Tony Dungy takes on Rex Ryan, NFL Coaches disagree on profanity use
How can it possibly get better than coach vs. coach? Unless the thought of Tony Dungy clad in lion skin and swinging a giant axe at Rex Ryan, who is cowering on the sands of the coliseum with his mother seated on the emperor’s throne giving him a thumbs-down popped into your head, then yes it can get better. While we’d all love to see that, it’s not going to happen so the war of words is all we get to have. Pull up a chair and get comfortable, this might be fun.
Apparently Dungy has a problem with Ryan’s use of profanity. Ryan featured on HBOs ‘Hard Knocks’ which followed the New York Jets through training camp. Tony thinks that an NFL coach should be more restrained with his colourful vocabulary. It’s on HBO but it’s not the Sopranos, though in all honesty if an Italian Mafia ran the Jets they wouldn’t do it much differently.
It’s no secret that all coaches take liberties with their words in the locker rooms. It’s a sort of a tradition, not unlike how recruits in the armed forces are given glimpse of h**l on earth. It’s unsightly and rated ‘R’ but its real life. It’s the same thing in NFL locker rooms. The coach is the motivational speaker with ‘creative liberties’ to say things no man would want to be heard saying in polite company. It’s all good while it stays within the locker room but HBO has been intruding past the hallowed walls of the locker room for 7 seasons now and Rex goes a step beyond his contemporaries when it comes to profanity. It was only a matter of time before someone said ‘What the bleep’?
Tony Dungy has decided to be that someone. Tony is a devout Christian and a speaker of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In his days he was one of the more mild mannered coaches and his approach with his team could not possibly be considered a handicap. Tony did what Rex is doing but they went about doing those things in their own ways.
While appearing on a talk show Tony said that he couldn’t be around to listen to the kind of language Rex uses. He said that his discomfort with Rex’s profanity would be reason enough to not hire him if it was ever Tony’s decision. He hasn’t yet but Tony did say that he would be pleased if NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke with Rex about it. Goodell won’t say anything though. Goodell has a reputation for enforcing the league personal conduct policy to the fullest but even he would draw the line at telling coaches how to behave in the locker rooms and during practices.
Though it’s not as open and shut as that. There are camera’s there and all of America is watching. It really wouldn’t hurt if Rex toned it down a bit. HBO won’t be happy about it. They love Rex and love to be controversial (to a point).
Tony believes that Hard Knocks is painting a picture of the NFL which suggests that to get things done profanity is a necessity. That’s probably not true but it does make the whole thing far more interesting. For something to be on TV it has to be interesting even if it’s rated R. So HBO has come out in defence of Rex and their profanity littered show and leading the charge is HBO Sport’s Ross Greenberg. “They can complain all they want, Rex will continue being Rex. It would be a pretty boring place if all we had was staid football coaches”.
Even if Goodell and HBO won’t do anything about it, Rex would listen to his mother. His mother watched the show and said she was disappointed at the language he used on TV. “My mom is the only one really disappointed that I care about”, Rex said afterwards.
That doesn’t mean Rex would stop being Rex. Even as he offered the apology he made it clear that he wouldn’t stop with the cursing and give the audience a show where everything is fair game. It’s going to be an entertaining 7th season.
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