A Lost Art

Apparently my campaign for honesty isn't reserved to just me.  Today I'm watching ESPN (after a well deserved nap), and I'm seeing a big story about current New York Jets QB Greg McIlroy and recent comments made by him.  Now he's basically been on injured reserve since the beginning of the season for a thumb injury.  He did an interview in Alabama and they asked him about his time in New York.  Greg pretty much said that the Jets were a very torn up locker room with players with no heart or desire to win.  He said that some of the players seemed to be there for the paycheck and nothing else.  There has been a lot of backlash about his comments.  Most of them seemed to be of the "you need to shut up" variety.  Former players, current players, and the vaunted "experts" all say that he shouldn't have aired dirty laundry in public.  Here's my take, oh freaking well.  I mean seriously, if someone asks a question, you have a duty to be honest with the person asking the question.  I know it's not good etiquette to share some bad things about your team, but the Jets in particular have made a habit out of talking with little to no results.  They shouldn't be upset that one of their players said what was actually happening.  I played sports; I think being honest about your feelings makes your team better.  People should take these criticisms into account and make changes to make the team better.  I'm talking about cutting guys who are cancers to the team dynamic.  We always whine, cry, and complain about how dishonest politicians are.  We get so upset when a guy on Maury fails a lie detector test.  However when a sports star says what he honestly feels about a situation on his team, he's some kind of turncoat.  He should just nod and say the right thing.  Last time I checked, the truth is always the right thing.  Mark Twain said, "If you tell the truth, you never have to remember anything."  I've seen so many people backtrack and fumble over words and paint themselves into a corner simply because they didn't tell the truth in the first place.  McIlroy just did what anyone with any decency should do in life, told the truth.  Sometimes the truth hurts.  Even if he's never played in a regular season game, he was there with everyone else and didn't like what he lived through and shared his feelings.  This could get him cut from the team and blackballed, but I respect the man for being honest with himself and with people on the outside about what life was like for him.  Maybe the Jets should take this as the thing that makes them a Super Bowl team instead of a Super Talk team.  And we all know that talk is cheap when it's not honest.