Former player accuses Vikings coaches of being bigots

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El Guapo

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Wow, quite a long expose by Kluwe. This thread might get locked pretty quickly, but I'll just say that I admire Chris speaking his mind for equality - regardless of the specific cause. Numbers aside, he was an above average punter during his career who always seemed to negate a big return or pin the opposing team inside the 20. It's a shame that veterans can get priced out of the market but there are only 32 punting jobs in the world and a lot of people who wanted them.
 

Forget Favre

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I prefer to go by facts or "seeing/hearing is believing" rather than speculation.
Right off the bat he admits that he doesn't know the true reason for being fired but rather just suspects the real reason.
That's all I needed to know to not bother to read any further.
Unless he knows for sure then him calling them "bigots" is unfounded.
 
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ivo610

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I prefer to go by facts or "seeing/hearing is believing" rather than speculation.
Right off the bat he admits that he doesn't know the true reason for being fired but rather just suspects the real reason.
That's all I needed to know to not bother to read any further.
Unless he knows for sure then him calling them "bigots" is unfounded.

You admit to not reading what he wrote but think his opinion is unfounded? Uhhhhhh
 

Vladimirr

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I agree with Chris's viewpoints. He seems like an intelligent guy, and he's a good athlete.

That said, if anything, he got fired for being unprofessional rather than for his viewpoints. Many organizations have policies for social media. Since these are new ground as far as HR policies go, there's a lot of grey area, but the general rule seems to be "If you're an employee posting non-anonymously, don't do anything that's going to embarrass us."

For reference, here was the first open letter he posted:
http://deadspin.com/5941348/they-wo...ho-is-offended-by-an-nfl-player-supporting-it

His message was good, but the way he conveyed it had a serious lack of tact. If anything, it detracts from what he's trying to convey. Seriously, read the whole thing through. Does it say to you "Wow, this guy an advocate and a champion for gay rights", or does it say "Wow, that sounds like it was written by an angry twelve-year-old who wanted to try out some new words he heard in school"?

If I went online with my real name, and posted in that same tone, I'd expect to get my pink slip too, and I'm not even a public figure. Do I have the right to say whatever I want based on the first amendment? Sure. Does my employer have to continue employing me afterwards? No, not really.
 
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ivo610

ivo610

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I agree with Chris's viewpoints. He seems like an intelligent guy, and he's a good athlete.

That said, if anything, he got fired for being unprofessional rather than for his viewpoints. Many organizations have policies for social media. Since these are new ground as far as HR policies go, there's a lot of grey area, but the general rule seems to be "If you're an employee posting non-anonymously, don't do anything that's going to embarrass us."

His message was good, but the way he conveyed it had a serious lack of tact. If I went online with my real name, and posted in that same tone, I'd expect to get my pink slip too, and I'm not even a public figure. Do I have the right to say whatever I want based on the first amendment? Sure. Does my employer have to continue employing me afterwards? No, not really.

Don't try giving that reasoning to duck dynasty fans.
 

Forget Favre

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You admit to not reading what he wrote but think his opinion is unfounded? Uhhhhhh
So that's your opinion about my opinion about his opinion.
Got an opinion on that opinion?
:D
 

Forget Favre

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We all pick our battles and the gay marriage issue just isn't one of mine.
 

Forget Favre

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No but you said his opinion was unfounded without reading what he had to say.
I really don't care for the article because:
1) This has to do with the Vikings and not the Packers. So whatever happens in their offices and between them and their players, as far as I'm concerned, is between all of them.
(I dunno why this is posted here? Shouldn't it be under "All Other Team Discussions"?)
2) He was just guessing as to why he was fired or cut.
3) I have no opinion on weather or not **** should be married. I'm sitting that one out and will let others work that out. Whatever happens is fine with me.
As a straight male, I have no concern with what **** and ******** do as long as they leave me alone.
 

USArmyParatrooper

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I agree with Chris's viewpoints. He seems like an intelligent guy, and he's a good athlete.

That said, if anything, he got fired for being unprofessional rather than for his viewpoints. Many organizations have policies for social media. Since these are new ground as far as HR policies go, there's a lot of grey area, but the general rule seems to be "If you're an employee posting non-anonymously, don't do anything that's going to embarrass us."

