Openly Gay NFL Player Prospect

[OneTampa]

Kudos to this young man.  Wish him well.

Link:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000324603/article/michael-sam-comes-out-as-first-openly-gay-nfl-draft-prospect

[OneTampa]

Love Dale's commentary: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/12/1277105/-Dallas-sports-anchor-gives-the-best-commentary-on-Michael-Sam-yet

[mitch777]

Love Dale's commentary: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/12/1277105/-Dallas-sports-anchor-gives-the-best-commentary-on-Michael-Sam-yet

I saw that too. It was good to see someone speak out with a rational mind.

[J.R.E.]

 


   I got a kick out of this article in the Tampa Bay Times in Wednesday's paper, originally published in the New York Times:

PANIC IN THE LOCKER ROOM   

http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/column-panic-in-the-locker-room/2165093

"When NFL Network's Andrea Kremer recently brought up the possibility of an openly gay player with Jonathan Vilma, a New Orleans Saints linebacker, he said: "Imagine if he's the guy next to me and, you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me."....

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A news flash for every straight man out there: You've been naked in front of a gay man.

In fact you've been naked, over the course of your life, in front of many gay men, at least if you have more than a few years on you. And here you are — uninjured, uncorrupted, intact. The Earth still spins. The sun rises and sets.

Maybe it was in gym class, long ago. Maybe at the health club more recently. Or maybe when you played sports at the high school level, the college level, later on. Whether we gay guys are 1 in 10 or 1 in 25, it's a matter of chance: At some point, one of us was within eyeshot when you stripped down.
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And you know what? He probably wasn't checking you out. He certainly wasn't beaming special gay-conversion gamma rays at you. That's why you weren't aware of his presence and didn't immediately go out and buy a more expensive moisturizer and a disc of Judy Garland's greatest hits. His purpose mirrored yours. He was changing clothes and showering. It's a locker room, for heaven's sake. Not last call at the Rawhide.

On Sunday evening, in a story in the New York Times by John Branch and on ESPN, a college football star named Michael Sam came out. Because Sam is almost certain to be drafted, he could soon be the first openly gay active player in the National Football League — in any of the four major professional sports in the United States.

Most reactions from the sports world were hugely positive, even inspirational. Some were not. And some were surprisingly blunt and paleolithic.

When NFL Network's Andrea Kremer recently brought up the possibility of an openly gay player with Jonathan Vilma, a New Orleans Saints linebacker, he said: "Imagine if he's the guy next to me and, you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me."

"How am I supposed to respond?" Vilma added.

Well, a squeal would be unmanly, Mace might not be enough, and NFL players tend to use their firearms away from the stadium, so I'd advise him to do what countless females of our species have done with leering males through history. Step away. Move on. Dare I say woman up?

Or Vilma could use a line suggested by sports journalist Cyd Zeigler on the website Outsports.com: "I'm so telling your boyfriend you stole a peek."

The anxiety about the locker room makes no sense in terms of the kind of chaotic setting it often is, with all sorts of people rushing through, including reporters of both sexes. It's a workplace, really, and more bedlam than boudoir.

 

[Joe K]

My favorite line from the NYT comment section:

"Homophobia, is the fear that gay men will treat you, in the same way that you treat women."

Joe

[GSOgymrat]

 
And you know what? He probably wasn't checking you out.

Actually, I probably was.