OPINION:
The Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks take the field Thursday night in football’s season opener, and political correctness in the NFL has already been sacked twice.
Broadcasters and sportswriters with delicate ears who want to make the gridiron a playground for politics were gobsmacked when Michael Sam was cut by the St. Louis Rams. Commentators had invested gallons of ink and millions of electrons cheering Mr. Sam as the first openly homosexual football player drafted into the NFL.
He was a marginal pick — the 249th overall choice out of 256. Even President Obama, who doesn’t have much to do but work on his putt, called Mr. Sam’s drafting “an important step forward … in our nation’s journey.” Just as Mr. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 before he had actually done anything, Mr. Sam received an award from ESPN before he made an assisted tackle.
Once released by the Rams, Mr. Sam cleared waivers without another team putting in a claim, and he may yet find a place when the rest of the league commences play on Sunday. The Dallas Cowboys signed him to their practice squad. “We want to see what he can do,” said Jason Garrett, the Cowboys’ head coach.
If the Cowboys don’t like what they see, Mr. Sam can return to Oprah’s reality-TV show that he and his fairly significant other were filming. The show was put on hold because his 15 minutes of fame was supposed to be about football, not sexuality.
The politically correct crowd suffered another loss Tuesday night when ESPN revealed that by a 3 to 1 margin, sports fans don’t want the Washington Redskins to change their name. No poll of American Indians has ever found that more than a tiny fraction regard “Redskins” as offensive.
Only professional offense-takers could imagine that a football club would choose a self-derogatory name. Phil Simms of CBS Sports, currently in agony over what to do, might take that into account as he decides whether to say the r-word when he works the Sept. 25 game between Washington’s team and New York’s team, whose nickname mocks the plight of those suffering with a glandular disease that promotes excessive growth. Mr. Simms should take an aspirin and lie down until he feels better.
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