Dungy Blasted by Media for Comments

Published on 22-Jul-2014 by Stacey Mickles

Football - NFL    NFL Daily Review

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Dungy Blasted by Media for Comments

As we said yesterday, Tony Dungy's comments about Michael Sam would blow up and the stuff would hit the fan.

Lo and behold! It has.

There's now serious debate among media members as to what Dungy said. Some, like Stephen A Smith of ESPN and Oberto renown, had no problem with what Dungy said and thought the whole situation got blown out of proportion.

Of course, Stephen A has never found a controversy he didn't like. 

But then there's Keith Olbermann, also of ESPN and no commercial credits, who put Dungy on blast for his comments. He contends the same comments Dungy is making about Michael Sam is what was often said about blacks as players and coaches.

I thought about it, and Olberman's right. If a white dude had said what Dungy did about a black player or coach, we'd all be up in arms. Just ask Donald Sterling.

But because it's Sam, it's a distraction. Didn't they say that about Jackie Robinson?

Hey, if blacks start playing with whites, the white fans will go crazy.

And for a while, they did. Eventually, though, they calmed down when they saw what Robinson and other black players could do for their team.

The same will happen with Sam. If he can play and play well, no one will give a hoot about him being gay. His sexuality is not going to define him as a player.

I still lean on the side that Dungy didn't mean anything by his comments, other than Sam would be a distraction to him and his team.

If Dungy is as smart as I think he is, he'll come out with a statement clarifying his comments. I think the last thing he wants to be is that black coach who didn't support a black/gay player.