O. T. : Michael Sam says he's gay

[bonehead]

He told everyone last preseason. No one went running off to the press to make fun of him, did they? Why would the NFL be any different?

Unless you want the attention.

Wow, Sam is entering a pro league where no one EVER, EVER in its history would admit they were gay, at least while they were playing and you think he is doing it for "attention"??

This isn't some long snapper from a northeast Liberal Arts College....he was a top of the line, team leader on a team that went 12-2 in the SEC.......I'm very disappointed , really captain that is lame.

[Gwynning_Spirit]

220px-Rick_Santorum_by_Gage_Skidmore_5.jpg
What more evidence do you people need that reading this thread will lead to man on dog sex?
ound it::sheepfist:isser::shit::sheepfucker:

[Mister Hoarse]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to ratenstein again.

[Panama]

This statement is so full of hypocrisy it should etched in a stone tablet. So let me get this straight, the sooner I swallow your belief system, whole, without umbrage, the sooner I will be acceptable? This from someone then claiming to respect differing points of view and being above bigotry, ignorance or narrow-mindedness and who called me a homophobe in prior posts, while patting everyone else on the back here that agrees with them in an open way? This is why I love this stuff, you've decided your right, so anyone else just has to accept your viewpoint and get over it.

I just think it's funny because I'm mostly playing devil's advocate here, by not just accepting the next serving of societal puke that pop culture and opinion makers think I need to swallow next. I also think it's funny that mentioning what gay men do to each other, by a fact of being gay, is so totally off the table, offensive and beyond the pale. Proving my point that the subject is being whitewashed to a position where it is beyond reproach and any meaningful discussion is left to be had.

I get it, in regards to this subject and many others, you either accept it entirely or else. Nothing less is satisfactory.

I give you full leeway to "get it straight," but you haven't:

(1) I'm not asking you to swallow my belief system. You have no idea what my belief system is, as I've studiously avoid mention of it.

(2) I don't see anything hypocritical about that post. I respect different points of view which stem from sources other than bigotry, narrow-mindedness, and ignorance. My qualification is clear, and my statement is not conflicted.

Your insistence that, "by a fact of being gay," fucking each other in the ass is "what gay men do to each other" is simply incorrect. And it is just as incorrect and offensive as any broad generalization based on race, gender, or orientation.

The fact of one's orientation does not indicate anything about one's choice of lifestyle, and you make no allowance that people of different orientations have the same range of choices at their disposal and do, in fact, make a variety of choices.

Being gay does not necessarily mean that the gay individual fucks people of the same sex. This, not your opinion of gay sex, is what I find so offensive. It is categorically no different than saying all Southerners have shotgun racks, all straight people wantonly engage in vaginal intercourse, all Chinese people eat dogs and cats, all Welshmen fuck sheep, and all black people rape white women. Being gay, Southern, straight, Chinese, Welsh, or black is not a choice; buggering, gun ownership, consensual vaginal sex, questionable dietary practices, bestiality, or sexual assault is. You've robbed an entire class of people of the faculty of choice!

[Panama]

To me, the only repulsive post in this thread is the idea of banning someone for speaking their mind. This is America buddy!

If I were serious about wanting someone banned, I'd contact Fleet, not post a smiley. I thought the Lady Macbeth quote (suggesting, as others have, that there might be something more to Guy's position, as perhaps suggested by his userpic) sufficiently established that post as tongue-in-cheek. As opposed to my wordier posts, this post was meant in jest, so I apologize if it cause anyone offense.

I agree that everyone has the right to state their mind freely. However, as Oliver Wendell Holmes alluded to in Schenck v. United States, the right to free speech does not free someone from the consequences of making blatantly false and potentially damaging statements, and I reserve the right to be extremely critical of such statements.

[Guest]

This appears to be turning into a political debate. Let's keep it about Sam.

For what it's worth, I read this article this morning.

Dad changes tune over Sam's coming out

UPDATE: Michael Sam’s announcement that he is gay has been met with mostly positive responses. However, after initially saying he was proud of his son, the father of the former University of Missouri star had some critical comments in an interview with The New York Times.

According to the Times, Michael Sam Sr. learned just last week what his son’s teammates at Mizzou had known since August. Sam sent his father a text that said, “Dad, I’m gay.” Sam Sr. said he was eating at a Denny’s restaurant when he received the news, and he told the Times he was so distraught that he had to leave.

“I couldn’t eat no more, so I went to Applebee’s to have drinks,” Sam Sr. told the newspaper. “I don’t want my grandkids raised in that kind of environment.”

Sam Sr. added that he’s “old school,” a “man and a woman kind of guy,” and the idea of a gay player in the NFL, even if it’s his own son, makes him uncomfortable. Sam Sr., who learned the news five days before his son’s announcement, was still struggling with it Sunday, but he did tell the newspaper that he loves his son and he hopes he makes it to the NFL. — NESN

LA MARQUE, Texas — Michael Sam, Sr.’s birthday was last Tuesday, which is when his son, Michael, Jr., gave him the biggest surprise of his life.

Michael, Jr. told his father he was gay.

”I was shocked,” Michael, Sr., said. “I’m proud of him. He’s my son.”