For reference, here was the first open letter he posted:
http://deadspin.com/5941348/they-wo...ho-is-offended-by-an-nfl-player-supporting-it

His message was good, but the way he conveyed it had a serious lack of tact. If anything, it detracts from what he's trying to convey. Seriously, read the whole thing through. Does it say to you "Wow, this guy an advocate and a champion for gay rights", or does it say "Wow, that sounds like it was written by an angry twelve-year-old who wanted to try out some new words he heard in school"?

If I went online with my real name, and posted in that same tone, I'd expect to get my pink slip too, and I'm not even a public figure. Do I have the right to say whatever I want based on the first amendment? Sure. Does my employer have to continue employing me afterwards? No, not really.

I read it and I would have to say the former. Much of what he wrote was very articulate and intelligently written, and other parts were more colorful and displayed anger and frustration.
 

PackCrazed4

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I really don't care for the article because:
1) This has to do with the Vikings and not the Packers. So whatever happens in their offices and between them and their players, as far as I'm concerned, is between all of them.
(I dunno why this is posted here? Shouldn't it be under "All Other Team Discussions"?)
2) He was just guessing as to why he was fired or cut.
3) I have no opinion on weather or not **** should be married. I'm sitting that one out and will let others work that out. Whatever happens is fine with me.
As a straight male, I have no concern with what **** and ******** do as long as they leave me alone.

It's not really about whether gay marriage is right or wrong, it's about the treatment of a player in the NFL based on his beliefs. I say read it, it may seem like it's just about the Vikings, but it speaks to a broader culture issue in football and professional sports as a whole.
 

longtimefan

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I really don't care for the article because:
1) This has to do with the Vikings and not the Packers. So whatever happens in their offices and between them and their players, as far as I'm concerned, is between all of them.
.
So when Brett was dealing with the texting stuff, you didnt comment since he wasnt a Packer?
 

NOMOFO

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It's not really about whether gay marriage is right or wrong, it's about the treatment of a player in the NFL based on his beliefs. I say read it, it may seem like it's just about the Vikings, but it speaks to a broader culture issue in football and professional sports as a whole.

It's the PC movement in this country that causes the "culture issue". Until we realize that nothing changes and none of us talk.

Let's be honest and read between the lines of this article. Does it not appear as though Kluwe was a at least to some extent looking for a fight? I agree the Vikings could have handled some of it differently. They should have released a statement saying something like "We support all of our players rights as Americans. We understand we have many different opinions on things in our locker room. Chris Kluwe has some strong beliefs and we support him. That's all we're going to say on that moving forward as our main goal here is to win a Superbowl. We're not here to moderate a debate on any subject or social cause". "Additionally, we will not tolerate any intolerance by any of our players or coaching staff." (And they should have fired the stupid azzz coach that said that crap...if it really happened)

Then they go to Kluwe and tell him "Look Chris, we have about 100 different opinions on about 10,000 different issues in our locker room. Your opinion and crusade for gay rights is no more important than what the next player's opinion and crusade might be. (Of course- nobody says this because it's not PC right?) Can you imagine if every player in our locker room used this platform to voice their opinions to the degree you are? All we're asking is that football comes first, and you structure your social commentary accordingly".

I'm sure that's what the Vikings were trying to accomplish when they asked him to please just stick to a few large media outlets to get his message out. They were just trying to not turn it into a circus. This "story" is just more of the same way this country is going. The PC movement doesn't allow us to treat everyone equal and even address problems head on. Hell, we can't even get to the point that we're given all of the FACTS behind a story because even reporting FACTS is considered not politically correct! Sad...really sad.
 

weeds

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When Reggie White went on his rant before the Wisconsin State Assembly, I remember thinking that I wished he'd just shut up.
 

Mushroom

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Off topic, but stopping in to say hi and I saw a lot of familiar names I this thread.
 

FrankRizzo

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When Reggie White went on his rant before the Wisconsin State Assembly, I remember thinking that I wished he'd just shut up.
The funny thing is, to anyone who has dealt with all different races, they know and knew then what Reggie was talking about.

I say that as someone who is married to an Asian, as someone's who's best friend (one of them) is Indian.
Also of course here in Texas I have many Mexican or Latino friends.

