re: Tony Dungey has touched the third rail

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Teams can deal with the headache especially of this kind of player.

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Any team "can". But why would anyone want to?

"headaches" are deciding factors in draft spots. That's how heavily teams weigh it.

Dungy "could" attempt to deal with it, but why not just grab another 7th round pick who you'll probably cut that is pretty much a certainty not to cause a media circus.

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Tony Dungy is also very strong in his Christian convictions.

Regardless, kudos to him for having the nads to put it out there.

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And just like progressives will say that Dungy is discriminating, conservative christian will say he is standing up for his religious belief.

Both are equally idiotic. Dungy's comments have nothing to do with Sam's homosexuality.

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Well, I don't know the context, but if those were his exact words, than "it" could simply mean the media circus it's sure to be with him around.

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I don't see what else "it" could be.

Dungy undoubtedly had gay players when he was a head coach and a coordinator. And he probably had a gay teammate at some point in his playing career.

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I don't blame him. Who would want to draft a guy who's only known for who he likes to sleep with? Imagine the backlash that will happen when the Rams cut him? Who would want to deal with the media circus that is Michael Sam?

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Rams better play Sam a lot during preseason so if Sam is released they have plenty of evidence that it was Sam's lack of skills rather than being gay or this thing could blow up.

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Dungy is a card carrying republican, turned down a position on Obama's faith panel and has been openly critical of his medical reform. He was complimentary of his accomplishments as a black man, but nothing indicates he is a big fan. I know most black people blindly worship Obama, but there are some outliers. A couple other black republicans: LL Cool J, 50 Cent, Lynn Swan , Don King and Dwayne Johnson. It happens

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And the mack daddys of all black conservatives.....Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams.

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Well, it looks like those of you who said he was immune were wrong.

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I didn't get why people were saying this. He said nothing racial, in which case he indeed would be immune. He's a devote Christian who said something about a gay guy. Of course he was gonna be crucified.

If a gay guy would've said this nothing would've come of it.

already responded:

On Monday afternoon while on vacation with my family, I was quite surprised to read excerpts from an interview I gave several weeks ago related to this year’s NFL Draft, and I feel compelled to clarify those remarks.

I was asked whether I would have drafted Michael Sam and I answered that I would not have drafted him. I gave my honest answer, which is that I felt drafting him would bring much distraction to the team. At the time of my interview, the Oprah Winfrey reality show that was going to chronicle Michael’s first season had been announced.

I was not asked whether or not Michael Sam deserves an opportunity to play in the NFL. He absolutely does.

I was not asked whether his sexual orientation should play a part in the evaluation process. It should not.

I was not asked whether I would have a problem having Michael Sam on my team. I would not.

I have been asked all of those questions several times in the last three months and have always answered them the same way—by saying that playing in the NFL is, and should be, about merit.

The best players make the team, and everyone should get the opportunity to prove whether they’re good enough to play. That’s my opinion as a coach. But those were not the questions I was asked.

What I was asked about was my philosophy of drafting, a philosophy that was developed over the years, which was to minimize distractions for my teams.

I do not believe Michael’s sexual orientation will be a distraction to his teammates or his organization.

I do, however, believe that the media attention that comes with it will be a distraction. Unfortunately we are all seeing this play out now, and I feel badly that my remarks played a role in the distraction.

I wish Michael Sam nothing but the best in his quest to become a star in the NFL and I am confident he will get the opportunity to show what he can do on the field.

My sincere hope is that we will be able to focus on his play and not on his sexual orientation.

1. Wow, I was right about the 24 hour response after all.

2. Is that statement going to be enough to get the hounds to back off?

Dungy is a smart guy. He should have just said, "yeah if we needed a linebacker I might draft him". In fact he's smart enough to know that is something he should have said or should have said, "it depends".

My guess is that Dungy knew what he was saying was going to be controversial and he wanted to fit in his own personal views so he meant what he originally said and is now backtracking which he figured he'd have to do all along.

Smart guy, but he knew what was going to happen all along and wanted to express his personal views.