Libertarian NFL punter claims discrimination

[Brian4Liberty]

Story has been in the news today. This straight player is saying that coaches made "anti-gay" statements in response to his vocal political advocacy at the workplace. He claims he is libertarian.


“It’s my belief, based on everything that happened over the course of 2012, that I was fired by (special teams coach) Mike Priefer, a bigot who didn’t agree with the cause I was working for, and two cowards, Leslie Frazier and (general manager) Rick Spielman, both of whom knew I was a good punter and would remain a good punter for the foreseeable future, as my numbers over my eight-year career had shown, but who lacked the fortitude to disagree with Mike Priefer on a touchy subject matter,” Kluwe wrote in the 3,700-word piece, adding that he doesn’t know for sure if his activism led to his dismissal from the team, “However I’m pretty confident it was.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/kluwe-vikes-cut-gay-marriage-advocacy-article-1.1564805

An interview with Reason:


Kluwe also, while reluctant to use labels, described himself as a libertarian and said he was not a fan of President Barack Obama, nor Gov. Mitt Romney. Reason 24/7 Associate Editor Scott Shackford spoke with Kluwe by telephone about the extent of his libertarian philosophy, the November election, Ayn Rand, and the way American culture responds to celebrities and athletes wading into political discussions.

http://reason.com/archives/2012/12/27/libertarian-in-the-nfl

Excerpts from Kluwe's actual statement:

http://deadspin.com/i-was-an-nfl-player-until-i-was-fired-by-two-cowards-an-1493208214


Coach Frazier immediately told me that I "needed to be quiet, and stop speaking out on this stuff" (referring to my support for same-sex marriage rights). I told Coach Frazier that I felt it was the right thing to do (what with supporting equality and all), and I also told him that one of his main coaching points to us was to be "good men" and to "do the right thing." He reiterated his fervent desire for me to cease speaking on the subject, stating that "a wise coach once told me there are two things you don't talk about in the NFL, politics and religion."
...
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.
...
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.
...
If there's one thing I hope to achieve from sharing this story, it's to make sure that Mike Priefer never holds a coaching position again in the NFL, and ideally never coaches at any level. (According to the Pioneer Press, he is "the only in-house candidate with a chance" at the head-coaching job.) It's inexcusable that someone would use his status as a teacher and a role model to proselytize on behalf of his own doctrine of intolerance, and I hope he never gets another opportunity to pass his example along to anyone else. I also hope that Leslie Frazier and Rick Spielman take a good look in the mirror and ask themselves if they are the people they truly profess themselves to be.
...

[FrankRep]

I thought Libertarians wanted the government out of marriage.

Chris Kluwe wants the opposite: He wants the government to re-define marriage to through more regulations.

Edit:

At least he supported it at the state level, not the federal level. That's good.

[surf]

Kluwe on Colbert
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/422719/january-08-2013/chris-kluwe
edit: the NFL does not like it when their script isn't followed. it is the most powerful league in the world, in my opinion, and that includes EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, etc. Their franchisees (i.e. teams) take orders from Roger Goodel
edit2: I love football, but as has been mentioned here before, this is the league that still holds that concussions only hurt boxers and not football players

[ropo]

He was fired because he was bad at punting. The fact he was using his position as a professional athlete to publicize his thoughts on gay rights only made it easier to fire him. Not because he was pro-gay but because it was causing a distraction to the team. He should have heeded what his coach said about politics and religion in the workplace.

[juleswin]

He was fired because he was bad at punting. The fact he was using his position as a professional athlete to publicize his thoughts on gay rights only made it easier to fire him. Not because he was pro-gay but because it was causing a distraction to the team. He should have heeded what his coach said about politics and religion in the workplace.

He was also becoming too expensive as a punter, collecting NFL veteran minimum salary for a position that can be filled for cheap got to be the true reason. Also with team sports and even in most work places, being good is not enough to save your job. You also have to have a chemistry with the rest of the team and you can do that by playing better office politics.

[FrankRep]

Drama, drama, drama.

