Pretty standard question, I think, but apparently not everyone agrees.

“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,” Ireland said Tuesday in a statement released by the Dolphins. “Having said that, I talked to Dez Bryant and told him I used poor judgment in one of the questions I asked him. I certainly meant no disrespect and apologized to him.”

…

“No, my mom is not a prostitute,” Bryant told Yahoo! Sports. “I got mad — really mad — but I didn’t show it. I got a lot of questions like that: Does she still do drugs? I sat and answered all of them.”

The background of Bryant and his mother — including her lifestyle and past legal troubles — were widely reported prior to the draft. Angela was only 15 when Dez was born, and she served time in jail for selling crack cocaine.

Alright, look – it’s not cool to ask NFL players if their moms are prostitutes, but I also think that, you know, it’s really not that crazy of a question.  I mean, Dez Bryant’s mom sold crack and used crack.  Prostitution isn’t really a stranger to that sort of thing.  In fact, it’s like a brother.  It’s not like Dez Bryant’s mom spent her afternoons drinking tea and playing croquet and her evenings at the opera, and Dez went to Dartmouth and enjoyed yachting and then all of a sudden Jeff Ireland is like, “so, is your mom a whore?”  Then that’d be a crazy question.  Crack cocaine?  If we were doing word association, I’d say “prostitute.”

[ESPN.com]

3200 lbs of force on a hit. Sweet Jesus.. Awesome video, guy is a manbeast.

It’s amazing to think that smoking weed is still considered a character issue.

Aaron Hernandez, whom the Patriots chose in the fourth round of the NFL draft Saturday, had earned the reputation as perhaps the most dangerous pass-catching tight end prospect.

He had also earned the reputation as a risky selection.

According to sources with three NFL teams, the Florida product’s precipitous fall was because of multiple failed drug tests for marijuana as a collegian.

Hernandez was open about his marijuana use at the Scouting Combine in February. “He admits to it,’’ said one longtime NFL executive who interviewed him there.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – any team that passes on a player they’d normally take but for that player having smoked pot is fucking idiotic.  Every single player in college smokes pot.  Every professional athlete smokes pot.  I know athletes who travel around the country with a mason jar filled with marijuana.  Players travel with bongs.  So please, please, please, can we all stop pretending that smoking weed is abnormal and just accept the fact that criminalizing it is counter-productive?

[boston.com]