NFL Draft Prospect Michael Sam comes out

[bucky]

he's only famous for that now because you saw a stupid retrospective about one gay player on the NFL network a week ago. ..I'm referring to Smith, not Kopay

Lombardi has been known for his forward thinking social views for many decades now. LOL at knowing this for only a week.

[ram29jackson]

Lombardi has been known for his forward thinking social views for many decades now. LOL at knowing this for only a week.

that's wonderful but it didn't lead to a bunch of gay guys on his teams so it doesn't mean or say much about anything.
forward thinking social views just means he wasn't a racist and didn't slap women around. and he treated a gay guy fair who didn't play more than 1 year anyway..he tried to make the team in 69 but didn't.

Lombardi had a gay brother and was nice to other gay people. I'm nice to gay people...nobody gets a brownie for that, big deal.

I get your view of it being in the 60s but it doesn't change anything about there will always be very few gays in the NFL regardless of how open they are

[Maynard]

Yes, these were openly gay players. Their teammates knew, so that sounds pretty open to me.

you are arguing semantics. if those players you linked to were openly gay then why dont we know their names? because they were not openly gay. obviously there have been gay players and i am sure some other guys knew about them. But we are talking about players who have come out an openly admit to being gay.

[Maynard]

Gay team-mates was an issue back in the 60's. To say players aren't known to be gay in the locker room today is naive. Lombardi is famous for making his locker-room friendly to the gay athletes. If you were a Packer, he didn't care about your sexual preference, and he made sure everyone in the locker room treated there fellow team-mate like family. Back in the 60's, players knew about there gay team-mates. Lombardi was way ahead of his time when it came to social issues.

can you name any of these gay players?

[MrBill]

Some of you should be reminded that this isn't a Locker Room thread. If it continues off course, I'll just close it. This topic is obviously difficult for some to discuss in an intelligent manner.

[Youk]

you are arguing semantics. if those players you linked to were openly gay then why dont we know their names? because they were not openly gay. obviously there have been gay players and i am sure some other guys knew about them. But we are talking about players who have come out an openly admit to being gay.

You used your whole post right there to argue semantics after bitching about it.

Beyond that travesty, these players were wide open to the team. The team knew about them being gay and there were no issues in the lock room, which is the point of this. There are going to be players who are not openly gay and not all of the teammates know. These guys were different. They were....wait for it....OPEN.

[bucky]

can you name any of these gay players?

I can't. But I've seen interviews where Packers from the 60's said they had gay team-mates, and that Lombardi made it very clear that ALL his players in the Packer Locker room will be treated with respect. I remember the interview with Paul Hornung, one with Bart Starr and one with Willy Davis. I would tend to believe them more than randoms on VSN. They were in those 60's locker rooms. Rams can poo poo it, but the fact is, Lombardi stood up for his gay and black Packer players.

[Maynard]

You used your whole post right there to argue semantics after bitching about it.

Beyond that travesty, these players were wide open to the team. The team knew about them being gay and there were no issues in the lock room, which is the point of this. There are going to be players who are not openly gay and not all of the teammates know. These guys were different. They were....wait for it....OPEN.

i dont think you understand what openly gay means. these players were not openly gay. if they were, you would be able to post their names...hence the term....wait for it...OPEN

[seaplus]

i dont think you understand what openly gay means. these players were not openly gay. if they were, you would be able to post their names...hence the term....wait for it...OPEN

does the term 'open' change when someone is an athlete? if a random dude's friends, family, and co-workers know he is gay then that's open. why does some athlete during the 60s have to go tell the media in order for him to be open?

shit I got stuck in the troll web again

[BigBucs]

I had sports center on in the background last night and they ran this story ad nauseum. Not like I didnt expect it once I heard the news but the shit was ridiculous.

[NAHSTE]

i dont think you understand what openly gay means. these players were not openly gay. if they were, you would be able to post their names...hence the term....wait for it...OPEN

Do you know the name of every gay person in America right now? No? Then how can they be open?!?!

[JeremyHight]

Being openly gay doesn't mean you tell every single person you meet that you prefer a tube steak or a fish taco. It means you are open about who you are with those around you. They don't need to stand in front of a microphone to be openly gay.

[EmpireWF]

I had sports center on in the background last night and they ran this story ad nauseum. Not like I didnt expect it once I heard the news but the shit was ridiculous.

ESPN running a story into the ground. The hell you say!

[Palooza]

[Romo Timex9]

Human Rights- fundamental rights,especially those "believed" to belong to an individual and in who exercise a government may not interfere,as the rights to speak,associate,work,etc.
The Issue of being Gay in the NFL-
The issue here is that being "openly" Gay in the NFL may bring personal violation to others around him... Being GAY obviously means he gets turn on by looking at other men and he will be surrounded by other men naked in a locker room. So my point is I have no problem with him being in the NFL, but because of what he says he is, special locker room restrictions maybe in order to keep a (Ethical Code - a system of principles governing morality and acceptable conduct "For Everyone") who will be involved with this situation...

With that said I hope Sam does very well in the NFL and has a great run.