Tony Dungy is one of the most respected people in the world of sports and is looked upon as a mentor for many young athletes, but his comments yesterday about Michael Sam have tarnished his reputation forever. I mentioned him in my Rush Limbaugh article yesterday, but I wanted to focus in on his words today.

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.’’ The Rams say they are ready for the scrutiny and the dynamics.

I wonder how his life would be today if Branch Rickey would have passed on bringing up Jackie Robinson because he didn't want to "deal with all of it?" And yes, many horrible things did happen to the Dodgers and number 42 because of Rickey's decision to integrate a black ball player into MLB, but it also changed the society that Dungy and all Americans grew up in.

I don't understand a man, who was subjected to racism himself, would take the view of denying other discriminated people the opportunity to thrive in society? How a supposed man of God and Jesus could turn his back on Michael Sam's plight just because he opposes gay marriage?

Dungy used the same false argument against gay marriage as he does for Michael Sam:

Tony Dungy is a deeply religious man who puts his faith first in his life, even above family and football. So his support of a proposed gay-marriage ban likely surprised few.

What was surprising is the Indianapolis Colts' quiet coach shared his position publicly, sparking discussion about the impact of the Super Bowl winner's comments.

Dungy caused a stir Tuesday when he accepted the "Friend of Family" award from the conservative Indiana Family Institute.

The coach told the audience he supported the group's efforts to amend the Indiana constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman.

"I appreciate the stance they're taking, and I embrace that stance," Dungy told the crowd of about 700 people.

Dungy said his comments should not be considered gay bashing.

"We're not trying to downgrade anyone else. But we're trying to promote the family -- family values the Lord's way," Dungy said.

Tony passive aggressively engaged in gay bashing in 2007 and he's doing it once again because for him, that's what religion tells him to do. It's shockingly anti-intellectual and uninformed, sad and quite small for a man who is thought of so highly.

And what also exposes Tony Dungy as a complete fraud is his ardent support of Micheal Vick after he was released from prison. The Philadelphia Eagles were subjected to the kind of media scrutiny, outrage and other things that Dungy used as his reason for not wanting to draft Michael Sam.

Dungy received a lot of praise for his staunch support of Michael Vick, after the Atlanta quarterback went to prison for the torture and murder of dogs and being the leader of a dog fighting ring. If you've forgotten. Vick is man who sociopathically beat, tortured, and killed man's best friends in the most heinous fashion imaginable:

In addition to plunking down $34,000 to buy the Smithfield, Virginia, property where dozens of dogs were chained to car axles buried in the ground while they fought, sometimes to the death, in front of betting spectators, Vick and his co-defendants admitted to killing at least six (but perhaps as many as eight) dogs who did not display sufficiently aggressive traits during the "testing" process.

Several of those dogs were shot; at least two were were hosed down, then electrocuted. Three dogs were hanged, according to a report by the USDA inspector general, "by placing a nylon cord over a 2 x 4 that was nailed to two trees;" three more dogs were drowned "by putting the dogs' heads in a 5 gallon bucket of water."

Vick, with his partner, Quanis Phillips, killed yet another dog "by slamming it to the ground several times before it died, breaking the dog's back or neck." When another of his dogs was disqualified after jumping out of the ring during a fight, Vick had his associate, Purnell Peace, shoot that dog in the head with a .22 caliber pistol.

When federal officers raided Vick's property in 2007, they rescued 53 pit bulls. They also found nine pit bull carcasses, took samples of two skeletal remains, collected spent shell casings, syringes, and "pieces of plywood flooring and dry wall covered with dark stains believed to be canine blood." (Tests later confirmed, yes, the stains were dog blood.)

Other evidence seized from the property included a "rape stand" -- a device to which a female dog was strapped, her head fully restrained, so she could be raped by other dogs without ripping their throats out. (You can read the federal indictment and the follow-up from the USDA on the next page.)

To Dungy, Michael Vick, a very sick and twisted man man (who did pay a price for his behavior) deserved all his devotion while Michael Sam, who is guilty in the eyes of only the religious right for the crime of being gay doesn't get even a speck of his compassion. it's heartbreaking on so many levels.

Here's Dungy on Vick turning to the Lord:

When former Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy was asked to be a full-time mentor to disgraced football star Michael Vick, he wanted to know where it was that Vick wanted to go in the future and “where the Lord was in all this.”

“We talked about him growing up and having that side – that Christian background – but really getting to the NFL and feeling like he was his own guy. Somewhere in the course of all this, he realized that he had left that spiritual side,” Dungy recalled Friday of their meeting in May.

“When he kind of described that to me and the fact that he needed to get back closer to the Lord, that’s when I said, ‘I’m going to stay involved in this. I’m going to help you,’” the outspoken man of faith added.

After making that commitment, Dungy did what he has been doing for many of the hours he’s spent each day since retiring from the NFL in January – he helped an inmate reshape his life.

Furthermore, Dungy vouched for Vick after the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback was reinstated into the NFL last month, talking to as many as a dozen teams that were interested in Vick.

Some even say that Vick’s reinstatement could not have happened without Dungy vouching for him, given the gross nature of the crimes he committed.

What would Dungy say if Michael Sam told him he wanted to really connect to the Lord with his help, but still remain gay? What would he do?

I guess he just wouldn't want to deal with it all except when he does.