Dez Bryant's Mom Waits for Her Apology

Dez Bryant received his apology phone call from Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland for asking Bryant if his mother was a prostitute.

Ireland should have made one more call.

To Bryant's mother, Angela.

"No, he has not called,"' Angela Bryant said on Monday morning in a telephone interview from Dallas. "I think he should have. Why wouldn't you do that?''

Maybe for the same brainless reason you ask the question of the son in the first place. No class on this one -- no clue.

And despite an ESPN.com report that surfaced late Monday that she was arrested for selling crack cocaine last year to police informants, nearly 12 years after her similar initial offense, Ireland should still make that call. Neither charge absolves Ireland of his wicked and cruel question to her son.

"Yes, I am upset about it,'' Angela Bryant said. "I am not pleased with it. I've heard how the question was supposed to have come about -- that Dez supposedly said his father was a pimp -- but I don't believe that. I think the Dolphins have put that out there as their excuse. And I know if they keep after it like that, they will sound like a broken record. He was caught off guard by it. To ask that of any kid, that hurts.

"When they couldn't find enough dirt on him, they went to that. It was almost like a scheme. They should never have put that kind of thing or question on him. Whatever reason they chose to do that, they are talking about my charges of 12 years ago and running with it. I'm not OK with it. But we are both going to be OK.''

And the Dolphins?

"I don't know how you can point such a finger and act in that way and anything that is worth any good come your way,'' she said.

Angela Bryant loves her son.

Dez Bryant talked to me at the NFL Scouting Combine about his adoring love for his mother.

He has forgiven her for her conviction for selling crack cocaine and her 18-month prison term which ended in December 1998. Long ago, they forged a renewed relationship.



Share Angela Bryant said along the way she has always expected fallout from her mistakes. When her son was suspended for most of his final season at Oklahoma State last year for lying to NCAA investigators, she knew the draft process for him would be rocky.

But this thing, she said, she could not have created or imagined.

And let's make one thing very clear: The idea that Dolphins executive vice president Bill Parcells may have instructed Ireland to ask this question and that Ireland was simply following orders is preposterous.

I sat in Ireland's office last August during Dolphins training camp, and this was his response when asked about popular sentiment that Parcells barks and he and coach Tony Sparano simply implement:

"I don't think Tony or myself would have taken our jobs with Bill if that were the case. We both know the vast experience that Bill has and that he has very strong opinions, but that doesn't mean he is always right," Ireland said. "We have checks and balances and communicate between the three of us. We question each other. Sometimes Bill locks his jaw. Sometimes I lock my jaw in personnel. Sometimes Tony locks his jaw in coaching. But we listen to each other and make decisions in our areas. Bill has told us 'You guys do your jobs, you do the personnel, Tony does the coaching and think of me as a guidance counselor.' It has created fantastic checks and balances for us all.''

So that says that Ireland takes the sole sword here, regardless of the origins of that question. And deservedly so. I have always found him impressive. He is highly regarded by a broad spectrum of his NFL peers.

But in this instance, with this question, he should have, literally, "locked his jaw.''

And he made one apologetic phone call too few.

"I told Dez to keep his head up,'' Angela Bryant said. "He told me a long time ago he wanted to be in Dallas and be a Cowboy. And he is. Some things happen for a reason. If Dez is happy, I'll be OK. Thank God all of those teams, especially the Dolphins, passed him over.''
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