Can You Handle the Truth?

You get the media coverage you want, but not the media coverage that you need. 

It’s an alarming and emerging trend that we saw with Tony Dungy’s comments.

In a recent interview the former Colts head coach was asked if he would have selected Michael Sam in the draft. 

Dungy said, "I wouldn't have taken him. 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."

Immediately afterwards, Dungy was blasted by the vast majority of the public and media. 

Tony Dungy gives us an HONEST opinion and what do we do? 

We trounce all over his honesty and label him a bigot.  The comments section of articles are filled with Dungy bashing. 

Dungy was the first black NFL coach to win the Super Bowl.  He’s well known for working with prison inmates to help rehabilitate them.  And now we’re calling him a bigot for being honest.

Before we go on – let me be clear.  I sincerely have no dislike, bigotry, or anything of the sort towards homosexuals.  Personally, I would have drafted Michael Sam so that I could take advantage of the jersey sales (his jersey is currently #7 and he’s not even a lock to actually make the team). 

That being said, it’s hard to argue that there won’t be a media circus surrounding Michael Sam wherever he goes. It’s certainly a distraction to the organization.  Maybe not a huge distraction and maybe not an unmanageable distraction, but it will definitely be a distraction.  Every time your organization has another distraction, no matter how small, it does take away from your focus. 

It’s really not hard to understand the logic behind what Dungy is saying.  Therefore, it begs the question of why his words were twisted so much.  Why do we feel the need to put words in his mouth, and why are these words anything but the most hateful rhetoric that he could have?

When Richard Sherman went on his rant at the end of the NFC title game, we reacted the same way.  Everyone immediately flocked to the internet to bash Sherman.  Although I didn’t appreciate Sherman’s bad sportsmanship when he made the comments about Michael Crabtree, I did applaud his honesty.

Our reaction to both of these events certainly makes you appreciate why we get so little honesty from anyone in modern media.  We’re so desperate for a sensational story that we’re willing to jump to insane conclusions.  We put the absolutely most deplorable words in your mouth and we’re willing to act like its trendy.

A frequent complaint that I hear is that people are tired of hearing the stereotypical Bill Belichick press conference.  People complain that they’re tired of hearing conferences consisting of the “most generic, inoffensive speech I could give; our opponents are amazing; we didn’t execute.”

Granted, Belichick is the extreme example, but think carefully about most of the interviews you see or read.  Think about how many honest opinions are really out there.  I’m willing to bet you can’t think of many.

It’s easy to see why.  Back in college, I worked during the summer at a radio station. Someone received a surprising complaint.  On the air, a DJ used the phrase “rule of thumb”.  In the context of the show, the phrase was used to describe a generally accepted rule, i.e. it is a rule of thumb that you should always look both ways before you cross the street. 

Apparently, the term rule of thumb used to refer to a rule that husbands could beat their wives as long as they didn’t use an object thicker than their thumb.  The individual who complained couldn’t hear past this phrase and completely missed out on the content.  They assumed that the phrase was being used to advocate violence towards women.  Obviously when the phrase had been used on the show, no one had any clue of its origins.  There was absolutely no intention of suggesting that anyone act violently towards women.  We put words in the mouth of whoever said it and assumed the worst.

We need to stop listening to how people say things and start listening to what they’re saying. 

Don’t assume that everyone is trying to spread hateful speech in everything they do.  Let’s be able to have adult conversations where we can disagree with one another and actually still be civil.  We say that we practice free speech, but it’s hard to say that your speech feels free when there’s little you can say without being called a bigot.

We’re missing out on some truly quality content by not being able to handle the truth.  Think about how fascinating it would be to really get inside the minds of the players and coaches, to really be exposed to some actual honesty.  We’ll never get as much honesty as we’d like, but we can certainly stand to get a lot more just by acting like adults.