El Stupido, All Over the Net...

So it's been a bit more than 24 hours, and the asses are showing themselves.

Two stories out of the most predictable bunch of asses in the NFL, the Miami Dolphins, who, in the course of a week, have done their attempts at image-repair no favors at all.

First, Mike Pouncey opens his fat trap...

No sooner had the Dolphins drafted Ja'Wuan James with their first pick in the 2014 Draft, Pouncey emitted this:

"Great pick!  I can't wait for our gifts he's getting us lol"

This, by a "man" on a team still under the gun for bullying, including (relevant to this) forcing rookies to pay through the nose as part of their initiation with the veterans.

Mike Pouncey has left Twitter, and I cannot think of his own choice.

But, with that going on, a second Dolphin made an even more egregious idiocy of himself:

As ESPN themselves had this to say about Michael Sam being drafted:

"Putting football aside, the Rams made a historic move in using the 249th overall pick on Missouri defensive end Michael Sam. Sam became the first openly gay player drafted to the NFL. There will be plenty of time to discuss how he fits the defense, his chances of making the roster and everything else a draft pick entails. But for now, the Rams should be applauded for taking an important step that will have a lasting impact well beyond the confines of a football field."

And as ESPN, correctly, as a sports-news story, was at Sam's house with the raw emotion of the entire moment pouring through, and with the very appropriate moment of affection with his significant other, Don Jones spewed tweets of "OMG" and "horrible"...

Jones was ordered to delete those tweets and has already been fined by the Dolphins for the indiscretion.

Jones, ironically, was a 7th-round pick himself, and made the team on special teams last year.

It's time for Goodell to take a good hard look at smacking the Dolphins harder.  This is the kind of environment the likes of Jonathan Martin create.

Also the kind of environment the likes of Martin create was exposed yesterday, in not only tweets to myself, but a myriad of tweets Deadspin collated on the entire subject, of not only Sam being drafted, but also his emotional affection with his significant other.

I'm not going to give these motherfuckers the dignity of being quoted here.  You can read them for yourself.

I'm left with two thoughts:

1) Do you idiots honestly believe that a touchdown/home run/great dive/gold medal/etc. is worth less, if not worthless, if the person performing the athletic feat is GLBT?

(If so, fuck you and the horse you rode in on...)

and

2) I'll let Sean Newell speak to it:

"There's nothing new about a draftee celebrating with a significant other, or cameras focusing on her. Hell, sometimes they are openly drooled over; Lauren Tannehill almost broke Twitter when she showed up during the draft. It's not even the first time someone's been drafted and kissed his girlfriend. But since it's two gay men kissing and embracing, it's too much for people (even the ones who say they aren't homophobic!)."

Exactly.  That's the thing about all this:  This guy was the Defensive Co-Player of the Year in the best conference in the land, and the homophobia of the NFL dropped him into the supplemental portion of the final round.

Period.

Will he make the team?  Odds aren't great -- he's probably a situational pass-rusher and a special teams player...

But he's here.  It's 2014.  GLBT athletes can perform the same athletic feats that you would otherwise applaud if you didn't know they were GLBT (Hello, Greg Louganis...)

Would we all like it not to be that we have to make this the story?  Yes.

But until the day that all groups are treated equally and given that equal chance on the fields, in the boardrooms, in the offices, etc. and so forth, this will be a story.

And if you can't handle that, that's not my problem.

Nor is it Michael Sam's.