Right idea, wrong execution

I wonder if Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland will be conducting predraft interviews before next year's NFL Draft.
I hope so. I don't blame him for what he was trying to find out. I do blame him for how he did it.
Ireland is the man who, during a predraft visit in March, asked former Oklahoma State wide receiver Dez Bryant if his mother was a prostitute.
Under normal circumstances that would be a question that, in football terms, is wide right. In an every day walk of life that question would be flagged for illegal procedure.
But this is not a normal circumstance. This is the NFL, where image is everything. It's a multi-billion dollar business where teams select young men, some barely out of their teen years, and sign them to a contract where millions and millions are guaranteed.

GM's have every right to snoop and dig to find out everything they can about a potential employee. Remember, athletes are employees of a business. I had to give references before I was hired as an insurance agent. I had to pass a background test and truthfully answer questions on an application. I had to pass a credit check and divulge financial information so my parent company knew they were hiring someone who was responsible with money, organized and wouldn't run an agency into the ground.

For previous jobs I had to pee in a cup. Heck, I even had to pass a physical to work at an auto dealership.
So Ireland was well within his rights to try to find out about Bryant's family history. Especially since his mother has had issues with drugs in the past, which is well-documented. She was sentenced to prison for allegedly selling crack cocaine to undercover cops when Bryant was 8-years-old.
But to bluntly ask if his mom sold herself for money was insensitive.
Ireland has since apologized, saying the question showed poor judgement. It did.
But the type of information he was seeking was important.
If I was a GM or a team owner I would want to know every detail about anyone I was considering drafting. I would want to know who they hung out with, where they grew up, the household dynamics. Are they married, single, do they drink, smoke, gamble. I think you get the picture.
According to the Huffington Post, third overall pick Gerald McCoy says a team asked him whether he wears a G-string or jock strap.
Hopefully not both at the same time. That could be uncomfortable.
If there is anything, anything at all that could come back to bite me in the tush I would want to know about it.
NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith doesn't think that's the case.
"We need to make sure the men of this league are treated as businessmen," Smith said in a statement that was printed on many websites. "During interviews, our players and prospective players should never be subjected to discrimination or degradation stemming from the biases or misconceptions held by team personnel. NFL teams cannot have the free reign to ask questions during the interview process which can be categorized as stereotyping or which may bring a personal insult to any player as a man."
I don't see wanting to know the information Ireland was seeking as stereotyping, discrimination, degradation or insulting.