The
forecast has a storm that’s coming, when will it hit? Where will it hit first,
Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, or the NationalFootball League? How much damage will it cause?
Who has a storm kit?
The
storm I’m referring to is having an active professional player “come out”.
There’s never been an active player to “come out” and make it public that he is
gay. Over the past few months it’s been
much discussion about players and their sexuality. Should they “come out” or
not, what will be the backlash? Just
recently at the NFL Scouting Combine players were asked questions about their
sexual orientation while being interviewed by teams. Since when has the evaluation of a player’s
skills become less important to his personal sexual preference and who he’s
dating.
Mr.
(Roger) Goodell, the NFL Commissioner, you might not want to take that path of
blocking gay players from the NFL. That
will be a slippery slope. It’s
discrimination!
The
questioning of a gay player, I think surfaced when the story of Notre Dame’s
standout, Linebacker, Manti Te’o was questioned on being gay or not, having a
real girlfriend or not. Think about
where you’re employed, does it bother or matter to you if your co-worker is
homosexual? My guess is it doesn’t.
Nevertheless, there are players like the 49ers, cornerback, Chris
Culliver who wouldn’t want a gay player on his team. Note to Chris Culliver prejudice shouldn’t be
tolerated. However negative remarks make
for bigger stories.
As
a former athlete I wouldn’t mind one bit if I had a teammate who was gay. As long as when we took the court he played
well enough for us to win. Who he’s
dating wouldn’t be any of my business. Granted playing in college there isn’t a
players’ union to support a player who comes out like in the NFL. The President of the NFL Players Association,
Domonique Foxworth, in an article in the USA Today said “standing up for anyone—in the game or not—who has been ridiculed,
ostracized or rejected. We won’t stand
for that behavior in our locker rooms, on the playing field or in life. And that’s why we hope that when the first
openly gay NFL player steps forward, he will find not a wall of opposition, but
a strong and caring defensive line. We’ll have his back”.
Even
with the support of a strong union whenever a professional athlete does come
out, and I strongly think it will, he will face an unimaginable amount of
pressure. Can you say courageousness! He
will need it. Even with States in
support of gay marriage; negative insults are still thrown around like an Aaron
Rodgers touchdown…often. This storm is on the horizon, I hope we have our storm
kit for damage control.
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