Comments on: Bell says he has heard from NFL about Combine questions

By: fdugrad

fdugrad — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:12:22 +0000

I am absolutely amazed at the number of posts along the lines of these kinds of questions not bothering the writer, or the manner, tone, jocular intent etc. etc., and as if the above is not enough, they add THEIR bias regarding the type of lifestyle or orientation. ALL of the above has NOTHING to do with the efficacy of this line of questioning. It also has NOTHING to do with whether or not anyone approves, supports or does not CARE about gay vs not gay. This is an issue of work place fairness and MOST importantly the right to the expectation of privacy we are ALL entitled to by LAW. Simply put NO PERSON or ENTITY is entitled to inquire or explore ANY of our most private and intimate areas of which this issue CLEARLY is. Regardless of sexual preference, if one can’t relate or empathize with this, he / she must be willing to allow their lives to be investigated in ways that have no boundaries. I truly do not understand this in the least.

By: tomcous

tomcous — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 14:12:11 +0000

Controversy is all we seek?!? … The question is illegal. No gray area. Would I welcome a female teammate?!? – if she makes our team better, yeah! Would I welcome a gay teammate? I have been in sports with at least 2 gay teammates. I didn’t shower at the same time, but I was happy they were on the team.

By: mwindle1973

mwindle1973 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:38:49 +0000

This is just not acceptable.

By: dolphins512

dolphins512 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 12:23:51 +0000

Unless you were there and know the context in which the statement was made, you are all just blowing smoke.

I guess the stories about changing the Redskins name have gotten old and we needed to try something new.

By: badintent

badintent — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 07:44:52 +0000

The REal questions asked were : Do you wanna get jiggy with Giselle ? Does Kim ‘s sex tape turn you on ? Did you fall asleep during Paris Hilton ‘s sextape ? Does celebrity Rehab seems like a career option to you ? Are you gonna make a rap video like Shaq asking Kobe to eat his butt? Will you go to North Korea with Rodman to meet Dictator Kim and his henchmen ? Do you know who Gloria Allred is and fear her ? Are you planning on joining the concussion lawsuit against the NFL ? Have you ever killed a pitbull? Do you run on stages at strip clubs and throw $$ in the air over the dancers like Pac Man ? Which do you think is the bigger jerk, Goddell or Trump ? After 4 years of college , have you been tested and retested for STDs ? Why does the NFL not have a team in LA ? Who is the greatest governor of all time , Arnold, Jessie, or Jan Brewer ? Why is the country broke and the NFL and Wall Street are flush ??If Wendy Willams asked you to join her and her sister in a jacuzzi , could you beat Chris Johnson’s 40 yard dash time ?(4.25) Did you beat Vince Young Wonderlic score of 6 ?

By: albinorhino49

albinorhino49 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 05:40:13 +0000

Have you ever done time in a Turkish prison? … Ever watch a dog lick itself ?… Ever seen a grown man naked?

By: rangenius

rangenius — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 05:04:57 +0000

Snitch! I hope they blacklist him!

By: steel420

steel420 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 04:23:07 +0000

You’re not going to get anywhere with articles like this, Mike, especially when the majority of your readers are ignorant, sexist bigots that have no issue with this type of behavior.

By: azpackerbacker

azpackerbacker — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 04:12:24 +0000

Erik Kuselias, the Ted McGinley of sports talk tv/radio. Ha!!

By: thestrategyexpert

thestrategyexpert — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 02:47:39 +0000

I have a lot of experience as a recruiter and to think that somebody believes that unethical and/or illegal activities are ok so long as you dress it up with a funny and disarming approach? So can I go on Monster.com and find the job listings for “con-man”?
Just smile and lie to people when you steal their life savings, and that will remove the legal and ethical responsibilities completely so that they don’t get in the way of your criminal lifestyle. Bell is probably a Republican, or an extremely ignorant person.

By: don4593

don4593 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 02:37:47 +0000

“You Know” was said only 5 times. Impressive

By: gmoedc

gmoedc — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:36:29 +0000

Woah!! Stop the presses!! There must be a high story quota this week.

By: sparky151

sparky151 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:23:50 +0000

There’s nothing wrong with asking the question. Florio, you ought to get down from your gay rights hobby horse before you fall off. There’s an NFL policy against asking but the clubs are free to ask what they want as limited by local laws which vary from place to place. Frankly, the owners ought to repeal the NFL policy and leave it up to the clubs since they are the employers, not the league. Congress has repeatedly considered and repeatedly rejected the idea that sexual orientation should be a protected class.

