Word I thought I'd never type: good for you, Michael Irvin

[ShibbOleth]

From Sports Illustrated:

[Irvin says he felt shame over gay brother](Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/nfl/07/12/irvin-brother.ap/index.html#ixzz1RwQiyKHA)

The former Dallas Cowboys star now appears on the NFL Network and on his own radio show in Miami. He has supported same-sex marriage on his radio show and has said he’s waiting for an active player in the NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL to declare publicly that he is gay.

“Until we do that, we’re going to be stuck in the Dark Ages about a lot of things,” Irvin told the magazine. “When a guy steps up and says, ‘This is who I am,’ I guarantee you I’ll give him 100 percent support.”

Irvin said carrying the burden of Vaughn’s secret gives him a hint of how tough it must be for a homosexual athlete to hide his orientation in a locker room.

“If I’m not gay and I am afraid to mention it, I can only imagine what an athlete must be going through if he is gay,” Irvin said. “I would like to see players come forward and be happy with who they are. Hopefully, as we move forward, we’ll get to a place where there’s no way it’s even considered; it just is what it is and everybody can do what they do. That’s the ultimate goal.”

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/football/nfl/07/12/irvin-brother.ap/index.html#ixzz1RwQb8V49

It’s tough to admit your mistakes. Not saying his original behavior was perfect, but glad to see him now calling on the sporting world to improve itself.

[Marley23]

Yeah, that was my thought when I read the ESPN story this afternoon. Irvin came off as surprisingly thoughtful. One of the surprising things about the increased acceptance of gays is that some people who I thought were real dicks turned out to be OK (on one issue ;)).

[R.P.McMurphy]

Ditto.

I’ve never found much of anything about me that is homosexual but I am totally sick of homophobia. Gay marriage is no threat to me or my grown children. They understand it.

Good for you, Michael. You are not what I would call a “role model” but at least you have the guts to make an intelligent assessment and speak out.

If the “norm” was homosexuality I would be on the front lines declaring that my preferences are hard wired and not a result of sin or weak character. Because that’s just it, I’m hard wired. I knew it well before I was pre-pubescent. That’s not a boast, it’s just who I am and that doesn’t make me better or worse than anybody else. All I’m saying is I have no agenda.

I really don’t care who you love. There are millions of reasons for who we are why you do things and who you are attracted to. Just make sure that you are doing things in the best interest of other people and are not trying to satisfy a personal agenda at the expense of others.

'Nuff said.

[ShibbOleth]

Some more on the reaction to his Out magazine stuff:

Asked what he would say to Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison about his use of an anti-gay slur in reference to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Irvin said, “I do talk with James, James is an intelligent guy. I haven’t talked with him since then, but I would continue to share with him that if someone said something derogatory about your race, how does it make you feel? You have to try and bring it home. . . . What I mean by that is make it relate to you. Make it relate to you if someone said this about this, how would you feel?”