models today and lots of ways to get support and help if needed, and acceptance of greater than ever. Professional sports should be about winning first and foremost, so if he's good enough to make the team and do well, then I root for him. If his not, then I don't. I'm one of the most liberal people here, so of course I couldn't care less about his sexual orientation and am not bothered by it in the slightest.

I'm not saying he should be given a spot on a team or play in games solely because he's gay. He should earn those based on his play. But I personally want to see him have a successful career on the playing field. So I'll root for him to play well, but I won't say he deserves a spot solely for being gay.

Not dungy wrote:

Why are you making Tony Dungy the problem? He has no issues whatsoever with a gay player in the NFL. As he said, the NFL is merit based. If you are good enough to make a team better, you will be on a team.

Sam chose to create the media circus. He was working with Oprah on a reality show. If it were not for that kind of publicity stunt, Tony Dungy wouldn't even be a subject.

If you want to blame anyone, blame the media for blowing the whole subject into a headline grabbing frenzy.

Sure, he has no issues, except he wouldn't have him on his team. OK, so he's OK with him on somebody else's team.

Tony Dungy is part of the media. He went and said that he wouldn't have him on his team, which created a lot of headlines and stories.

Michael Sam is the distraction?

People should know that there are plenty of "Dungy's" out there. So in that sense it's valuable.

It would be interesting to see if the former HC would have said the same thing about a top-10 draft? If not, it shows Dungy's a bully who is picking on someone who will have to have a great camp to make the team.

"Not dungy" said that Dungy "has no issues whatsoever with a gay player in the NFL", to which you responded "Sure, he has no issues, except he wouldn't have him on his team." Do you not think Dungy has already knowingly had gay players on his team? Do you think Dungy said that just because Sam is gay? I think how one answers these questions shape how they reacted to the comments.

Every retired football player I've heard interviewed about this has said they've had a gay teammate. They've also said that there were little to no issues in the locker room. The difference here is the media circus that will follow Sam. Similar comments were made about Tebow and Manti Te'o being potential distractions before the draft. Some say Te'o dropped considerably in the draft due to concerns about him being a distraction (though his BCS Championship Game performance didn't help either).

Dungy has been outspoken about gay rights in the past.

So, no I don't believe his self-professed statement that he has no problems having a gay person in his locker room and that the only reason he wouldn't have him is the distraction. He has also been outspoken in favor of taken Johnny Manziel. Distraction isn't an issue there, apparently. A little too convenient that something he dislikes personally is too big a distraction.

Sure, it's the gays and not the bigots who are at the root of the distraction.

Josh Hamilton's Addiction wrote:

I'm not saying he should be given a spot on a team or play in games solely because he's gay. He should earn those based on his play. But I personally want to see him have a successful career on the playing field. So I'll root for him to play well, but I won't say he deserves a spot solely for being gay.

Yeah. I get it. I just can't go that far. With sports, I typically root for players to do well if they bolster a team I'm a fan of. Once in a great while, I will root for a guy simply because he has shown great character, and I like to see those guys finish first in life, but for political or societal gain, I can't bring myself to do it. Am I GLAD (pun intended) that someone out there might feel better about themselves if he makes an NFL team? Sure. Not enough to root for it though just based on his sexuality. I care about sports for the sake of sports, and for no other reason.

Did any of the bigots partner with Oprah Winfrey to create a reality TV show about their life?

Mr. Obvious wrote:

vragragfda wrote:

I more or less agree with midwestern roll. An irony is that Dungy is somewhat being proven correct by the overreaction of the media to his comments. It's headline news on all the sports sites. This will be the case all season, if Same makes the team. That's a distraction, and is something that most coaches and GMs would take into consideration when drafting a player.

What about this don't you people understand? It is only an issue because of people like Tony Dungy.

This ^

You seem to have your mind made up.

Manziel is first round talent, so the risk/reward equation is much different. He did drop further in the draft than many expected, likely due to his potential to be a distraction. It appears that the potential distraction WAS an issue there. The difference is that Sam is a borderline NFL talent, so lowering his draft value due to the potential distraction results in deciding not to draft him.

