Leave it to Republicans in Washington to interject themselves into what was already an ugly situation playing out with openly gay NFL prospect Michael Sam, and make it that much uglier. Jack Burkman, a Republican lobbyist, says that he has several co-sponsors to a bill that would ban gay players from the NFL.
Sam, who participated in this week’s “Combine,” in Indianapolis, has surely seen his draft stock slip already this week, thanks to his performance on the field. Working out with the lineman even though he is sure to play much of his career as a linebacker, Sam managed only 19 repetitions of 225 pounds on the bench press, and ran the 40-yard dash in the 4.9 second range. With numbers like those, Sam would be among the weakest lineman, AND the slowest linebackers, which is not a good combination for a young prospect.
Obviously, in an election year when Republicans seem to be attempting to show at least some measure of sanity to voters, and with Democratic control of the Senate and Presidency, this bill is going nowhere. I just find it disgusting that Republicans, who love to talk about small government and freedom, can find literally no issue with which they do not feel comfortable getting big government involved, if it suits their ideological purposes.
That’s why it was good to see Sam hitting back at this bigoted GOP lobbyist, invoking the time-travel movie “Back to the Future” and tweeting, “Jack Burkman is going to need a Delorian, not some bogus bill, if he wants to prevent gay athletes from being in the locker room”.
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