It's been a week and a half since Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker gave a commencement speech at Benedictine College that ignited a firestorm of reaction -- positive and negative -- online, and Chiefs head coach Andy Reid addressed the comments and reaction for the first time on Wednesday.
Reid's comments, while staying far away from the content of Butker's speech (the full text can be found here), reflected one of the truisms of football: that the game is a picture of society, a melting pot of different backgrounds, viewpoints and talents united to achieve a common goal.
"We're a microcosm of life here," Reid said. "Everybody is from different areas, different religions, different races. We all get along, we all respect each other's opinions. Not necessarily do we go by those (opinions) but we respect everybody to have a voice. That's the great thing about America, man. My wish is that everybody could follow that."
Many have interpreted Butker's comments where he discouraged women from entering the workforce to pursue life as a homemaker as misogynistic. "I don't think he was speaking ill of women. He has his opinions and we all respect that. I let you guys in this room and you have a lot of opinions that I don't like."
Reid was then asked how he and the Chiefs prevent the Butker controversy from becoming the dreaded D word: a distraction.
The question is funny on its face, because there isn't a more distracted locker room in professional sports than the Chiefs'. The quarterback is a bona fide celebrity who co-owns a women's soccer team with his wife. The star tight end started a relationship with the most famous woman on the planet during the season, and the club still won its second straight Super Bowl in February.
If the Chiefs could weather Hurricane Taylor Swift and still come out champions on the other side, a controversial commencement address from their kicker wouldn't even be a blip on the radar.
"The guys are good with that. They understand," Reid said. "Everybody's got their own opinion. That's what's so great about this country: you can share these things and you work through it. That's what guys do."