Michael Kay thinks NBC should have fired Tony Dungy on the spot for refusing to discuss his Pro Football Hall of Fame vote during the network’s Super Bowl pregame show.
The longtime voice of the New York Yankees devoted several minutes of The Michael Kay Show on Monday to eviscerating Dungy for clamming up when asked directly whether he voted for Bill Belichick. For the second time that week, Dungy declined to answer, invoking an oath as a Hall of Fame voter not to discuss the committee’s deliberations — an oath that, as it happens, doesn’t actually exist in the way Dungy suggested.
“Tony Dungy, again, who’s getting paid by NBC, was asked on the never-ending pregame show whether or not he voted for Bill Belichick,” Kay said. “He said he’s not going to discuss it. First of all, if I’m NBC, I’d fire him on the spot. We’re paying you whatever amount of money we’re paying you. You are discussing it. What’s your value to us if you’re making news and you’re not discussing it with us? I mean, for him not discussing it, you know that he’s one of the 11 people that didn’t vote in Bill Belichick.”
The Hall of Fame’s bylaws don’t prohibit voters from revealing their ballots. The rules require voters to “[h]old in strictest confidence all opinions expressed by Selectors during the annual selection meeting regarding the qualifications of the nominees,” but that language refers specifically to keeping other voters’ opinions confidential during deliberations. Nothing in the bylaws prevents Dungy from disclosing his own vote.
“I don’t get Tony Dungy’s game,” Kay continued. “I don’t get it. Supposedly a good guy, God-fearing man. You do something that is a big part of history. You keep the greatest coach of all time from being a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and you don’t have the guts to discuss it? You have the temerity to say, ‘Nah, I’m not going to discuss it.’ Why not? Why won’t you discuss it?”
It’s not like Dungy’s exactly been shy about taking public stances on controversial topics throughout his media career. He spoke at the March for Life anti-abortion rally in 2023, where he cited Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest while arguing against abortion rights. He tweeted and later deleted a debunked urban myth about schools placing litter boxes in bathrooms for students who identify as cats. He’s appeared as a featured speaker at events hosted by anti-LGBTQ+ figures and organizations for years.
None of that is meant to litigate Dungy’s political positions. The point is that Dungy has never hesitated to wade into controversial territory when it aligns with his personal convictions, even when doing so generates significant backlash. He’s comfortable using his platform and reputation to advocate for causes he believes in. But when it comes to a Hall of Fame vote that directly intersects with his professional responsibilities at NBC and involves one of the most accomplished coaches in NFL history, he suddenly claims he’s bound by an oath that doesn’t actually require his silence.
“It just doesn’t make sense to me,” Kay said. “I think this makes him look really bad. And for a guy who has pretty much a pristine reputation, [he] does not come out looking good with this.”
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.