The media has been tripping over themselves for years to find a gay football player. Often accusing Kordell Stewart and Michael Westbrook of being gay. What I don't understand is why they don't wait for a better athlete. Michael Sam and that gay guy from then Nets that nobody remembers weren't big enough stars to get the reaction that they wanted. The media actually tried to put the gay guy on the Nets on the same pedestal as Jackie Robinson....lol...give me a fuckin' break.
The reason is that despite all the protestations to the contrary, it's still a divided nation when it comes to homosexuality, so people have a lot to lose with their brand. It's not an accident that the people that have "come out" so far have been no names or has beens that knew the attention they'd get would leave them far better off than the position they were in.
For an actual star in the NFL? Not so much. Especially now that the media has already elevated to God level these 2. Even if someone better does it now it won't have the same impact. And despite the fact that anyone that publicly says so will be punished, there are alot of people that will have a problem with it, and the player will always be remembered as the gay player rather than their talent.
If you are a certain super star QB. Much of your image comes from being the star qb. The sex symbol. The guy men envy and women want. If you announce you are gay that all goes away. Sure ESPN will spend the next 50 years declaring you a mixture of Martin Luther King and Jesus, but back in the real world, even among people that support homosexuality, that sex symbol status goes away. Men no longer envy the women you get, and women no longer imagine you as someone they could get. That means your brand now has less pop and you are now boxed in as the gay qb.
