I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired By Two Cowards And A Bigot

[No 1 Manning Fan]

If that was the case he should have opened his mouth way before he did. Sorry, but I do not think if Priefer said the things Kluwe has accused him of and if it was sooooo offensive to him, then he would have said something long before now. I personally think the guy is full of crap and can't stand the fact that he got released because he sucked, instead I think he finds it more appropriate to make up accusations and stain another mans reputation.

You may be right. IDK. But you can't automatically discount what he said because of the timing. A lot of people are afraid to report thing like this for fear that nothing will be done to the person. Then even more harassment might follow and almost certain termination. A lot of people would prefer to keep their heads down and try to ride out the storm.

My niece was sexually harassed for a couple of years and did not report it to the general manager that his assistant was harassing her because she feared she would get fired and feared that it would follow her around if she ever needed them as a reference. Once she found other employment she wrote a detailed letter to the GM and the owner and the assistant manager was fired. Was she wrong? No. She needed money to make ends meat. And she chose to put up with it.

[Balzer40]

You may be right. IDK. But you can't automatically discount what he said because of the timing. A lot of people are afraid to report thing like this for fear that nothing will be done to the person. Then even more harassment might follow and almost certain termination. A lot of people would prefer to keep their heads down and try to ride out the storm.

My niece was sexually harassed for a couple of years and did not report it to the general manager that his assistant was harassing her because she feared she would get fired and feared that it would follow her around if she ever needed them as a reference. Once she found other employment she wrote a detailed letter to the GM and the owner and the assistant manager was fired. Was she wrong? No. She needed money to make ends meat. And she chose to put up with it.

 

 

 

I'm willing to wait to find out the whole truth(if we ever do find it out) and if he's telling the truth then I'll gladly admit I was wrong about him but as of right now, I think it has more to do with a personal vendetta against the Vikings coaching staff and GM than it does anything else.

[No 1 Manning Fan]

I'm willing to wait to find out the whole truth(if we ever do find it out) and if he's telling the truth then I'll gladly admit I was wrong about him but as of right now, I think it has more to do with a personal vendetta against the Vikings coaching staff and GM than it does anything else.

That's fair. I'm unsure about the validity as well. I try to maintain a neutral stance, but I also think that these sorts of accusations need to be treated seriously. But I also maintain that the accused is innocent until proven guilty.

[MAC]

What I am saying is that IF he felt that his immediate supervisor was discriminating against him because of stance on same sex marriage, then his rights were indeed being violated. And you need to educate yourself on sexual harassment. You don't have to be approached for sexual favors to be harassed. If you are subjected to anything sexual in nature that offends you, then you have been sexually harassed. If he felt offended by the homosexual slurs, whether he is gay or not, that could fall under the umbrella of harassment because of his beliefs and association with the same sex marriage movement.

What I am really getting at is that it was wrong of Priefer to ever make any derogatory comments and that should have been reported by Kluwe. Second, if the decision to dismiss him was at all based on his association with and promotion of same sex marriage, then his dismissal was wrong and he could have a case for a lawsuit. I don't know what the truth is and am not likely to ever know, but I don't like anyone's rights stepped on. And I don't like how so many people on this forum are so quick to pass judgement without any evidence. Would you want people to take a complaint by one of you loved one's seriously? Would you want to be in the same situation as Kluwe and not at least have people listen to the evidence in an unbiased way?

I need nothing of the kind. I worked for 16 years for a guy whom I disagreed with in every way about everything. He's a misogynistic, willfully ignorant, hard-drinking, sadistic, good old boy, sociopath - charming on the outside, cruel and manipulative to those close to him. We couldn't be more different - politically, morally, ethically, or any other ly. There wasn't a single day that went by without him disturbing me in some manner - his very existence was offensive to me. But it was HIS company, and I did MY job - which ironically went a long way towards enriching him personally. The alternative was leaving. It's a free country and my state has at will employment. He was the one who had the courage to run his own company, and that's what our society rewards. Dog eat dog - and he didn't need me anywhere near as much as I needed him. Government protection? Give me a break. If I thought that a company should be run differently I could have found another job or started my own - It is what it is.

 

So the rights that you speak of sound great in theory, and I understand what you are saying, but I live in the real world. Harassment laws were created to discourage extreme discrimination and abuse, and are realistically only supportable in large companies to defend "invisible minion with no career aspirations what-so-ever #27363845" against "petty supervisor fond of abusing his position #89274". If you work at a small company, you find another job. If you want to get ahead, you suck it up and fight through it. the rules and rights that you speak of are largely irrelevant. And in our example.................

 

If you think that there is ANY correlation in the freaking universe between a large incredibly outspoken political active white wealthy heterosexual male athlete who happens to have a coach whose beliefs are a bit more primitive, and (for example) a minority single mother living paycheck to paycheck in a government job whose supervisor demands sexual favors in return for continued employment - I really don't know what to tell you. I may respect the punters views and willingness to take a stand, but the fact that he was offended by the coaches comments is barely more relevant than the fact that the coach was offended by the punters comments. More important was that the teams front office was being bombarded by complaints by angry paying customers. Kluwe didn't need legal protection, he needed to learn that there is a time and a place for everything, and that just because he's probably on the "right side of history", there is a price to be paid for being an obnoxious abrasive confrontational self-riotous pain in the rear end with no regard for your employers interests. Or he could have just punted better. Regardless, I'm having a difficult time either viewing him as a victim or feeling much sympathy for him. What he seems to value above all else is attention, and that he's gotten.

