Bad sports, good sports: Former NFL player comes out of the closet

Posted on June 11th, 2012 by Alan Spoll

Wade Davis, a marginal NFL player in the early part of the aughts (or whatever we call the last decade….I don’t like “2000s”), has come out as gay in recent days. Davis was never on an active, regular-season NFL roster, but he played for the Tennessee Titans for a couple of preseasons after a successful college career at Weber State. Of the many places in society that have continued to harbor bigotry and prejudice against homosexuals, professional sports is one that has been, and I expect will continue to be, one of the final holdouts. Athletes, and sports fans right along with them, often count machismo among their most respected traits.

I have no idea how many professional athletes are gay, but I imagine there are a pretty good number of them. I know that almost none of them are openly gay, however, and that is a real shame. I am never a fan of people having to live a false life, and I know that it must be extremely difficult for these athletes to have to hide their true natures. I can not speak from experience on either side of this issue, really, but that has never stopped me from commenting before, so I guess it shouldn’t this time. I will say that I imagine this is difficult for people on both sides of the aisle here. Aside from those who have been conditioned from an early age to be homophobic, there are likely others who have enough insecurity that the locker room could become an uncomfortable place in the presence of someone of a different sexual orientation. Of course, someone’s discomfort is not enough of a reason to force another person to have to hide his or her true identity.

The best part of this story, aside from Davis being willing to openly discuss his homosexuality, involves the comments by Jevon Kearse, who was a superstar defensive end with the Titans during Davis’ stints with the team. Kearse said:

“I know there have been a lot more than just Wade. It’s just becoming more acceptable, which is a good thing so they can come out and not feel secluded.”

Although he is no longer an active player, someone of Kearse’s stature can make a very broad impact by being so openly accepting of Wade’s pronouncement. I have been hearing comments like this with increasing frequency in the world of sports (see Good Sports #2 in my column from two weeks ago for an example), and I hope and believe that this pattern will continue to grow and become more commonplace. If more players like Kearse are willing to go out on a limb and state their support, the opposition must crumble or at least begin to deteriorate. I do not know when an active player, especially an active star player, will come out, and I do not envy him when he does, but I will certainly respect him. People are people, and although not everyone deserves respect (many prove regularly that they are not worthy of it), everyone at least deserves to not be judged for things over which he or she has no control, whether that be race, religion, or sexual orientation.

Good sports, continued:

2) Pat Summitt, the legendary basketball coach from the University of Tennessee who retired after this past season, managed a hole-in-one during a round of golf with several other women’s basketball greats on Friday in Sevierville, TN. Summitt retired due to her battle with early-onset dementia.

3) Maria Sharapova added a French Open title to her distinguished tennis career on Saturday, completing the career Grand Slam at age 25. She appears to finally be fully back to full strength after shoulder surgery in 2008.

4) I love when an athlete shows a human side while in the midst of competition. Sure, a killer instinct will get you far in the world of sports, but sometimes it means more to have a heart. In the final sprint to the end of a 3200-meter race at the Ohio State Track Championships, Meghan Vogel, who had already won the 1600-meter title, was headed for a decent finish. As she approached the finish line, though, another runner collapsed in front of her. Rather than run by to take advantage of her competitor’s misfortune, Vogel stopped and helped the other girl, Arden McMath, to her feet and over the finish line. She certainly deserved the ovation she received after the race.

Bad sports:

1) Race car driver Kurt Busch continues to prove that he just doesn’t get it. NASCAR suspended him from all race events this past weekend after his actions of the previous week, when he cursed out a reporter who had asked him a question he apparently did not like after a race in Dover. I am pretty sure Busch thought that he would be a shoo-in for a big-time ride next season after spending this year with an underfunded team owned by James Finch, but his behavior, and the effect it has had on potential sponsors, makes that far less than a sure thing.

2) Euro 2012, the European Football Championship tournament that is going on right now, got off to an inauspicious start this year, as several Dutch players were subjected to racist chants by spectators at a practice on Wednesday night in Poland.

3) D.J. Williams, a linebacker for the Denver Broncos, proved yet again that Twitter is a dangerous thing for those athletes who may not be the sharpest tools in the shed. On Friday, he was tweeting about the fact that he was asked to learn a new position by the coaching staff. He mentioned that although the players now had iPads with their playbooks on them, he was still using flash cards. To illustrate his comment, he added a picture of his flash cards to the post. Yes, the flash cards showed several diagrammed plays from the Denver playbook. Oops.

4) Two former Auburn football players were killed and one current player was injured during a shooting at a campus apartment complex on Saturday. The alleged shooter is still being pursued.

5) The Belmont Stakes promised to be an exciting affair this year, with I’ll Have Another, who won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness after being a little-hyped colt coming in to horse racing’s most thrilling time of year, trying to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown since 1978. Instead, he was scratched from the race on Friday after the his trainers discovered a swollen tendon in his left foreleg.

Bad sports, good sports appears every Monday

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02