Nobody is saying that what the root of the distraction is, that's irrelevant to the fact that there IS potential for a distraction. That's the point. It IS the bigots fault, but there ARE bigots. That's a reality. Saying "Sure, it's the gays and not the bigots who are at the root of the distraction" is a strawman, because that's not what anyone is saying.

Right, but for Tony Dungy as a member of the media to create a distraction (because of his own beliefs) and then say he wouldn't draft Sam because of the distraction it would cause is, again, a case of blaming the victim. Michael Sam has been quiet for months...

Dungy is a coward plain and simple. boo-hoo distraction. Hate to break it you Tony but as an NFL coach 50% of your job is dealing with distractions.

I am sure many owners passed over qualified black coaches because they didn't want distractions.

and then to come out with this "I want him to succeed in the NFL" bull. He cannot succeed if with attitudes like Dungy's exist.

People seem to forge that Sam was the SEC Co-Defensive player of the year. Every SEC Def. POY in the last 10 years has gone in the first or second. The guy we shared the award with was a first rounder.

Sam fell to the 7th because of bigotry like Dungy's

Not dungy wrote:

Did any of the bigots partner with Oprah Winfrey to create a reality TV show about their life?

um, dummee, they are on Fox News, The history channel,CMT, TLC and pretty much any network that has a hillbilly reality show.

Yall ready for this, thank you for that perfect take down of Dungy. Well done.

Jeff Fisher had two 7th-round picks, so he could afford to take a chance on Sam. It's not like he used a 2nd or 3rd round pick. Plus, Fisher has handled the media circus extremely well so far.

To be fair, most analysts had Sam as a tweener who didn't fit well in any position in the NFL. He was generally considered either a 7th round pick or an Undrafted Free Agent prior to the draft. I don't remember ever hearing him mentioned any higher than 6th round, and that was a stretch, because he doesn't fit the prototype mold of either of the positions he would most likely have to play.

Less than 1 in 10 7th rounders make it to the 53 man roster. I don't think it's fair to jump on Dungy for saying what virtually every NFL front office was thinking and most pundits were saying on ESPN.

Why would you want to risk a distraction for a 7th round guy?

That said, good luck to him.

fisky wrote:

Less than 1 in 10 7th rounders make it to the 53 man roster. I don't think it's fair to jump on Dungy for saying what virtually every NFL front office was thinking and most pundits were saying on ESPN.

Why would you want to risk a distraction for a 7th round guy?

That said, good luck to him.

Sam is not the distraction. Dungy is the distraction. Why are you failing to get this?

Mr. Obvious wrote:

fisky wrote:

Less than 1 in 10 7th rounders make it to the 53 man roster. I don't think it's fair to jump on Dungy for saying what virtually every NFL front office was thinking and most pundits were saying on ESPN.

Why would you want to risk a distraction for a 7th round guy?

That said, good luck to him.

Sam is not the distraction. Dungy is the distraction. Why are you failing to get this?

Is Dungy the only person that is going to make a comment about Sam that will lead to a distraction? If not, is Dungy wrong for acknowledging that others may comment on Sam, which may be a distraction to the team that drafts him? Is Dungy guilty of all other future comments by the media because he's also a member of the media? If Dungy had not said something, but then other members of the media did, creating a distraction, would Dungy's sentiments have been correct? What if Dungy said the same thing, but wasn't a member of the media? Would he be right then?

Huh what wrote:

Is Dungy the only person that is going to make a comment about Sam that will lead to a distraction? If not, is Dungy wrong for acknowledging that others may comment on Sam, which may be a distraction to the team that drafts him? Is Dungy guilty of all other future comments by the media because he's also a member of the media? If Dungy had not said something, but then other members of the media did, creating a distraction, would Dungy's sentiments have been correct? What if Dungy said the same thing, but wasn't a member of the media? Would he be right then?

Personally I would not be against inter-racial dating except that, face it, the mixed race kids resulting from inter-racial marriage will be subject to racism and discrimination from both sides. It's just not fair to the kids. So I really think it's a bad idea.