Dumbass

When I read about this, the first thing I thought was “Dumbass!” You might think the same thing when you read about this. New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma might not be happy if a fellow NFL player were to come out as gay and wind up in the shower next to him.

Andrea Kremer, the NFL’s chief correspondent for player health and safety, recently sat down with various NFL members to discuss the culture of the locker room. The men admitted to a no-holds-barred atmosphere, where the n-word flies and hazing happens. But apparently the possibility of an openly gay player in that atmosphere would “test the limits of tolerance,” according to Kremer.

“There’s such a stigma with gay and homosexuals within male sports,” London Fletcher, Washington Redskins linebacker, said during the session with Kremer. “It would be very difficult for that first person to come out.”

“I think that he would not be accepted as much as we think he would be accepted,” Vilma added. “I don’t want people to just naturally assume, like, ‘Oh, we’re all homophobic.’ That’s really not the case. Imagine if he’s the guy next to me and, you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me. How am I supposed to respond?”

Do these players really think that other players haven’t looked at them when they are naked? I mean honestly, as much as ALL men think about penis size, every guy out there is going to compare to see how they size up against each other. It’s the natural competitive nature of men. Vilma is also African-American, which means any white guy in the locker room is going to look and see if what they say about black men is true. What difference does it make if a straight man, gay man, or even a straight woman takes a look at his penis? Who really cares? The likelihood that Vilma and any number of athletes have been seen naked by a gay man. It just pisses me off that a grown man can act so juvenile about something like this.

Vilma was accused of homophobia in 2011 when he tweeted: “Grown men should NOT hav [sic] female tendencies. Period.” When a backlash ensued, he responded: “So of course the homosexual men get sensitive to my tweet and respond all ticked off. RELAX I was not referring to u guys.” The fact is that homophobic athletes like Vilma need to get over themselves. They need to grow up and quit acting like children.

Last April, former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo said that as many as four closeted, active players could come out as gay to the public. However, not a single active NFL player came out in 2013. Eventually, I believe there will be active professional sports players who will come out. When they do, players like Vilma will have to learn to live with it. Stupidity exists throughout the world, and people like Vilma just prove it more and more every day.