What Brian Flores did to Tua Tagovailoa isn't OK, but it's nice that he's owning up to it

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate you giving us a bit of your time.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Tua Tagovailoa and Brian Flores situation.

We’ve all had terrible bosses before, right? Those managers who were just… flat-out mean to you for no real reason. It wasn’t that you couldn’t do your job or were particularly bad at it. They were just unnecessarily harsh.

That was what Flores was for Tagovailoa — a terrible boss and a “terrible person,” according to the Dolphins QB.

Tua said Flores told him he “doesn’t belong” in the NFL and hadn’t earned his spot as the Dolphins’ QB. That was probably what was just safe to say for the cameras. Behind the scenes, I’m sure there was more that Tua probably couldn’t say.

I feel for him. I think we all do. Being told you’re awful at the thing you’ve centered your entire life around is devastating. There’s no worse feeling. That’s something that only a genuinely terrible person would do.

So, imagine my surprise when I heard Brian Flores talking about his time with Tua on Tuesday. He owned up to everything.

“That hit me in a way that I wouldn’t say was positive. I’ve got to use that and say, how can I grow from that? How can I be better? Do I feel like that’s me? No. But how can I grow from that situation?” Flores told reporters after he had been asked about Tagovailoa’s comments. He wished him the best and seemed genuinely remorseful for what happened.

That’s not at all what I expected. Was it an outright apology? No. But he doesn’t owe us that — he owes it to Tua. That’s for Tagovailoa’s ears only if he wants to receive it.

Regardless, that sort of remorse isn’t what you typically hear from people who do what Flores did. They usually play defense and deflect. They’ll tell us that’s not how it happened or justify their actions by saying there are two sides to every story.

Flores straight-up admitted it without a fight. Good on him, as Robert Zeglinski writes here.

“Kudos to Flores for responding to this situation like a mature adult. It definitely doesn’t absolve him from unnecessarily tearing Tagovailoa (or any of his other former players down), but at least he’s owning his missteps. That’s big of him and takes a lot of nerve. Many people wouldn’t have done the same.”

That doesn’t erase how he treated Tua. But it certainly shows us his capacity to grow and improve, which is a positive.

It’s easy to wonder how much what was going on in Miami at the time affected Flores’s treatment of others. Let’s not forget the chaos behind the scenes with the Dolphins during Flores’ tenure. Being given a mandate to lose and then treated poorly after refusing it couldn’t have been helpful.

We’re talking about horrible bosses, right? Imagine your boss coming to you and saying, “Hey, I need you to suck today, champ,” and think about how you’d react.

People take pride in their work. That’s what they put out into the world every day. Doing a terrible job means that you’re terrible at your job. That’s what the rest of the world sees. Nobody wants to be terrible — especially not in the NFL, where your next employer is always watching.

Imagine being ostracized for that and told that you don’t collaborate well because of it. That’s ridiculous. And, I imagine, something that could be pretty easy to take out on others.

Let me be clear here: That doesn’t excuse Flores’ behavior. There’s no excuse for raining fire down on the people you’ve been trusted to lead. But it might explain it a bit better.

Regardless, I hope Flores’s growth on display here is genuine and not just a show for the cameras.

Pay attention, please

On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Sparks and Connecticut Sun played in front of 19,000 people at TD Garden in Boston. You probably didn’t know that.

You’d think that the WNBA would’ve put it front and center as they’ve done with every other Caitlin Clark sellout this season, but nope. It’s been quiet. Dijonai Carrington isn’t standing for it. She ripped the league for overlooking the game.

Our Meg Hall says the league fumbled a huge opportunity here:

“The WNBA might have missed an enormous opportunity to promote the league’s growth by not televising a historic Sparks-Sun matchup in Boston’s TD Garden. Unsurprisingly, DiJonai Carrington promptly ripped them for it.

For context, Tuesday’s Sparks-Sun game was the first time a WNBA game was held in the Boston Celtics’ home arena. That’s awesome by itself, but what’s even better is playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 19,125 fans. Earlier in the day, Carrington seemed shocked that so many people would come out to see the Sparks take on the Sun, but she welcomed the moment.”

That’s pretty disappointing stuff. You’ve got to be better, WNBA. Grow the game with everyone — not just a handful of players.

Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios channel Kobe

The U.S. Open fan week always gives us some pretty neat moments, but this one with Naomi Osaka and Nick Kyrgios during Mixed Madness was particularly cool.

They both wore Kobe jerseys to honor the late NBA legend. Kyrgios sported Bryant’s No. 8 and Osaka wore no. 24 while playing a mixed doubles match.

Naomi Osaka’s fit at the Open for Mixed Madness pic.twitter.com/ZteLOr4y2d

— Arielle (Ari) Chambers (@ariivory) August 21, 2024

This is awesome. Bryant’s birthday is coming up on August 23, so this was a nice way to show some birthday love. Bryant was also a mentor to Osaka, so this was probably a really cool moment for her.

Quick hits: Gabby Williams is back … Keenan Allen is still good … and more

— Gabby Williams is returning to the Seattle Storm after giving Team USA fits in the gold medal game. Watch out, WNBA.

— Tyrique Stevenson says y’all can sleep on Keenan Allen in Chicago if you want. Here’s Robert Zeglinski with more.

— Aaron Rodgers doesn’t have to be good for the Jets to be great. Here’s Christian D’Andrea with more.

— Did not have Lil Jon going to the DNC on my bingo card for 2024. Here’s Cory Woodroof with more.

— Bengals defenders trolling Anthony Richardson is so weak. Here’s Robert, again, with more.

— Here’s a list of games that we need to bring back now that Backyard Sports is returning.

That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading. Let’s do this again tomorrow. Peace.

-Sykes