The rest of the family, for the most part, found out about the same time the rest of the world did. Sunday night, Michael Sr.’s sister, Geraldine, started getting a bunch of phone calls. People were telling her to turn on ESPN. She didn’t know what was going on. Then the New York Times called. Her nephew, Michael, SEC co-defensive player of the year, was about to become the first openly gay player in NFL history.

”I don’t think anyone in my family knew,” she said. “He’s made history. He really has made history and I’m really proud of him.”

Something in the Sam blood, maybe. Geraldine was the first African-American female mayor in Galveston County when in 2009 she was elected a mayor of La Marque, Texas, in a last-minute upset. Turned out Geraldine, a Republican, was popular with the senior citizens, whose ballots came in at the end that year.

La Marque is a town of 14,509 about 50 miles south of Houston. It exists because of the oil industry, but not much of the wealth generated from that has washed up in La Marque, or its adjacent kid brother, Hitchcock (pop. 6,961), where Michael Sam starred at Hitchcock High School before going to Missouri. Both towns are less than 60 percent white and more than 30 percent black, which gives the area almost three times as many African-Americans per capita as the state as a whole.

That diversity hasn’t resulted in harmony. When Geraldine was elected mayor, somebody called the police station to say they planned to kill her. That brought the FBI in town. She’s heard the N-word plenty. Monday, La Marque terminated a fire department captain after he posted an image of Barack Obama with a noose around his neck on his Facebook page.

For Michael Sam, the world has been a place of chaos and heartbreak. His parents have divorced each other twice. His sister drowned at 2 years old reaching for a doll near a pool. One of his brothers was shot to death, two of his brothers are in prison and one of his brothers disappeared one day.

”They never did find him,” Geraldine said. “I just don’t think they looked for him like they do everyone else. With young black children, they always say they ran away.”

But Michael kept his head. At Hitchcock High, he was a two-star recruit, which if you know anything about recruiting tells you what the scouting services thought of him. A five-star is the best. They don’t even give out single stars.

But Missouri found him, and he turned into a first-team All-American, leading a supposedly under-talented Tigers team to a 12-2 record in Missouri’s second season in the Southeastern Conference. Last summer, Sam told his Tiger teammates about his sexuality and, remarkably, that news more or less stayed in-house.

“Can you imagine the trust and the family atmosphere?” Geraldine said. “For them to keep his secret?”

As NFL Draft season starts to boil, every prospect’s personal life gets ransacked by scouts looking for dirty secrets. The rumors were starting to go around and, Geraldine said, it prompted her nephew to take control of his own story by just coming out with it.

Geraldine says she’d like to think her own experience as a mayor provided her nephew with some of the courage it took to do what he did, but she doesn’t know that. She is pretty sure, however, there’s a toughness in the Sam blood.

”That’s the Sam side of the family,” she said. “I’d like to take a little bit of credit for it.”

She says the Sams are prepared for some backlash. Not everybody will be supportive. But Geraldine figures it’s nothing they can’t handle.

“We’re prepared for those differences of opinion,” she said. “I tell people all the time, if anyone has anything to say negative about him, come see me. I have a word for you. That’s my nephew and I do have his back.”

[6025]

I find it more disturbing that Sr frequented a Denny's and then went to an Applebee's, than anything that Jr has said (other than the Larry English similarities).

[bonehead]

I'm with SC on this...I think we've pretty much talked it out..if. admin wants to lock and or move this that's OK wit me

We can discuss Sam in the draft threads as it relates to football ....... Of course if AaronRodgers comes out tomorrow all bets are off:deadhorse:

[Panama]

I'm with SC on this...I think we've pretty much talked it out..if. admin wants to lock and or move this that's OK wit me

We can discuss Sam in the draft threads as it relates to football ....... Of course if AaronRodgers comes out tomorrow all bets are off:deadhorse:

Are you saying you want this thread to go "poof!"?

[Mister Hoarse]

If I were serious about wanting someone banned, I'd contact Fleet, not post a smiley. I thought the Lady Macbeth quote (suggesting, as others have, that there might be something more to Guy's position, as perhaps suggested by his userpic) sufficiently established that post as tongue-in-cheek. As opposed to my wordier posts, this post was meant in jest, so I apologize if it cause anyone offense.

I agree that everyone has the right to state their mind freely. However, as Oliver Wendell Holmes alluded to in Schenck v. United States, the right to free speech does not free someone from the consequences of making blatantly false and potentially damaging statements, and I reserve the right to be extremely critical of such statements.

I guess I lost sight of the tongue in those cheeks...
I also apologize if it came across as personal, Derek. I have always respected your opinions. The BAN smiley does bother me as being too over the top, though.
Cheers, carry on, pip pip and all that bloody rubbish, eh what?

[Mister Hoarse]

I find it more disturbing that Sr frequented a Denny's and then went to an Applebee's, than anything that Jr has said (other than the Larry English similarities).

Time to rep this posts

[bonehead]

QUOTE=Panama;71554]Are you saying you want this thread to go "poof!"?[/QUOTE]

That's exactly what I'm saying


:abandonthread:[