![]() Which was what made him so terrifying to the bigots-it wasn’t just the chance that he’d end up in the NFL, it was the idea that he could be a team’s first pick, that a franchise they root for could actively decide to become The Team With the Gay Player. He was All-American, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year when he came out. It’s basically the same response that his potential teammates and opponents in the NFL have exhibited, professionals who don’t have time or interest in anything other than: Can he play? Max’s upbringing may not be typical, but his response-_is he any good?-_seemed right to me. The one who shrugs at gay, because gay is just another kind of person, like tall or bald or funny or mean. This, I suspect, will be the next generation of American sports fan. So, you can imagine we hadn’t really had much of a talk about the birds, to say nothing of the bees, when Michael Sam came along earlier this year, big and gay and proud and impossible for a football fan to ignore, even when the fan in question is a half-baked, illiterate thumb-sucker. Max still believes in the tooth fairy and can’t wipe his own ass with any kind of proficiency. Then again, this is a first-grader we’re talking about. He loves football more than anything and it’s impossible not to admire his blanket enthusiasm. The kid doesn’t discriminate based on team, status, or even vital signs. He’s got players no one likes, players no one remembers, and a player shot to death in a burglary gone wrong. Popular jerseys never make it to the thrift store, which means Max is usually sporting a frayed and ill-fitting schmata advertising a retired player like Donovan McNabb or Priest Holmes, or one you assume had retired like Willis McGahee. ![]() My son has 15 different NFL jerseys, most of which his mother purchased for $3 each at a thrift store. ![]()
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