Manuel Wright, Rookie Defensive Tackle walks of the field crying.

We all know it. We have all heard it. But just in case you haven’t, here it is.

Jimmy Dugan: Are you crying? Are you crying? – There’s no crying in baseball! Rogers Hornsby was my manager. And he called me a talking bile of pig shit, and that was when my parents drove from Michigan to see me play the game. And did I cry?

Evelyn Gardner (Crying) No. – No.

Jimmy Dugan: NO! NO! – And do you know why?

Evelyn Gardner (Still crying) No.

Jimmy Dugan: Because there is no crying in baseball! THERE’S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL! NO CRYING!!!

Now what has lead me here, to relive the great lines Tom Hanks spoke to Bitty Schram in the classic movie, A League of Their Own? To make this simple point. If there is no crying in baseball, then there sure as heck better be no crying in Football! Who crys in football?

Manuel Wright.

Who is that you might ask? Well if you have not heard by now, – Wright is the Miami Dolphins rookie from USC, taken in this years supplemental draft, who broke down in training camp and walked off the practice field sobbing after head coach Nick Saban chewed him out for apparently not showing up to camp fit and ready to work.

Nick Saban scolds Manuel Wright at practice.

“I’ve had a couple of them cry, but not while I was screaming at them, no. I’ve had a couple of them cry about the situation, sure. Not recently. Hey, it’s a human emotion. We all do it so it doesn’t bother me. Unless it’s a woman that’s crying, then I try not to pay attention.”

-Cowboys head coach Bill Parcells on Dolphins rookie defensive tackle Manuel Wright crying at Miami’s camp last week.

Now don’t get me wrong here, I am not one of those manly men who thinks a man should never cry. Heck, I have shed a tear or two watching a tear-jerker movie, or experienced some great pain. Sure go ahead and cry at home, alone in the dark when nobody is looking.

I however think that it is not acceptable to cry at work, in front of your boss and your co-workers. That is never acceptable. Sure, it got rough. Sure, it was hot and you were not ready for two-a-days. Sure, your back is hurting – but you DO NOT, I repeat you DO NOT start crying on the practice field. You just don’t do it, and I’ll tell you why.

As if it were not bad enough that you start crying in front of the man who is going to decide whether or not you are going to get a job, and you are crying in front of all your teamates, i.e. co-workers, you are crying in front of spectators and cameras. Now its being shown all over the networks and of course – tada dum, tada dum, ESPN! This is something that will stay with Wright for the rest of his career. Let’s say he does make the team, maybe not in Miami, but somewhere else. Every time he lines up opposite some huge 300 pound plus offensive lineman, he is going to hear it. Something like, “Ah no way! I got the cry-baby in front of me today!” Or, “Are you gonna cry when I hit you, you little baby!” “Gonna go cry to your momma!”

In my opinion, not only has he lost the respect of his teamates and coach, but the respect of the other players in the league. Nobody is ever going to take him seriously, and that is why you simply cannot cry in football.