Michael Irvin Shares His Surprising Post-Election Thoughts With the World

ESPN's Mike and Mike in the morning had ex-Cowboys receiver Michael Irvin call in and share his thoughts about last night's election of Barack Obama. He spoke candidly and passionately about what it meant to him, without much of a filter and what seemed little preparation. Based on some of Irvin's past off-the-cuff radio sound bites, one would think this would be an unmitigated disaster. But no — Michael Irvin kind of nailed it. Courtesy of MDS at Fanhouse, here's the transcription:

What a historical moment that was last night. ... From an African-American standpoint, I watched my people — watched my people — celebrate the not guilty verdict of O.J. Simpson. They were so hungry for a victory of some kind that they celebrated — we celebrated — the verdict of O.J. And I was thinking to myself, 'Two people are dead. Two people are dead' Now, I'm not talking about my people, I'm explaining them here. They were just so hungry to say 'We have a victory.' And I cringe when I even think about that. "But last night I watched a celebration. A real celebration. A real celebration, and it was a celebration for everybody, and everybody celebrated, and they kept showing this shot, and I was watching, of this little black girl and this little white girl, just sitting there crying together, and I thought, wow. I thought about Martin Luther King and his 'I Have a Dream' speech, and I thought about him saying, black kids and white kids playing together. ... "Last night we removed all differences and became just one, and I thought that was a beautiful thing. It was just a beautiful thing. I stood here with my kids, we watched it and we cried and we prayed."

Jesus. Didn't see that coming at all. But MDS traces Irvin's public-speaking rebirth back to his 2007 Hall of Fame induction speech, where the former drug-addled, hooker-loving, neck-stabbing bad boy of the late 90's began to morph into an "articulate, passionate and stirring speaker." Jon Favreau's job might be in jeopardy. Oh, and what did that other quote-happy Cowboys receiver have to say about this historic moment?

"Very emotional and historical moment. There was a change and hopefully that can trickle on down to our season."

That's more like it. ******* Tomorrow's a new day and all that. Enjoy yourselves tonight, but don't draw penises on anybody. Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. SKEETS the dream.