Boston Herald columnist Steve Buckley: "I'm gay."

Moddy - think you are thinking of Roy Simmons - a guard who played for both Giants and Redskins but it was in late 80's.

 

In Maraniss' book on Lombardi, he had Ray McDonald, a No. 1 draft pick from a few years ago, as the gay player, and Lombardi supported him and told the coaches at if any of them poked fun at McDonald, that he would fire them.

The Redskins also had Jerry Smith, and Dave Kopay, who came out in the 70s.

Interesting thing is, in Meggysey's Out of Their League, he wrote about a team that had about 15 players in 'The club', which was the code word for their gay group, and that the whole league knew about it. He didn't identify the team, but I've wondered if he was referring to the Redskins.

 

A thought ... maybe this isn't just about Buckley, or the readers in Boston, or even what we think about it. Maybe a gay kid in Boston who's getting the crap beat out of him at home or school because his parents know or think he's gay will read this and see a positive role model at a major newspaper, a gay man living and working openly in a straight-man's world. Maybe reading this will help that kid get through the time time, a kind of "It gets better" on a smaller scale.

Does it matter that Buckley is gay? Maybe not. But maybe it does.

 

Since those are my ancestral roots, I can say this for them. They'll say...
"It fuhkin' figyas. Fukh him. No, wait ... not in a literal sense. Ah fuhk it.
Who wants to go get a pizzah at Roy's in Door-chess-tah?"

 

dat is a wicked fuhkin pizzah post.

 

My first question was - what's up with the white socks?

 

In the Wikipedia entry, it has Kopay playing for the Redskins from 1969-70, meaning he was with Lombardi, and Kopay claimed he had an affair with Smith.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Kopay

 

Any time a columnist writes something of a personal nature you can ask "who cares?" I know Buck rubs some people the wrong way but he was always cool with me during Red Sox training camp in Fort Myers. I never had any idea he was gay - not that I'd ever know something like that - but it doesn't change my opinion of him. He's still a good guy as far as I'm concerned.

With all the homophobia in sports - and, presumably, a fair number of closeted homosexual athletes, too - I think this column has tremendous value. Obviously, some folks will remain neanderthals from here to eternity and there's no hope for them. But for others, this can be enlightening and might help them overcome their prejudices and stereotypical thought patterns.

 

what if the gays don't want him?