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Tony Dungy has a distraction problem

Brent Smith / USA Today

When Tony Dungy speaks, he does so slowly. It seems as though each word is carefully selected, passing an intricate inspection first before traveling from mind to mouth. He realizes the influence of his words, and avoids any unwanted consequences.

That’s what made his comments to the Tampa Tribune regarding Michael Sam so jarring. Dungy, a Hall of Fame candidate and former head coach of the Indianapolis Colts and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was asked to approach Michael Sam -- the St. Louis Rams defensive end and the NFL’s first openly gay player -- from the perspective of a coach. Would he draft Sam, as the Rams did in the seventh round this past May?

No, he wouldn’t. Not because of a lack of talent, and not even because of Sam’s sexuality, or so Dungy says. Instead, a Dungy coached team would avoid the SEC defensive player of the year because of something far removed from Sam’s control: he could be a distraction.

“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.’’

“Things will happen”. It sounds ominous at first, then odd.

As accepting as the league has been to Sam and as moving as his speech was after he was given the Arthur Ashe award at the ESPYs, he certainly knows there could be difficult times, and some around the NFL who may not be as open. Humans are like that, and he’s prepared for challenges, just as the Rams are during training camp and if he makes the final roster.

Pioneers and trailblazers are always ready for challenges. It’s in their character, and those who have accepted Sam along his journey (first the University of Missouri, and now the Rams) aren’t concerned about obstacles, and they especially aren’t worried about a media distraction. Increased attention shouldn’t strip Sam of an opportunity.

But Dungy is worried about a distraction, so worried he would steer clear. He elaborated in a statement Tuesday:

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.

It’s an unfortunate opinion, though not an entirely unique one. It’s roughly the same stance voiced by Bill Polian, the former general manager who worked above Dungy in Indianapolis. Polian now brings that experience to his position as an NFL analyst, and prior to the draft he said teams could avoid Sam due to distraction concerns.

There’s that word again: distraction. Coming from Dungy, though, it’s confusing, and downright hypocritical. Dungy was the first African American head coach to win the Super Bowl, an accomplishment in 2007 made possible decades earlier when someone paid little attention to the risks of a hiring that went against established norms, and gave him a chance.

That someone was Chuck Knoll, who brought Dungy to Pittsburgh in 1981. Knoll didn’t care about distractions, a term that in today’s NFL often loosely translates to: “a challenge that isn’t worth the investment, in time or energy.”

Here’s a short list of significant distractions that have been tolerated in an NFL locker room, all in the relatively recent past:

  • Michael Vick killing dogs
  • Donte Stallworth killing a human
  • Ray Lewis being on trial for allegedly killing humans, and reaching a plea deal

  • Ben Roethlisberger doing scumbag things in a Milledgeville washroom

  • Plaxico Burress bringing a gun into a club and shooting himself

  • Albert Haynesworth groping a waitress

  • Albert Haynesworth punching someone during a traffic altercation

  • Albert Haynesworth in general

Michael Sam has committed no crime, and has not lashed out at a teammate or coach. He’s aware that as a seventh-round pick his climb to make the Rams’ roster -- or any roster -- is steep. But as a person he’s done no harm, committed no legal foul, and he could either be cut or become a late-round gem, or anything in between.

Meanwhile, Stallworth struck and killed a pedestrian while under the influence of alcohol and marijuana, and spent a month in jail. Following his release he was suspended for the entire 2009 season. Yet still after that punishment ended he appeared in 20 games over the next three seasons, playing in three different cities, with a distraction mattering little.

Michael Vick was convicted of running a dogfighting ring, and spent 21 months in prison. He was released in July of 2009, and that same year he appeared in 12 games for the Philadelphia Eagles. Then a season later he became their starting quarterbacks, winning the Comeback Player of the Year award while scoring 30 total touchdowns. After his contract in Philadelphia expired Vick was signed by the New York Jets this offseason, where he’ll provide support behind Geno Smith.

It’s been almost exactly seven years since Vick pled guilty to those dogfighting charges, and he still holds an important position on an NFL roster. Both of his teams since wanted to improve, so a distraction was tolerated and weathered, and games were won.

The Vick example is especially troubling for Dungy, who was a strong advocate for the former Falcon during his rehabilitation process, mentoring and championing him as a changed man. Despite the distraction he knew it would cause (and the protests that eventually followed in Philadelphia), Dungy declared Vick ready for the NFL.

Beyond Vick, Dungy has been a guiding voice for other troubled players as they fight various personal demons. In a 2009 interview, he said that after mentoring “eventually the light goes on, and they change”.

That’s how Dungy became branded as the NFL’s good faith and behavior ambassador. He did it by taking on the discarded, the damaged, and the personality flaws no one wanted. He did it by being brave, just like Michael Sam.

Progress is distracting. It’s something that’s different, and different can be scary to some at first, particularly when it challenges your worldview as it does for Dungy, whose religious beliefs have led to a public stance against gay marriage.

Then the distraction fades, and it becomes the norm. Eventually we’ll reach that point with Sam and other openly gay athletes, and surely soon.

But we were never going to get there by embracing the criminal distraction presented by the likes of Vick, and casting aside the brave distraction of Sam.

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