Dale Hansen: A Lesson in Don't Judge a Book by it's Cover

Dale Hansen is a Dallas sportscaster who spoke about his opinion on Michael Sam's announcement that he is gay, and he really impressed me on a number of levels.  Really, if you haven't seen this, you really have to take two minutes and listen to him speak.  Phenomenal

First, he was very articulate--it made me wonder if he has a debate background, because the fluidity of his commentary was reamarkable.  Second, he hit upon several of the off the field conduct issues that seem prevalent in the NFL that do not lead to repercussions within the league.  Players aren't commenting that they don't feel comfortable playing with men who murder, torture dogs, abuse women, lie to the police, bully, and a number of other high profile cases involving NFL players--those guys are okay.  But love another man?  They are not down with that.  Well Dale Hansen tells them off and but good. 

Since 1 in 10 men are gay, every team has at least a couple of closeted gay men on it--Michael Sam is groundbreaking in that he was honest about his sexual orientation.  Gay men are in professional sports, they always have been.  Locker rooms have women in them, some of whom are presumably straight, so naked NFL players have been naked in front of people who might find them sexually attractive for years.  It has been suggested that the average NFL lineman might not look all that attractive in the buff, regardless of if you are gay or straight.  So get over it.  Hansen goes one step further to note that it doesn't matter if you are comfortable in Michael Sam's world--he is in yours, and you need to include him.

I am guilty here of making a snap judgement that was totally off base--older guy, Dallas sportscaster, well, 'tolerance' was not the message I thought he woul db e preaching--so shame on me for that.