Brendon Ayanbadejo: Four NFL players considering coming out as gay

I remember back more than a decade ago the whole Mike Piazza, NY Post deal, people thought it was only a matter of time until a current player came out, and there was a rumor about one of the gay magazines outing a player. I think one of the editors of one of them wrote a first-person account on his relationship with a professional baseball player, but didn't out him.

 

I applaud him, but sometimes you wonder what his motivation is. If people aren't comfortable coming out, they shouldn't feel pressure to do it. I think Ayanbadejo's heart is in the right place, but it does make you wonder a bit...

I always kind of figured the first active athlete to be outed would happen against his will, either because of something that came out in court or legal proceedings or something like that.

 

It sounds like he's working with the players (and the NFLPA, which has said it's "prepping" itself for an openly gay player) to get this done. Kwame Harris came out only because of his legal proceeding, although now he's saying it would have been better, not worse, for him to have come out as a player -- mainly, because it would eliminate the stress of constantly lying to people.

 

Where did you see Harris saying that, Bob? The CNN interview showed him saying the NFL and being gay are not compatible.

 

"No, not while I was playing. I didn't see those two things as being compatible," Harris said in the CNN interview that was taped at Stanford Stadium with former Stanford teammate Coy Wire.

"But now, when I look back in hindsight, if I could have done it differently, I'd like to think I would find the strength or find the fortitude or grace to kind of make the hard decision."

Perhaps I read more into that quote than was there, but it seemed to me the "not compatible" was his read on the situation at the time -- before players like Chris Kluwe were writing and tweeting about the subject.

 

Ah. Yeah maybe. I also think it's some wishful thinking on his part.

In that specific case, people hated him so much for all of his false starts that they couldn't possibly have hated him more for being gay.

 

“Listen, I don’t have a bunch of weird hang-ups about a player’s sexual orientation or some bias against drawing penalties and massive fines for leading with my helmet and putting his life in danger,” said Suh, adding that he would enthusiastically encourage teammates to make an out-of-the-closet player feel both included and an excessive amount of pain. “Some guys might have a difficult time with it, but I am open-minded in terms of how hard I can blindside a gay guy after the whistle is blown.”

“I am going to welcome whoever it is with open arms and neck-breaking horse-collar tackles,” Suh added.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/nfl-players-support-player-coming-out-getting-abso,31948/

 

That's funny... But I could totally see Suh saying something like that...

 

He's married with two kids, and given his views on the subject I doubt he'd feel the need to be in the closet. I suppose it's possible but I think it's unlikely.

 

The media circus will be huge. And prolonged. To the dismay of everyone involved.

It would be a lot easier if the media wouldn't go overboard with it. But they will.