Classless Is As Classless Does

The Miami Dolphins has issues, I mean real issues, and almost none of them are on the football field.

First, the Dolphins completely fumbled the handling of Jason Taylor's offseason request for a contract extension. After failing to return phone calls from Taylor and his agent, the Dolphins pushed him off the team and into the open arms of one their division rivals.

Then, the Dolphins refused to let Taylor hold a press conference at the team headquarters to thank Miami fans for their decade of loyalty and support.

Shortly thereafter, former Dolphins great and future hall of famer, Zach Thomas came forward with more terrible stories of classless acts by the Dolphins' front office.

Sure one could argue that Taylor did not deserve to hold a press conference in Miami after signing with the Jets.

It turns out, however, fan favorite Zach Thomas was also denied such an opportunity by the Dolphins brass after the team decided to terminate his contract in 2008. Ireland and Parcells made this callous decision even after Thomas had spent 12 years as the heart and soul of the Dolphins' defense.

Such a lapse in judgment is appalling given what Zach Thomas has done for football fans in South Florida.

Worse yet, just days ago, multiple media outlets reported that Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland asked draft prospect Dez Bryant, on a team visit, whether his mom was a whore.

This question sparked outrage from football fans and non-football fans alike and raised serious questions as to the liberties NFL personnel executives can take while conducting "due diligence" regarding potential draft picks.

This brazen lack of decency and the subsequent media coverage it provoked led to public reprimands from both NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dolphins owner Stephen Ross.

One would think that Jeff Ireland and the rest of the team's front office would learn from these missteps and act with more compassion in the future.

Turns out, this simply was not the case. Just yesterday, the team announced that it was assigning its 4th round draft pick, linebacker AJ Edds from Iowa, Zach Thomas' old jersey number.

This is shameful. For Dolphins fans under the age of 40, Zach Thomas is arguably the greatest player outside of Dan Marino to have ever donned aqua and orange on game day.

When Zach Thomas retired, I had little doubt that his number, 54, would be retired in the ring of honor alongside Dan Marino's number 13 and Larry Csonka's number 39.

I now have little doubt that the Dolphins' brass decided to issue Thomas' number to AJ Edds in response to Thomas' criticism of the way Parcells and Ireland handled his and Jason Taylor's departure.

This dishonorable measure of revenge is one more stain on the already tarnished reputation of the Dolphins' front office.

As a diehard fan, I desperately want to see the Dolphins improve and generally have supported Ireland and Parcells in their efforts to restore a winning tradition to a once proud franchise.

These recents moves, however, have led me to remember a critical life lesson that I learned as an 8 year old on the practice fields: winning is only honorable when it is done with class.