I applaud Chris Kluwe for taking a stand and speaking out on issues he feels are important like same-sex marriage and corruption in the Catholic Church.
It is his right as an American to speak his mind as freely as he wants, but……..
One thing everyone needs to understand is Freedom of Speech, doesn’t give you protection from consequences. Kluwe wrote a long piece over a Deadspin on how he believes his outspoken ways is the reason he was cut from Vikings and probably won’t play in the NFL again. He also tells a story how an assistant coach berated him in practice with insult and slurs.
My response to that?
Players like Adrian Peterson can speak on controversial issues and not be touched because they hold value to the NFL and their teams. A punter holds no value and are dispensable as Dwyane Wade’s mistresses. Adrien Peterson can say he doesn’t believe in gay marriage or he would be uncomfortable with gay men showering with him, but an assistant coach says it, let’s get outraged. Life isn’t fair, some people get passes and others don’t.
If you are hiring someone for a mundane job and one person is quiet and goes about their business and the other is loud, controversial and a distraction who would you keep around? I don’t blame the Vikings at all, I would have cut Kluwe too. Doesn’t mean I disagree with his beliefs, but why deal with unnecessary distractions if you don’t have too?
Kluwe is a smart guy, that is why he started to notate all of this stuff, but I am not falling for the banana in tailpipe. This is all orchestrated to make sure unlike 99% of punters when their NFL career is over, he is still relevant and has a job in something other than the NFL. This was planned from the start and being executed now because people will say he was discriminated against. In is brilliant maneuver in the same vain as a bad NBA player saying he’s gay when no team has no interest in him.
The reality he was a good punter that was expendable. Nothing more, nothing less, but I applaud him for thinking this through very similar to Jason Collins and watch him try to cash out from it. People will fall for it hook, line and sinker, because it is a better story the poor punter who promotes gay rights was treated wrong than good punter cut because they found another good punter who didn’t Tweet about the Pope.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he is on several TV shows by the end of day.
Bravo Kluwe, you didn’t fool me, but you will fool many others. Salute to you.
