Not that I was ever much of a booster, but this behind-the-scenes look at how team management operates by Chris Kluwe is disappointing. He was fired from his position as a punter after he’d achieved some notoriety for his progressive positions and lack of religiosity — and he now explains that it’s likely that it was because of those positions. And man, it sounds like he was working in an ugly environment.
Throughout the months of September, October, and November, Minnesota Vikings special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer would use homophobic language in my presence. He had not done so during minicamps or fall camp that year, nor had he done so during the 2011 season. He would ask me if I had written any letters defending "the gays" recently and denounce as disgusting the idea that two men would kiss, and he would constantly belittle or demean any idea of acceptance or tolerance. I tried to laugh these off while also responding with the notion that perhaps they were human beings who deserved to be treated as human beings. Mike Priefer also said on multiple occasions that I would wind up burning in hell with the gays, and that the only truth was Jesus Christ and the Bible. He said all this in a semi-joking tone, and I responded in kind, as I felt a yelling match with my coach over human rights would greatly diminish my chances of remaining employed. I felt uncomfortable each time Mike Priefer said these things. After all, he was directly responsible for reviewing my job performance, but I hoped that after the vote concluded in Minnesota his behavior would taper off and eventually stop.
My limited experience with football coaches suggests that this isn’t an unusual attitude they take. Kluwe also stirred up concern because he said a few harsh things about the Catholic Church — I can relate.
On Feb. 11, I received a message saying, “Please fly under radar please,” from a phone number I would later learn belonged to Rick Spielman. The text message presumably concerned several things I had tweeted that day regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to step down. Spielman later called me and asked me to stop tweeting about the pope because angry people were ringing up team headquarters in Winter Park, Minn. It should be noted that my tweets concerned the lack of transparency and endemic institutional corruption of the Catholic Church, which among other things allowed child abuse to flourish. I also pointed out how that applied equally to financial and government institutions, and reiterated that I had nothing against anyone’s religion, only against the abuses of power that institutions allow. Nonetheless, I complied with Spielman’s request and did not tweet anything else about the pope that day, or in the future.
Now I’m really looking forward to the American Atheists convention in Salt Lake this April — Kluwe is the keynote speaker. I hope I can meet him there, and shake his hand.
But then there are a lot of good people who will be speaking there: Barry Lynn, Maryam Namazie, Matt Dillahunty, Greta Christina, Sikivu Hutchinson, Vyckie Garrison…you should register now!
Whenever someone uses “the gays”, they may as well come clean and scream aloud to all and sundry “I’m an asshole bigot!”
Chris Kluwe’s job requires him to work in a hostile environment. The comments directed at him were ugly, and they were nasty in a premeditated way. I say “at him” instead of “to him” because the effect was to treat him not as an individual with opinions of his own, but as part of an amorphous pro-gay, liberal bogey man.
Tribalism in the locker room.
Isn’t it strange that it’s only liberal activists that cause locker room problems and distractions? It’s never the deeply christian guy directly getting in people’s faces telling them they’re going to burn in hell, or that everyone he doesn’t like should be rounded up and nuked. No problems there at all.
Guess I need to buy myself a copy of his new book, “Beautifully Unique Sparkle Ponies”.
I’ve already checked it out of my local library, but I think a purchase would be an even nicer show of support. That’s even without the irony of using the Xmas Gelt from my right-wing, fundamentalist parents.
(and yay for my library, which put “Beautifully Unique Sparkle Ponies” on the New and Interesting shelf so I’d know about it!).
Shame on the Minnesota Vikings organization.
Funny Diva:
Ooh, thanks for the mention! Just went to B&N and grabbed the e-book.
This isn’t meant to be a defense of the Vikings management, particularly because is sounds like Mike Priefer needs to be fired yesterday, but Kluwe wasn’t cut because of his advocacy, he was cut because he is a mediocre punter who is getting old, and due to the veterans minimum would need to be paid significantly more than he was worth. He had a really high return rate in his last year and failed three tryouts between loosing his job with the Vikings and now.
The Vikings respond:
http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2014/01/vikings-respond-to-chris-kluwe.html
Honestly? With sexism rampant and intolerance common in all major sports, I find it easy to not support them.
Can he file a grievance against the organisation and/or the league? Even if he was let go due to performance, it seems like he could make a case that the work environment was so hostile his performance was affected. Even if he gets no compensation, perhaps these coaches would be justly disciplined. If it was bad for Chris, imagine how it would be being a young gay player on that team overhearing that bigoted crap? Or, now that it’s come to light, how potential future players might feel about playing as an out athlete. (Frankly, I think the Vikings should fire them.)
Were you honestly in danger of supporting the Vikings anyway? It’d be easier to cut that support if you were a Football fan and saw the abomination that is the season they turned in.
And to echo @6:patrickspens, while his outspoken (and correct) probably made it easier to cut ties with him, it was ultimately his ability that lost him his job and kept him out of the league. The reality is that, as a punter, he’s competing for a position with a small number of positions and a large pool of capable people. If he was a more standout player, there could certainly be a case to be made that it was his views that were the primary reason, but he was an average guy at a non-premium position.