Chris Kluwe Records ‘Lustful Cockmonster’ Ad For Minnesota Equality
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/10/24/1085511/chris-kluwe-records-lustful-cockmonster-ad-for-minnesota-equality/

ThinkProgress
OCTOBER 24, 2012

In September, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe took aim at Maryland Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr. (D) for his opposition to marriage equality, pointing out that loving gay and lesbian couples “won’t magically turn you into a lustful cockmonster.” Now, that colorful turn of phrase has been incorporated into a new radio ad against Minnesota’s marriage inequality amendment. In the ad, Kluwe says that he and his wife just want their daughters to marry whoever they love when they grow up, but the amendment will prevent them from doing that.

[ObiRandKenobi]

nfl coaches want their players to shut up. last thing they want is some guy getting into gay marriage. especially when he sucks making 2 mil.

[Brian4Liberty]

He was fired because he was bad at punting. The fact he was using his position as a professional athlete to publicize his thoughts on gay rights only made it easier to fire him. Not because he was pro-gay but because it was causing a distraction to the team. He should have heeded what his coach said about politics and religion in the workplace.

Agree, probably about his punting (and his salary).

On the other hand, it seemed to be acceptable for his coach to bring up religion. Religion is very widespread and openly discussed in the NFL.

[brandon]

I've "followed" Kluwe for the past year or so because he's involved in several of the same online communities as me, ans he seems to be a pretty stand up guy. I'll take his side on this one.

[Brian4Liberty]

He was also becoming too expensive as a punter, collecting NFL veteran minimum salary for a position that can be filled for cheap got to be the true reason. Also with team sports and even in most work places, being good is not enough to save your job. You also have to have a chemistry with the rest of the team and you can do that by playing better office politics.

Yep. They brought him to the Raiders to try out to replace the best punter in the NFL, who was let go purely because of cost. Quality is not a major issue for punters. And he didn't make the team, BTW.

[cajuncocoa]

nfl coaches want their players to shut up. last thing they want is some guy getting into gay marriage. especially when he sucks making 2 mil.
except when they're expected to promote Obamacare and the military. :rolleyes:

[FrankRep]

Interesting endorsement for a libertarian.


Chris Kluwe Endorses Betsy Hodges for Mayor
http://www.betsyhodges.org/kluwe/

Elizabeth "Betsy" A. Hodges is the Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, she represented Ward 13 on the Minneapolis City Council from January 2006 until January 2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Hodges

[dillo]

If only he was gay, the NFL would support him

He also supported gun control, hes not really a libertarian

[Brian4Liberty]

He was also becoming too expensive as a punter, collecting NFL veteran minimum salary for a position that can be filled for cheap got to be the true reason. Also with team sports and even in most work places, being good is not enough to save your job. You also have to have a chemistry with the rest of the team and you can do that by playing better office politics.

According to this, he was the highest paid specialist in the NFL.


Vikings punter Chris Kluwe leads all specialists at $5 million a year, while the Bills pay a combined $5.4 million for kicker Rian Lindell and punter Brian Moorman, second and third on the list of highest-paid specialists.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0807/nfl.average.salaries.by.position/content.10.html

[Brian4Liberty]

He was also becoming too expensive as a punter, collecting NFL veteran minimum salary for a position that can be filled for cheap got to be the true reason. Also with team sports and even in most work places, being good is not enough to save your job. You also have to have a chemistry with the rest of the team and you can do that by playing better office politics.

According to this, he was the highest paid specialist in the NFL.


Vikings punter Chris Kluwe leads all specialists at $5 million a year, while the Bills pay a combined $5.4 million for kicker Rian Lindell and punter Brian Moorman, second and third on the list of highest-paid specialists.

Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0807/nfl.average.salaries.by.position/content.10.html

[cajuncocoa]

Libertarian is probably the most misused political label.

[Zippyjuan]

Being a self- described Libertarian seems to have had nothing to do with his being fired.

[thoughtomator]

He's not a libertarian, and that label shouldn't be associated to the "gay rights" (state imposed opinion) agenda.

[NIU Students for Liberty]

Quality is not a major issue for punters.

Speaking as a Bears fan who had to endure the incompetence of Adam Podlesh this past season, I beg to differ.

[Keith and stuff]

Being a self- described Libertarian seems to have had nothing to do with his being fired.

Libertarian and libertarian mean very different things. Did you really mean libertarian and just say Libertarian to confuse people?

Anyway, the team likely had the legal right (it certainly had the moral right) to fire the player. The player has every moral right to complain about the situation. I'm not a fan of the team so I don't really care about the situation.

