Earlier this week CBS’ Mike Freeman reported that there may be a NFL player ready to openly admit that he is gay. There have always been questions about how this would be received by fans as well as teammates in the locker room. Seattle Seahawks defensive end Chris Clemens used social media to voice his opinion on the matter.
“I’m not against anyone but I think it’s a selfish act. They just trying to make themselves bigger than the team.”
The assumption has seemed to be that any negative reception to an openly gay player would be because of homophobia, but many are forgetting the amount of non-football related media attention that would be brought to the NFL team of the first openly gay active player. This attention would serve to single out one player and possibly take away from the what really matters in any sport…team work and winning.
I think NFL players are a lot smarter and more open-minded than people give them credit for and many could care less what another man does off the field, but if that affects the concept of the team and what happens on the field it’s understandable where it could become a problem.