Posted on 02/13/2014 5:07:16 AM PST by Kaslin
Michael Sam appears to be a fine young man. But, no, he isn't the first openly gay male U.S. athlete to play in a major sport. And "brave"? Can we please dispense with the absurd Jackie Robinson comparisons? Wake me when a black collegiate pro prospect "comes out" as a Republican.
A starting senior on the University of Missouri football team, Sam looks like a mid-round draft pick in the NFL. He recently "came out" to his teammates, many of whom said they already knew or suspected. Neither teammates nor coaches had an issue. Most normal people ask, "Who cares?" or "Can he play?"
Some, however, liken Sam's "pioneering status" to that of Jackie Robinson, the first black man to play in the modern baseball major leagues. "Michael Sam has the opportunity to be the Jackie Robinson of the NFL," said professor Orin Starn, chairman of Duke University's cultural anthropology department. "Michael Sam is a Jackie Robinson Moment For NFL," according to the editorial headline in the Boston Globe. And then there's Fox Sports analyst Brendon Ayanbadejo who said, "We were there to celebrate his groundbreaking voyage that in many ways is similar to those of Jackie Robinson and Rosa Parks."
Where to begin?
First, Sam isn't even the first openly gay male athlete to play in a major American pro sport. That distinction goes to Glenn Burke, who played with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Oakland Athletics from 1976-1979. He might well have played longer and been more successful had he not clashed with management -- not his teammates -- over his sexual orientation.
Burke was "out" to teammates, management and sportswriters. It is not Burke's fault that both media and management preferred to say nothing. Dodger management reportedly offered him money to go through a sham marriage. Burke refused.
Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda, whose son died of AIDS in 1991, allegedly helped engineer a trade of Burke to Oakland because of a friendship between Lasorda's son and Burke. The trade of the popular, outgoing player stunned many Dodgers. Team captain Davey Lopes said, "No one cared about his lifestyle."
Traded during the 1978 season to the Oakland A's, Burke ended up managed by the openly homophobic Billy Martin. The volatile manager, according to a documentary about Burke, "baited" him with gay slurs. Frustrated, and never realizing his potential, Burke left baseball in 1980 and became a drug addict. A former Oakland teammate, Shooty Babitt, said, "They ran him straight out of the game." Burke died of AIDS in 1995. He was 42.
Sam will encounter no Billy Martins. He enters an NFL with a written policy against discrimination based on race, religion, ethnicity and sexual orientation.
Second, let's discuss Jackie Robinson. Many of his own teammates signed a petition stating they would not play with him. At least one petitioner was traded .
Viciously taunted, and sometimes threatened by players, fans and others, Robinson faced enormous pressure to not only play well, but to do so while restraining the desire to punch somebody in the face. Had Robinson not "succeeded," the path for other black players would have become even more difficult, about which the former UCLA student was quite aware.
The attention and pressure on Robinson makes Sam's future career look like a coronation. Robinson's was a pre-television, pre-Internet, Jim Crow America, where sports fans really paid keen attention to only three sports -- boxing, horseracing and America's pastime, baseball. Most everybody was watching, many hoping and expecting him to fail. Robinson played Major League Baseball for 10 years and died early. His death certificate described the official cause as a heart attack. But it might as well have said pressure and stress killed him. He was 53.
Yes, Sam will have some challenges. But tell that to Hank Aaron.
In his autobiography, "I Had A Hammer," Aaron writes about when he and others were the first black players to play the South Atlantic League -- a minor league affiliated with the majors -- five years after Robinson entered the major league. Southern newspapers, covering the "Sally League," refused to print pictures of the black players. Taxi drivers in places like Florida refused to pick them up. Players, Aaron said, could be arrested simply for being on the street at night.
Robin Roberts, the Hall of Fame Philadelphia Phillies pitcher, broke into the major leagues the year after Robinson. Roberts recalled a double-header in Philadelphia when Robinson tore the cover off the ball while playing dazzling defense. The next day, Roberts' manager, Ben Chapman, approached Robinson. "Robinson," he said, "you're one hell of a ballplayer, but you're still a n--ger." Robinson, according to Roberts, just smiled and walked by. Chapman was fired not long after. Robinson is in the Hall of Fame.
To forget Burke wastes an opportunity to remind us of how far we have come. To liken Sam's challenges -- and there will be some -- to those faced by Robinson diminishes the legacy of number 42.
Athletes usually don’t become Republicans until they turn Pro and find out how much they in taxes every year.
“Wake me when a black collegiate pro prospect “comes out” as a Republican.”
Well, not coming out as Republicans per se but it does seem that a lot of players in both college and pro are coming out as Christians. Tim Tebow seems to have opened that door.
Prediction #2: when he's ultimately cut from whichever NFL team is foolish enough to draft him, the charges of "bigotry" and "homophobia" are going to fly.
ANY team that drafts him is going to be under a microscope the likes not seen since Tim Tebow. The left will embrace and "celebrate" him --- until he fails. Then they'll blame everyone except Sam himself.
The word gay is used as a soft cover for the physical act of two men or two women and now advertised as courages, role model, inspiring. This is what they are overloading our children with.
Publicly announcing you are a sexual pervert is brave, and deserves accolades...SURREAL!
I was at my gym the other day, in the locker room. Part of it was curtained off because there was a plumber there. I raised the question of why there are no female plumbers since there would seem to be a market for them. I can’t take feminism seriously until there are women fighting to break into the plumbing industry.
But homosexuality is perfectly healthy, nothing anyone should be concerned about in a friend, family member, or coworker.
Would definitely give new meaning to "Plumber's Crack"
Man looks on the outside; GOD looks on the inside.
The Health Risks of gay sex.
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/homosexuality/ho0075.html
Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.
Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.
2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
But there IS hope!!!
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...
There are some female plumbers out there...Painter’s, house rehabber’s, and such....too
I’m thinking of telling my daughter to get into the field. She’s in a dead end job.
My pop taught me how...it's hard work. But worthwhile....
Saved me many bucks over the years......
Maybe she could find an apprentice job?
I’m so impressed. Mr. Mercat does all that and I don’t even put gas in my car if I can help it.
I don’t blame you!! Ha!!
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