same as last time

More stuff related to the last post.


A column by Flint Journal columnist Dean Howe says pretty much what I said in my last post, and he puts it a lot better than I did. I'm putting the entire article here because the Journal's website archives stuff after two weeks.

NFL's phobia with 'wimps' is ridiculous

THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
By Dean Howe
JOURNAL COLUMNIST

If the game of American football is anything, it's testosterone overloaded.

You've got to be a man to play this sport, and by that I mean a man's man, from the bottom of your cleats to the top of your helmet.

No wimps allowed here. Nothing but macho. No surrender.

Joey Harrington, quarterback for the Detroit Lions, seems to defy the above descriptions. At least he did by word of mouth from a trio of Fox telecasters on Sunday in the Lions' 30-13 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Ford Field.

They think Harrington is a wimp. He certainly doesn't fit the profile of an NFL quarterback.

"He's definitely a different kind of guy," said Tony Siragusa, a sideline reporter at that game.

Siragusa and his friends up in the booth, broadcasters Dick Stockton and Moose Johnson, had a good laugh. They agreed with the assessment.

Later, Siragusa told everybody how Harrington likes to play the piano and decorate his own house. The insinuation was that the Lions QB is not a man's man, at least not by NFL standards, and that his sexual orientation might be different from the majority of players.

How unkind. How unfair to Harrington who, in his third year, is still making strides at being the LIons' quarterback of the future.

He is already being booed enough at Ford Field. He will hear more catcalls now for the remainder of the season because of some outlandish comments made by broadcasters who might make a trip to Detroit only once this season.

The NFL has long had a history of being homophobic. Only recently, two other quarterbacks in the league - Michael Vick of the Atlanta Falcons and Jeff Garcia of the Cleveland Browns - were rumored to be homosexual. It seems any quarterback in this league who is without a wife is fair game.

In his playing days, Dallas Cowboys all-pro quarterback Troy Aikman was rumored to be gay.

Three years ago, after trading wide receiver Johnny Morton to the Kansas City Chiefs and hearing Morton's fiery response, Lions' president Matt Millen called Morton "a faggot."

Since a certain percentage of our population is homosexual, it must mean there are a certain percentage of homosexual men playing in the NFL. Or playing other professional sports?

I say, "Why should it matter, anyway?"

If a guy or girl is talented enough to play, it shouldn't matter. Society, and the NFL, still have some catching up to do in the civil rights department. Look how long it took for major league baseball to break the color line. It will probably take longer for the NFL to feel comfortable with "wimps" in its midst.

Yes, Harrington is a little different. As an All-American quarterback at the University of Oregon, he was viewed as condescending, sometimes aloof.

But after every Detroit Lions' game since he's been in Motown, Harrington has stepped to the podium and answered all questions from the media.

Harrington is a man, and still the hope of the future for the Detroit Lions.

Let us judge him only by his performance on the field and not what he might be off it.

© 2004 Flint Journal

Thankfully, I haven't really heard anymore about this on TV or in the paper. However, I don't listen to sports talk radio, so discussion (and I use that term loosely when it comes to talk radio) could still be going on.