[loveshiscountry]

He was fired because he was bad at punting. The fact he was using his position as a professional athlete to publicize his thoughts on gay rights only made it easier to fire him. Not because he was pro-gay but because it was causing a distraction to the team. He should have heeded what his coach said about politics and religion in the workplace.
Last two years he played, his average was right on the league average.

[Feeding the Abscess]

Last two years he played, his average was right on the league average.

That's not going to cut it at his cost. There are punters coming out from college who can replicate that at a fraction of the cost.

[samforpaul]

Since Kluwe champions immorality it sounds like he's Biblephobic.

[torchbearer]

The week after Chris Carr (CB Saints) did an interview on the Ron Paul channel, he was canned by the saints.

[Feeding the Abscess]

The week after Chris Carr (CB Saints) did an interview on the Ron Paul channel, he was canned by the saints.

He's an undersized and fairly slow DB who has always been a special team player.

Anyway, teams just don't like distractions, and it cuts both ways. In addition to Carr, Tebow doesn't have a job because he's not good enough to put up with the media scrutiny associated with having him around. And the Vikings have a history of getting rid of troublesome players; several players from the boat party incident were released or traded after it became public, Randy Moss (one of the greatest receivers of all time, and in his prime when this happened) was traded because of off-field and image concerns.

[Voluntarist]

xxxxx

[trey4sports]

He was fired because he was bad at punting. The fact he was using his position as a professional athlete to publicize his thoughts on gay rights only made it easier to fire him. Not because he was pro-gay but because it was causing a distraction to the team. He should have heeded what his coach said about politics and religion in the workplace.

im a vikings fan and can confirm Kluwe was a shitty punter his last couple years with the vikings. He also made gay marriage his thing. it was a distraction for the team.

[Brian4Liberty]

im a vikings fan and can confirm Kluwe was a shitty punter his last couple years with the vikings. He also made gay marriage his thing. it was a distraction for the team.

Highest paid and underperforming don't work in professional sports. The rest of the story sounds like office politics, disagreements, loudmouths, intolerance and finally, playing the "discrimination/prejudice" card.

[TaftFan]

Punters like him are never guaranteed a job.

[scottditzen]

The week after Chris Carr (CB Saints) did an interview on the Ron Paul channel, he was canned by the saints.

Supporting Ron Paul is the kiss of death for NFL players.

You may, or may not remember Tony Pashos and Peyton Hillis formerly of the Cleveland Browns.

[FrankRep]

Supporting Ron Paul is the kiss of death for NFL players.

You may, or may not remember Tony Pashos and Peyton Hillis formerly of the Cleveland Browns.

Tony Pashos -- Oakland Raiders (2013–present)

Peyton Hillis -- New York Giants (2013-present)


What's the issue?

[cajuncocoa]

Supporting Ron Paul is the kiss of death for NFL players.

You may, or may not remember Tony Pashos and Peyton Hillis formerly of the Cleveland Browns.

I believe I heard that Arian Foster of the Houston Texans is/was a Ron Paul supporter.

[Feeding the Abscess]

Supporting Ron Paul is the kiss of death for NFL players.

You may, or may not remember Tony Pashos and Peyton Hillis formerly of the Cleveland Browns.

Hillis is really slow, and Pashos was a marginal talent who did manage to make $840k while starting 12 games this season for the Raiders.

[scottditzen]

Tony Pashos -- Oakland Raiders (2013–present)

Peyton Hillis -- New York Giants (2013-present)


What's the issue?

They were all-star talents whose stock fell so quickly that they couldn't start FOR THE BROWNS.

It was injuries really for both players. Plus Hillis is a bit crazy (wanted to join the CIA). Pashos seems pretty solid though.

[oyarde]

Interesting endorsement for a libertarian.


Chris Kluwe Endorses Betsy Hodges for Mayor
http://www.betsyhodges.org/kluwe/

Elizabeth "Betsy" A. Hodges is the Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota. A member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party, she represented Ward 13 on the Minneapolis City Council from January 2006 until January 2014.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Hodges

Most people are probably not aware of the Minnesota commie party .

[oyarde]

Speaking as a Bears fan who had to endure the incompetence of Adam Podlesh this past season, I beg to differ.

They should just let Forte punt .

[oyarde]

Danke could punt for the Vikings .