Brennan: Dungy just more evidence of NFL's problem
It's not the NFL's fault that Dan Snyder and his Washington team continue to use and defend a blatantly racist nickname. It's also not the NFL's fault that former head coach and current TV talking head Tony Dungy said he wouldn't have drafted the NFL's first openly gay player because he "wouldn't want to deal with all of it."
The NFL itself is not to blame for Richie Incognito's boorish and offensive behavior with the Miami Dolphins last season, or Minnesota Vikings' special teams coach Mike Priefer's equally nasty and unacceptable anti-gay language.
Each of these events, taken separately, is an example of a leader of some standing, whether in the board room or the locker room, exhibiting the kind of behavior or using the kind of language that is increasingly, and nobly, considered unacceptable in our country.
Put them all together, however, and they paint an ugly portrait that in its totality has become the NFL's problem. Any league, logically, is the sum of its parts, which means the NFL finds itself in a place that no business ever wants to be:
On the wrong side of history.
The NFL doesn't become newer and fresher and more appealing to fans and consumers when Snyder digs in his heels or Dungy tries to explain away what appear to be prejudiced comments by blaming a journalist for not asking the right question.
No, because of Snyder and Dungy, and the comments of Incognito and Priefer, the NFL only looks older and staler and far less appealing to the very people it still would like to reach: the young, the open-minded, the people it hasn't yet completely attracted.
(And yes, until NFL TV ratings reach 100 percent, which is highly unlikely, some of those people still actually exist.)
The NFL is far too big to fail. This isn't about that. It can weather pretty much anything, including, probably, all of the above. But image is important to any brand, and right now, the people who represent the league to millions – the Dan Snyders and Tony Dungys of the world – are making it look stodgy, out of touch and downright discriminatory.
It looks like your grandfather's NFL.
While the controversy over the Washington NFL team nickname predictably picks up steam by the week, Dungy's comments were a new and unwanted addition to a story that, until now, has mostly been about the league's ability to honorably welcome its first openly gay player, Michael Sam.
"I wouldn't have taken him," Dungy told the Tampa Tribune. "It's not going to be totally smooth…things will happen."
Of all people, Tony Dungy said this. Dungy was one of the ground-breaking African-American quarterbacks in the Big Ten (at Minnesota) and became the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl. He would never have had the career he has had if strong-willed white leaders a couple of generations ago decided to not allow black men to play football because it wasn't "going to be totally smooth…things will happen."
Can you imagine how different sports history would be if Brooklyn Dodgers co-owner Branch Rickey had been advised by a man like Dungy, and therefore had not signed Jackie Robinson?
When criticism hit, Dungy, an outspoken opponent of gay rights, of course backtracked, saying Sam "absolutely" deserves to play in the NFL, even as he faulted the reporter who broke the story for not asking him a follow-up question. How many thousands of times has Dungy been interviewed in his career? It defies credulity to think he needs a journalist to help steer him in the right direction.
All of this is downright embarrassing for any 21st century professional league, especially one with as much perceived public relations savvy as the NFL. League officials would be the first to tell us that the idea isn't to diminish or alienate the fan base, but grow it. Perhaps it's time for NFL officials to send that memo to Snyder, Dungy, et. al.
