Tony Dungy wouldn't have drafted Michael Sam. But not because he's gay! No, no. Because things will happen. You know ... things.
Three thoughts.
1: Look! Look! See, Michael Sam is on TV being interviewed about non-football issues. He's being a DISTRACTION! And why? Because ... well, because Tony Dungy is in the media talking about how Sam is a distraction.
Don't start no distraction, won't be no distraction. Just saying.
2: Good thing the folks who opened the door for people like Tony Dungy weren't like Tony Dungy. Let's look at Tony's criterion. He wouldn't have picked Sam because something might happen. You know, locker rooms being locker rooms and thick headed jocks being thick headed jocks, you introduce a gay into the mix and, well, you just don't know. You can't take that chance. You shouldn't bring someone into the team if there's a chance their presence might be disruptive.
You know who else was disruptive? Jackie Robinson. And by Dungy's reasoning he should have been kept out of MLB. That standard - don't take a guy if something might happen - well, how could something not happen if you allowed a minority to play? Locker rooms were full of racists, and you know something might happen.
Know what else might have been a distraction? Letting a black man coach an NFL team.
This is what gripes me. Not just the rampant hypocrisy - I mean, Dungy had no problems with the potential distractions that Mike Vick, a dog-torturing felon might create. He had no issues with the distractions that Tim Tebow, the biggest media circus in league history, represented. But he has issues with a distraction that nobody was talking about until he brought the issue back to the attention of the media. No, beyond that, it's the cluelessness, the lack of social self-awareness, I guess. Dungy's stance here is like Justice Clarence Thomas being opposed to the social engineering programs that made his success in life possible.
3: Do. The right. Thing. The Dungy standard is all the more regressive because of its underlying principle: appease the bullies. If letting a gay man into the locker room might cause the Neanderthals to act out, you shouldn't do it. Hmmm. If it's going to upset Lester Maddox and George Wallace, you shouldn't pass the Civil Rights Act. If it's going to antagonize the patriarchists, you shouldn't let women vote.
No, Tony, you don't allow your worst elements to hold society hostage, and an upright "Man of Faith®" ought to understand this. What would Jesus do? Well, first he'd check to make sure that he wasn't going to ruffle the feathers of the Pharisees or the money changers or the Romans or the mob getting ready to stone the adulteress.
If "something happens," Tony, you damned well punish the guilty, you don't run off the innocent.
Tony Dungy is a black man with a Super Bowl ring and a great job as a TV analyst. He needs to be damned glad society doesn't always give in to men like him.
