For some reason, I was a real big fan of Esera Tuaolo when he played for the Green Bay Packers.
I say for some reason because Tuaolo lasted all of a season and a half with the team. However, he started all 16 games at nose tackle as a rookie, registering 48 tackles, 3.5 sacks and an interception. It was 1991 and we didn’t have a lot to cheer about.
Tuaolo looked like he actually might be a find.
The next year, he played in four games for the Packers without a start. He finished that season with the Minnesota Vikings. Frankly, I’m not sure how he got there.
We’ll assume the Packers either released him or they traded him to Minnesota. That information isn’t readily available. Do you know why?
Because Esera Tuaolo is gay.
So when you go try to look up something about Esera Tuaolo, most of what you find is about him being gay.
Not that he had a nine-year career in the NFL. That he’s gay and also played in the NFL.
OH MY GOD! CAN YOU IMAGINE IT!?
Well, yeah. The NFL is now all about inclusivity, as they should be. However, this sudden interest in inclusivity is driven only by dollar signs.
With Michael Sam becoming the first openly gay player to get drafted and try to make a roster, the NFL quickly realized they have a whole new market to suck dollars out of. Hence the reason why the league office was calling around asking teams to sign Sam after he got cut by the Rams.
And hey, guess what. The Packers organization is an enlightened bunch, at least when it comes to dollar signs. They’re gay-friendly too.
So they’ve gone and invited Tuaolo to sing the national anthem before Sunday’s game. Yes, the dude can sing too. He sang the national anthem before a Packers game when he was a player back in ’91.
While we think that’s pretty cool for Tuaolo, it just kind of reeks of being a ploy by the Packers. It’s not as if Tuaolo played 10 years for the club. Hell, he spent more years as a Viking than he did in Green Bay.
He just happens to be that now openly gay guy who once played for the Packers.
Can we get a former Packer player that beat the shit out of his wife to sing the national anthem at the next game?
Can Ahman Green sing? What about that cornerback from two or three years ago whose name slips my mind at the moment?
Fuck that, Darren Sharper or bust.
NFL is ONLY motivated by one thing, and that is greed. They think seizing the gay moment will net them more money. Anyone think they’re wrong? Also funny how they got real concerned about Ray Rice punching out his wife only after the video surfaced, even when they had know about the whole thing for a year. Seems like politics is taking over sports. I canceled my Sunday Ticket a couple of days ago. Still love the Packers as a team; just don’t love the organization anymore or the league they belong too. They can have their “Holiday Tree” outside Lambeau.
I’m with ya, this is no longer football-the 90s were the last of the Golden Era.
The NFL is a business. Businesses are driven by profits. What’s the problem?
The problem is that your view is a gross and dangerous oversimplification of what people need to keep a civilization alive.
Put simply, the problem is that purpose driven solely by profits marginalizes to the consumer to the extent that the business will provide the bare minimum requisite to keep the consumer satisfied to the point of subsequent purchases; thus maximizing profit whilst maintaining consumer base. In the end the consumer is screwed because the business is the sole/major provider of the product. That, in essence, is consumer manipulation via monopoly, and is ethically opprobrius.
Hell I thought that the reason Thompson did not cut Goodson was he was a 6th round pick and Ted did not want all the publicity from cutting a 6th round pick since Sam was a 7th round pick.
Are you saying all the constant breaking news, bottom line ticker repeats regarding Sam being cut was because he was gay and not because he was a highly valued future hall of fame 7th round pick? I guess the old sayings true you learn something new everyday
We’ll see if Mark Cuban’s prediction comes true. Another issue is the league trying to penalize use of the N-word on the field. What color of player do they think uses this word? Suppression of free speech can be dressed up in a lot of ways and presented as desirable for society. Loss of freedom is always costumed as “protecting people.” Businesses are always driven by profit, but all moves to increase profit are not successful. I’ve been a diehard fan since the 70s. Count me out. The new breed of American can have it. By the way, did you know that fully 25% of our country doesn’t know that the earth revolves around the sun. Ignorance is a perfect breeding ground for tyranny.
agree – I have BEEN A FAN SINCE THE 40’S and I’m about ready to call it quits my self. make my wife happy not having football on any more. have cancelled my direct tv package.
“Freedom will be defended at the cost of civil liberties” Paul “Sage” Francis
Freedom will be defended…at the cost of civil liberties.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3spSAvJkm8
(About journalistic ethics in the wake of 9/11, but I think it’s apropos).
The league office was calling around asking teams to sign Sam after he got cut by the Rams? Seriously?
I’ve had it with this piece of shit Goodell. Does he honestly think that people will believe he “didn’t” see the second Ray Rice video until a gossip site got their hands on it? As if the first one where Rice drags his wifes totally limp body out of an elevator wasn’t telling enough. What the fuck did he think happened in there? Rice snapped his fingers and she magically fell to the ground? Of course he hit her, that’s how you knock people out. Way to go back on your word of how you supported the two game suspension, and then change it to indefinitely because a video is released to the public and you don’t want to look bad. Fucking spineless coward. I guess domestic violence isn’t that big of a deal as long as there’s video. Too bad you can’t have Mike Pierra make up some bullshit rule to hide behind like you did with the fail mary.
That would be cool to sing the national anthem for a game you were playing in. Way to Tuaolo!
Fox showed Sam on the sidelines on Sunday. Just let it be . He is a practice squad player!!!!
They should have an under the hood review of Ray Rice’s knockout punch, then have the ref come out and say, “Upon further review, the ruling on the field is overturned. Since people are now pissed off, Goodell has to do something more extreme so he can look like he’s really concerned about domestic violence instead of money. First down, Baltimore. Please reset the game clock to 9:11.”