Sticks and Stones

Dez Bryant’s Condescending Interview with the Miami Dolphins

by Mia Jackson

Certain words that a person says to another sting and really hurt. Taunts and teases from a troubled childhood can etch deeply in an already overloaded mind. But when Dez Bryant sat across from Jeff Ireland, General Manager of the Miami Dolphins, I doubt he expected a question that he’d hear those types of words from a “professional.”

“Is your mother a prostitute?”

Say what? Ask the Oklahoma State WR about his speed or work ethic. Question the young man about lying when it came to his relationship with Deion Sanders. Drill him on whether or not he knows how to tell time, given his tendency to arrive late for practices and games. But asking him whether or not his mother is a sex worker is akin to playground slap in the face. I agree with Michael Wilbon who said, and I paraphrase, that had the young man stood up and knocked over the table he would be perfectly within his rights. I’ll take it one step further and say that had Bryant cold-cocked the man in that room, few would have said he was wrong.

Dez’s past is an open book. His mother, Angela Bryant, spent 18 months in prison when the rookie receiver was but a child of eight years old. He has no relationship with his father to speak of. I’d say that’s enough to drive anyone mad. But clearly, he was dedicated to performing to the best of his abilities. But Ireland, in what appears to be a haughty, condescending interview, probably took Dez places in his imagination that I dare not want to know about.

Yesterday, Ireland apologized but I still wonder what made him feel that he had the right to ask that particular question? In his written statement posted by the Miami Herald, it sounds as if he still tried to justify his line of questioning: “My job is to find out as much information as possible about a player that I’m considering drafting. Sometimes that leads to asking in-depth questions.” There’s in-depth and then there’s inappropriate. Know the difference.

Pardon the grammar, but Dez, we got your back on this one.

Dez Bryant was the second wide received taken at #24 in the 1^st round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys. Jerry Jones didn’t want to miss out as he did with Randy Moss who was just a vocal as Bryant about his dream to play for the ‘Boys. Be on the lookout for 1^st year impact from this Oklahoma State University product.