Reggie was absolutely 100% right on.

It's the white-guilt, paranoid, PC guzzlers who took offense to what Reggie said, probably because they felt uncomfortable with hearing something they thought but didn't have the ballz to say.
 

Forget Favre

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It's not really about whether gay marriage is right or wrong, it's about the treatment of a player in the NFL based on his beliefs. I say read it, it may seem like it's just about the Vikings, but it speaks to a broader culture issue in football and professional sports as a whole.
OK so I went ahead and started to read the article to give it a chance.
I got bored and gave it up.
What I don't get is that some within the Vikings organization was OK with him speaking out while others weren't.
Seems like they all need to be clear or on the very same page of what a player can and cannot say while playing for the team.
He could have avoided all the trouble if he would have just focused on playing football. Which is what they are paid to do.
Politicians have their job and athletes have theirs.
Just keep your mouth shut and play the game to entertain and distract us for a few hours from the problems of the world.
Do I agree with the Vikings firing him for speaking his mind? I have no opinion on that. That is between the punter and the Vikings and whatever they do is within their rights to do it unless they violated the contract.
I've written my piece and I'm done with this thread.

Go Pack and beat the Niners!
 
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ivo610

ivo610

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OK so I went ahead and started to read the article to give it a chance.
I got bored and gave it up.
What I don't get is that some within the Vikings organization was OK with him speaking out while others weren't.
Seems like they all need to be clear or on the very same page of what a player can and cannot say while playing for the team.
He could have avoided all the trouble if he would have just focused on playing football. Which is what they are paid to do.
Politicians have their job and athletes have theirs.
Just keep your mouth shut and play the game to entertain and distract us for a few hours from the problems of the world.
Do I agree with the Vikings firing him for speaking his mind? I have no opinion on that. That is between the punter and the Vikings and whatever they do is within their rights to do it unless they violated the contract.
I've written my piece and I'm done with this thread.

Go Pack and beat the Niners!

You're surprised the Vikings are disorganized and lack communication at multiple levels?

Hey if you believe Brett n Gregg it's better across the border
 

Defense92

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I really don't care for the article because:
1) This has to do with the Vikings and not the Packers. So whatever happens in their offices and between them and their players, as far as I'm concerned, is between all of them.
(I dunno why this is posted here? Shouldn't it be under "All Other Team Discussions"?)
2) He was just guessing as to why he was fired or cut.
3) I have no opinion on weather or not **** should be married. I'm sitting that one out and will let others work that out. Whatever happens is fine with me.
As a straight male, I have no concern with what **** and ******** do as long as they leave me alone.

Yeah, it is the Vikings problem. Let them sort out their own mess.
 

Defense92

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It's the PC movement in this country that causes the "culture issue". Until we realize that nothing changes and none of us talk.

Let's be honest and read between the lines of this article. Does it not appear as though Kluwe was a at least to some extent looking for a fight? I agree the Vikings could have handled some of it differently. They should have released a statement saying something like "We support all of our players rights as Americans. We understand we have many different opinions on things in our locker room. Chris Kluwe has some strong beliefs and we support him. That's all we're going to say on that moving forward as our main goal here is to win a Superbowl. We're not here to moderate a debate on any subject or social cause". "Additionally, we will not tolerate any intolerance by any of our players or coaching staff." (And they should have fired the stupid azzz coach that said that crap...if it really happened)

Then they go to Kluwe and tell him "Look Chris, we have about 100 different opinions on about 10,000 different issues in our locker room. Your opinion and crusade for gay rights is no more important than what the next player's opinion and crusade might be. (Of course- nobody says this because it's not PC right?) Can you imagine if every player in our locker room used this platform to voice their opinions to the degree you are? All we're asking is that football comes first, and you structure your social commentary accordingly".

I'm sure that's what the Vikings were trying to accomplish when they asked him to please just stick to a few large media outlets to get his message out. They were just trying to not turn it into a circus. This "story" is just more of the same way this country is going. The PC movement doesn't allow us to treat everyone equal and even address problems head on. Hell, we can't even get to the point that we're given all of the FACTS behind a story because even reporting FACTS is considered not politically correct! Sad...really sad.

I couldn't agree more.
 
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