Ripping Reilly

"Let's play a game. I'll describe a childhood, and you figure out who had it.

Person No. 1 -- Raised in his grandmother's brothel, the son of a prostitute, he was raped by a neighbor at 6 and molested by a Catholic priest during catechism.

Person No. 2 -- Considered useless and distant, teachers wrote of him, as noted in Catherine Hurley's "Could do Better": "Certainly on the road to failure … hopeless … rather a clown in class … wasting other pupils' time."

Person No. 3 -- Raised in the brothel run by his aunt, he was once sent home from school for "insufficient clothes" and was arrested at 15 for breaking into cars.

Give up?
1. Richard Pryor.
2. John Lennon.
3. James Brown.

Arguably the greatest comedian, songwriter and soul singer of the 20th century, respectively.

The question isn't: "Why did Miami Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland ask Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant if his mom was a prostitute?" The question is: "Why should it matter?"

You're not drafting the mom, you're drafting the son! Supposing it's true that Angela Bryant was a prostitute at 15 when she had Dez, how does it reflect on his worth? How is it relevant? What was he supposed to do about it?"

This article is the epitome of why I hate Rick Reilly's articles. Since Rick has surprisingly little sports insight to offer (in fact not sure I have ever read a sports point from Rick that wasn't either blatantly obvious or some kind of politically correct commentary on life in the guise of a sports article), he tries to find some sports related controversy or injustice that he can pedantically opine about while avoiding having to provide any sports insight at all.

In this article Rick decides that he is going to rally against NFL GMs that asked about a draft pick's family life. If I was making a multi-million dollar investment decision, I would probably want to know in detail about the background of the business or asset I was buying. I don't see why it is any different for these NFL players.

The fact that Ricky boy thinks that trotting out a few success stories proves his point that Bryant's family history should not matter is ridiculous. I agree that someone can grow up with a level head and succeed coming from his background but my guess is that the odds of him not being a head case are about as good as Antoine Walker becoming a successful professional gambler.

For every Dwayne Wade that made it I'm sure there are about 100 head cases that faded faster than a dip buzz. So if I was the Miami dolphins GM, I would not be apologizing. Fez Bryant could well go on to become the next Jerry Rice, but if I were making the decision I would want the facts. Odds are even with his talent he is far more likely to become the next PacMan or worse.

Don't get me wrong I'm going to root for the guy, but when you got to put your money where your mouth is I would prob go with the odds.