<p>That article said that MIchael Sam Jr. had three dead siblings and two brothers in prison, but the father is upset that Sam is gay. That Dad must be worthless. It sounds like the gay son is the only kid worth a darn. </p>
<p>I was at a conference in November with a bunch of lawyers who work with Belo and they had stories…he’s a real handful. I DO appreciate his directness, but I also had some business dealings with him years ago when I was on the Board of a non-profit (Dallas Marathon) and he was a real jerk. I have liked some of his spots over the years, though. </p>
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<p>The distractions may be less now than otherwise, since it was not exactly a top secret, and rumors of the matter were apparently already widespread (though probably not universally known) in the NFL community. I.e. less distracting if he is publicly “out” than if he is not but lots of people are rumor-mongering about him.</p>
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<p>That’s amazing! For those of you who don’t follow hockey, this is not a list of who-hes and scrubs. If you want to know who they are, just turn on your TV in the next few days and you can see most of them representing their countries. </p>
<p>And to think that when I became a hockey fan in the early 90s, people were assuring me that professional hockey players could never accept gay guys.** Some of those same professional hockey players are still around in the league (108 year old Teemu Selanne, 93-year-old Jaromir Jagr) and yet somehow, now hockey players believe that if you can play, you can play.</p>
<p>** There was this strange idea that if a gay guy made even the tiniest, most innocuous romantic/sexual overture to a straight guy, the straight guy was entitled to assault the physical guy. A number of people-- well, a number of men, all of them straight-- explained this to me. I asked whether if a straight guy made an unwelcome overture to me, I could hit him with a brick. No. The rule doesn’t apply to unwelcome overtures made BY a straight guy, only unwelcome overtures made TO a straight guy. </p>
<p>Sorry I haven’t kept up on this thread but I thought this was spot-on <a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube;
<p>(apologies if already posted) </p>
<p>^^ Already posted.</p>
<p>^^^^MOWC, maybe he’s mellowed. :D</p>
<p>surely someone has linked that wonderful texas newscaster piece. cant link it from the ipad but hopefully someone has… its excellent…</p>
<p>It’s up above, jym. If CC would put the post #s back on it would be easier to direct you to it!</p>
<p>Jym- I linked it.</p>
<p>ESPN has a page estimating the chance of each NFL team drafting Michael Sam, mostly from a football needs point of view:
<a href=“Which team drafts Michael Sam? - ESPN - NFL Nation- ESPN”>http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/116406/which-team-drafts-michael-sam</a></p>
<p>High chance: Buffalo
Medium chance: New York Giants~<em>, San Francisco+, Seattle</em>, Green Bay+<em>, Minnesota+?, Atlanta+, Carolina#~, New Orleans~</em>, Denver+<em>, San Diego, Baltimore</em>, Cleveland+, Pittsburgh#*, Houston, Jacksonville#</p>
<p>Based on ESPN blogs about the various teams at <a href=“NFL on ESPN - Scores, Stats and Highlights”>http://espn.go.com/nfl/</a> :
+Supportive statement from team representative.</p>
<h1>Supportive statement from player.</h1>
<p>~Uncertain statement from player.
?Controversy over a coach’s statements about same-sex marriage in a different context.
*Thought to be supportive in <a href=“Michael Sam could thrive with New England Patriots, Seattle Seahawks or Philadelphia Eagles - ESPN”>http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/10431919/michael-sam-thrive-new-england-patriots-seattle-seahawks-philadelphia-eagles?ex_cid=espnapi_public</a> .</p>
<p>“I know I can’t control it if men check me out (I am female), but I certainly don’t like it and don’t find it to be respectful.”</p>
<p>I would like to take a poll to see how many of your gender agree with this statement. </p>
<p><a href=“Michael Sam inundated with marketing opportunities since coming out - ESPN”>http://espn.go.com/nfl/draft2014/story/_/id/10445011/michael-sam-inundated-marketing-opportunities-coming-out</a> suggests that various companies have become interested in him for marketing or endorsements.</p>
<p>Dale Hansen and my late father were very good friends - golf buddies. He has always had a rough, snarky exterior surrounding a lovely heart of gold. I was pleased, but not surprised to hear his commentary. You should have heard some of his pieces after the Penn State scandal. I wish that more (straight) men in his position would be similarly outspoken. Glad to see him getting national coverage. </p>
<p>Goldenpooch, I would guess the majority of women do not like to be “checked out.” It does feel intrusive and disrespectful in most situations. Does this surprise you? </p>
<p>I think that the majority of women LIKE to be “checked out” if the person doing the checking is attractive to them and the checking is done in a flattering, non-threatening manner. Single women would not get dressed up and go to parties and singles bars and the like if they were not looking for mates.</p>
<p>Completely agree. But I think most women would find it unsettling to think their male coworkers, friends’ husbands, kids’ teachers, etc. were thinking about them that way.</p>
<p>Here’s that link. Great job! <a href=“Texas Sports Anchor Delivers Jaw-Dropping Speech On Gay NFL Players (UPDATE) | HuffPost Voices”>Texas Sports Anchor Delivers Jaw-Dropping Speech On Gay NFL Players (UPDATE) | HuffPost Voices;
<p>I have been to work settings where some women were wearing dresses that showed cleavage. I could not imagine them being surprised if they were checked out while at work. </p>
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<p>From the article jym626 cited.</p>
<p>That sort of sums it up for a lot of straight people. </p>
<p>I think if more straight people walked a mile in a gay person’s shoes they would understand how difficult it is being gay. If being gay seems odd to straight people think of how odd the world must be if you are gay. Everyone around you is attracted to people of the other sex which is not something you feel comfortable with. And those odd people are every where you go and you see them every day and all the time on tv shows and movies etc. </p>