You are an NFL team being visited by one of the top receivers in the upcoming draft and being a position of need, you are interested in said player. You want to know his vitals, measurables, stats and knowledge of the position. Additionally, if you are Jeff Ireland, GM of the Miami Dolphins, you want to know if his mother was a former prostitute because OBVIOUSLY, that can effect his ability to go up and get a pass or run a crossing route across the middle against linebackers and safeties. I mean look at the logic; Jerry Rice's mother, assumingly, was never a prostitute and he is a Hall of Famer. The same for Irvin, Swann, Warfield, Larg...wait.
What about Quincy Morgan, Kevin Johnson or Andre King of the Browns? They failed so their mother's must have been prostitutes, right? That is the reason why Jeff Ireland asked that quesiton; if your momma is on the corner waiving down "Johns" then you can't be a good NFL receiver.
I hope by now you are able to recognize the utter sarcasm in the above paragraphs. This is so insanely stupid and baffling by Jeff Ireland. He says, "My job is to find out as much information I can about a player before drafting him". So, what does his mother possibly being a prostitute have to do with anything? What correlation is there between Bryant being suspended for having contact with Primetime and his mother being a prostitute? Nothing. Nada.
The suspension Dez Bryant underwent while at Oklahoma State had everything to do with his off-field troubles revolving around a mistake due to a dinner with Deion Sanders and the NCAA wanting to make an example of him. But for some reason with Bryant, his past, his mom, his character "issues" have been magnified to the point of ridiculousness. Bryant hasn't been accused of any crime, never been implicated in a sexual assault, never been imprisoned because of drug trafficking, never been convicted of dogfighting, never been arrested for DUI, never had an issue with guns like a lot of other NFL players.
He also never was involved in an academic scandal, stole laptops, punched a guy on the field after the game, pleaded guilty to assault, shaved points, or been involved in some sort of Hatfield and McCoy war with the Ok St basketball team like some college athletes have. So why is Dez Bryant subject to character scrutiny of unheard of levels? And why is he asked about his mom being a prostitute?
The pre-draft interviews are a job interview for these guys and can potentially cost them millions of dollars if they do poorly. Much like the real world; if you were applying for a job as an accountant and your future boss asked if your mother was a prostitute, that would be a violation of law and the boss would be severely reprimanded. But this is where the Shield is different. Will Ireland be disciplined by the Dolphins or the league? I don't think so. Why? The image factor.
The league, after Pacman Jones, Big Ben, and Vick ran rickshaw over the conduct policy, is trying to reform it's image. They want more Tebows and less Bens, and I think this mindset is why Ireland felt the need to ask such a question. The paranoia over the conduct policy and Dez Bryant as an accused diva wide receiver with a troubled past is making teams do unusual things; like asking if your mother was a former prostitute.
Was race a factor? Don't go there. This had nothing to do with Dez being black and had all to do with his NCAA suspension and a hyper-sensitization of league personnel due to all of the recent scandal and the NFL's conduct policy. Tim Tebow would never be asked this; neither would Gerald McCoy. Only because of Dez's suspension, rumor mongering, and sensationalism was he asked this insane, idiotic, and inappropriate question. But Dez Bryant's situation speaks to a larger, systemic problem within the league when a guy like Ben Roethlisberger can consistently have run-ins with the law and have his team stand by him... and a guy like Dez Bryant is given a career black mark even before he plays an NFL down.
SHAME ON YOU, Mr. Ireland, SIR.. and shame on the NFL! Your ineptitude is indeed apparent in this situation, and it must make me wonder; is your mother a prostitute?
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