A New Low: Dolphins' GM totally umprofessional Winston-Salem Journal
Published: April 30, 2010
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - What if he had said yes? What possible difference could it have made?
That's what fascinates me about Jeff Ireland, the general manager of the Miami Dolphins, asking prospective draftee Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute earlier in life.
The question only serves to humiliate the player and not inform the Dolphins on the risks of investing millions of dollars in a spectacular receiver who was dragged through a desperate childhood.
It was already well documented that Bryant's mother served 18 months for selling crack cocaine, heading off to prison when Dez was 8 and starting him on a path of living with family members and acquaintances during his adolescent years. How much worse does the story need to be, and what sordid details are worth pinning to a draft board?
If there's any new dirt here, it falls on Ireland's reputation alone. By asking an ugly question in a private interview, he clearly behaved as if nothing he said would become public. Now that it has, Ireland has apologized to Bryant and anybody else who thinks him an insensitive lout.