While not the same root reasons (advocacy vs. actually being gay), it’s very similar to Jason Collins. He was the first “active” player to come out in a major league sport, but then went unsigned and was very suddenly no longer active. And while there can be little doubt that his new-found spotlight contributed to him not being signed, it was his low numbers and value that likely affected it more. The reality of sports is that no matter the distraction or baggage that comes with a player, if he can contribute to the win, they’ll bring him on and the “distractions” can be handled later.
I have no doubt that Kluwe is telling the truth (or at least being honest with how things were), because that is the culture of it. It’s not a big stretch in a league that attacks the victim over the bully (Incognito vs. Martin) or lets someone get away with killing someone (Donté Stallworth). Not saying that culture is right, but it’s also a culture that values winning above all else.
While I have no idea what internal discussions might have occurred and find it entirely plausible that his political views played in, Kluwe being cut sure looks like nothing more than a straightforward analytics based decisions. The NFL has veteran minimum salaries that are significantly higher than for younger players; as such, veterans need to add significant value or they’ll become salary cap casualties. While Kluwe was a perfectly acceptable punter, he didn’t really provide any added value over what a freely available rookie or free agent would provide for ~$1 million less. Veteran punters and kickers that aren’t exceptional being cut is pretty standard practice. It’s a less exciting narrative, but there’s a pretty good chance that’s all this is.
To all of you saying that he was released because of performance issues, that may be the case, but it’s irrelevant. Assuming that his allegations are true, and I see no reason to think they aren’t, his immediate supervisor made the working environment intolerable for him because of his support of human rights. It doesn’t matter if he’s the worst punter in the league or the best quarterback, or for that matter a dishwasher or a teacher or whatever, the comments he endured should not be tolerated in a workplace or any other environment.
while I do think huis activism contributed to his dismissal, it’s kind of odd considering that the NFL has been pretty friendly to closeted gay players
http://www.outsports.com/2013/12/26/5245658/houston-oilers-gay-1993
Maroon
It’s not irrelevant to the claim that he was fired because of his advocacy, which is what I was addressing.
There is, or rather was, an NFL coach who would have fired this Priefer asshole in a New York minute. Y’all might have heard of him, a guy went by the last name of Lombardi. Yeah, THAT Lombardi. Having experienced discrimination he was staunchly opposed to any form of it, period. When he took over the Potomac Basin Indigenous Persons ( I just can’t type the name Washington D.C.’s NFL franchise uses ) it was an open secret that Jerry Smith was gay. Lombardi called Smith into his office and told him it would never be an issue. When a gay running back with sub-par skills was in training camp in 1969 Lombardi told an assistant coach to work on him and if he heard one word about the back’s manhood that individual would be “out of here before your ass hits the ground”.
Funny Diva:
I didn’t know Chris Kluwe had a book. Got to check it out. Thanks!
I heard Chris Kluwe on The Nerdist podcast a couple of years ago. It was quite a good interview.
It’s not irrelevant to a discussion of why he was canned.
As for the Vikes, 5-10-1. just sayin.
In the meantime, I’m sure those stalwart defenders of civil liberties, the Duck Dynasty fan community, will step up to denouce the Vikings’ infringement of Mr. Kluwe’s freedom of speech any second now…
…any second…
Kluwe was cut before this season started.
The point being that the previous year, the Vikings with Kluwe were a 10-6 playoff team. This year, without him, they struggled. (Yes, one player can influence results to that degree. That player wasn’t Chris Kluwe though – it was Adrian Peterson.) It would be nice to think that Kluwe’s firing was an example of a crappy decision made by a team that did poorly this year due to crappy decisions.
For me, Chris Kluwe’s presence on the roster was enough of a reason to toss a bit of my support in the general direction of the Vikings.
Does anybody read things that are linked to in the OP? Kluwe addresses everything mentioned here about his performance in that piece he wrote.
A Utah family is featured on one of the excellent billboards advertising the American Atheists National Convention in Salt Lake City.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57343596-78/says-atheists-mormon-billboard.html.csp
The billboard text reads: We’re the Monnett family, and we’re
Mormons…ex-mormons. We’re Atheists. Come explore your doubt weigh us.Mom, Dad and three kids — all looking happy in the billboard photo.
Excerpt from the article (link in comment #23):
From the comments below the Salt Lake Tribune article describing the Atheist Convention billboard:
More comments associated with the Salt Lake Tribune article:
A lot of people in Salt Lake City still missing the point. They really need an Atheist Convention to open their eyes.
I sure wish lack of conviction came with lack of blathering.
I know. I referred to the title of the OP. Sorry for the confusion.
And he was canned not for being a crappy punter, but for being too expensive a pretty-good punter. Moneyball.
Mother Jones covered the story, and the Colbert interview:
Scroll down on linked page to view video of Colbert interview.
Excerpt from Mother Jones article (link in comment #29):
And, if you need another reason to go to American Atheists 2014 con, Cristina Rad will be there, as well :)