By: manolibre48

manolibre48 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:18:27 +0000

It is easy to spot the folks who have never been managers of any business who were responsible for hiring and meeting requirements of federal and state laws. One of the best guaranteed ways to lose your job or your business is to violate hiring requirements.

Imagine you have any business that requires wearing a uniform (military, public service, janitor, McDonald’s, etc.) and you hire both men and women to work there. By your line of thinking with “who cares?” or “making something out of nothing”, then it is okay to ask women their bra size, because “well, we have to make sure the shirt fits right.” Wait until it is your son or daughter being asked inappropriate questions and see how you feel.

By: gbpakrfan

gbpakrfan — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:08:39 +0000

Should be able to ask anyone anything you want! The other day I was walking around University of Wisconsin campus, and a chick asked me if I was on the basketball team….so, I just said “why…bcuz I’m white?”

By: grikes

grikes — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 01:00:22 +0000

What’s the problem with asking the question? Because there are millions of dollars involved and if Bell thinks the question was asked in a joking manner he’s fooling himself. They were watching the way he answered that and every other question regardless of the manner it was asked. If the people in room were uncomfortable with the way he answered it, if he didn’t answer it fast enough or if he didn’t laugh it off loud enough, then he drops another 30 picks. It affects him and every other player who doesn’t give a damn about this being an issue either way. It’s a problem for the league. The players, the old school higher ups. It’s a form of discrimination whether they want to admit it, or call it team chemistry, or not.

By: bencooper66

bencooper66 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:54:31 +0000

it’s called discrimination. An uncomfortable question should be TEAM related. Like see how they deal with long silences between questions…OR what would you do if you knew your teammate was taking PEDs? Who this player decides to bang, is his own business and has nothing to do with on the field performance.

By: publius12

publius12 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:25:22 +0000

We weren’t in the room, so we can’t really understand the context of the questions. From the way the question was phrased above, it could either be asking if Bell likes women or if he is a womanizer. Very different things. One is asking specifically about his sexual orientation. One is taking for granted that he is straight (rightly or wrongly) and then asking if he has an obsession that could get him in trouble in the future.

It doesn’t sound good, but I also think we should take a step back before immediately jumping all over the interviewers.

By: snowpea84

snowpea84 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:19:45 +0000

If it matters to the players in the locker room it should matter to the guy who decides who gets added to that locker room. For one thing, why do you think we have separate locker rooms formen and women?

By: tbtrojan

tbtrojan — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:14:06 +0000

What is the problem with asking the question?
It could be a way to test how they react to uncomfortable questions/situations.
Just because you ask a question doesn’t mean you care about the actual answer you get.

By: martysnooks

martysnooks — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:13:26 +0000

It’s as simple as “Do you like the new Bucs uniforms more/less than the old ones?” Problem solved!

By: nyyjetsknicks

nyyjetsknicks — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:13:03 +0000

The only reason Tom Brady is a great qb is because he likes girl!

Oh wait, that doesn’t make any sense…

By: barnesaintnoble

barnesaintnoble — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:09:03 +0000

If Bell is trying to drag this issue out to keep himself in the news and elevate his draft status, I hope it doesn’t backfire on him. The NFL and the teams in question definitely deserved to have those absurd questions made public, but to keep talking about it weeks after seems somewhat self serving.

By: gridassassin

gridassassin — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:02:31 +0000

Do you like Gladiator movies?

By: fdugrad

fdugrad — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:02:09 +0000

Sixty or so years ago they would have been asking him about whether he agreed with inter-racial dating and marriages, and whether whites and blacks should live in the same neighborhoods, thus risking declining property values… in a “joking” way of course.

By: fraudguy

fraudguy — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:02:04 +0000

Unfortunately, you can ask the question, and unless they can prove you did, probably get away with it, because there is almost no way to prove that it was used in deciding your employment status. (cf. age).

By: bmoritz2003

bmoritz2003 — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:02:03 +0000

Enough! Stop trying to make something out of nothing! Knock it off!

By: trnkgngblaze

trnkgngblaze — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:51:19 +0000

Who cares.

By: derekjetersmansion

derekjetersmansion — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:50:10 +0000

Mike, you can ask the questions. You just can’t say to that person that they aren’t getting the job because of their answer.

By: bencooper66

bencooper66 — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 23:48:30 +0000

No it isn’t being blown out of proportion. I don’t care how much you’re paying someone you can’t ask this, period.