[dgambill]

I will add this...can the title be changed to "I was an awful NFL player...." because he wasn't a very good punter...and no matter what the reasons were in getting cut...first and foremost it was because he wasnt very good at his job.

[No 1 Manning Fan]

I need nothing of the kind. I worked for 16 years for a guy whom I disagreed with in every way about everything. He's a misogynistic, willfully ignorant, hard-drinking, sadistic, good old boy, sociopath - charming on the outside, cruel and manipulative to those close to him. We couldn't be more different - politically, morally, ethically, or any other ly. There wasn't a single day that went by without him disturbing me in some manner - his very existence was offensive to me. But it was HIS company, and I did MY job - which ironically went a long way towards enriching him personally. The alternative was leaving. It's a free country and my state has at will employment. He was the one who had the courage to run his own company, and that's what our society rewards. Dog eat dog - and he didn't need me anywhere near as much as I needed him. Government protection? Give me a break. If I thought that a company should be run differently I could have found another job or started my own - It is what it is.

So the rights that you speak of sound great in theory, and I understand what you are saying, but I live in the real world. Harassment laws were created to discourage extreme discrimination and abuse, and are realistically only supportable in large companies to defend "invisible minion with no career aspirations what-so-ever #27363845" against "petty supervisor fond of abusing his position #89274". If you work at a small company, you find another job. If you want to get ahead, you suck it up and fight through it. the rules and rights that you speak of are largely irrelevant. And in our example.................

If you think that there is ANY correlation in the freaking universe between a large incredibly outspoken political active white wealthy heterosexual male athlete who happens to have a coach whose beliefs are a bit more primitive, and (for example) a minority single mother living paycheck to paycheck in a government job whose supervisor demands sexual favors in return for continued employment - I really don't know what to tell you. I may respect the punters views and willingness to take a stand, but the fact that he was offended by the coaches comments is barely more relevant than the fact that the coach was offended by the punters comments. More important was that the teams front office was being bombarded by complaints by angry paying customers. Kluwe didn't need legal protection, he needed to learn that there is a time and a place for everything, and that just because he's probably on the "right side of history", there is a price to be paid for being an obnoxious abrasive confrontational self-riotous pain in the rear end with no regard for your employers interests. Or he could have just punted better. Regardless, I'm having a difficult time either viewing him as a victim or feeling much sympathy for him. What he seems to value above all else is attention, and that he's gotten.

As I said I response to another poster, I have no dog in this fight. I personally believe in traditional marriage. But regardless of my personal feelings on the issue, I think that complaints of harassment should always be taken seriously. I also believe that the accused is innocent until proven guilty.

My problem is that these callous attitudes toward someone's rights makes it more difficult for people to have the courage to speak up when they feel they are being singled l out due to another's prejudice. You are assuming that he is an attention hog, but you have absolutely no idea if that is his motivation or not. Neither do I. I'm not here to pass judgement. I'm just saying we should should all try to take an unbiased view.

Maybe my view is different from others here because of my vocation as an educator. We are responsible for taking any complaints of abuse or harassment or bullying seriously and must report it, no exceptions. I tend to think that approach is good for everyone.

[braveheartcolt]

I wonder if this punter fellow has ever laughed at a sexist joke about woman / wives / girlfriends? Ever told one? Same with race etc. I feel he just sounds too righteous on this. But I don't really care.

[OffensivelyPC]

Gayness is the new race card.  I don't understand why people hate one people because of sex preference or race, so I equally don't understand people who play the race/sexuality card.  Perhaps the guy was fired for being a crappy punter.

[MAC]

As I said I response to another poster, I have no dog in this fight. I personally believe in traditional marriage. But regardless of my personal feelings on the issue, I think that complaints of harassment should always be taken seriously. I also believe that the accused is innocent until proven guilty.

My problem is that these callous attitudes toward someone's rights makes it more difficult for people to have the courage to speak up when they feel they are being singled l out due to another's prejudice. You are assuming that he is an attention hog, but you have absolutely no idea if that is his motivation or not. Neither do I. I'm not here to pass judgement. I'm just saying we should should all try to take an unbiased view.

Maybe my view is different from others here because of my vocation as an educator. We are responsible for taking any complaints of abuse or harassment or bullying seriously and must report it, no exceptions. I tend to think that approach is good for everyone.

I don't have a dog in the fight either. I'm actually vehemently opposed to dog fighting. That's one fight that I DO have a - well, you know what I mean.

 

I'm perfectly happy that I'm in a traditional marriage and frankly the old norm was "comfortable", however if someone else want's something different for themselves whom am I to say they shouldn't. The conflicts only arise from those who try to impose their beliefs on others - and THAT rubs me the wrong way. It's not like someone is telling people that they HAVE to marry someone of the same gender. I prefer to say "live and let live" - as long as you don't hurt others who cares. 

 

I can understand that your profession might contribute to your having a different perspective. Frankly, that's not the "real world", and I don't mean that in a bad way or to sound insulting in any respect. You expose a theory, but may not have a feel for the realities of trying to work for a small for-profit company - particularly in a difficult economic climate. The act of standing up for yourself in itself can become a career damaging move. While that sounds wrong, what it really means is that you don't sue unless you have been REALLY damaged. The regulations are a deterrent and a fall back when you are desperate, not just because you disagree with your supervisor about a random topic. "Feeling uncomfortable" about something like that isn't a remotely suitable justification for engaging the legal system.

 

Frankly what seems to happen is that the one's who sue are often those trying to take advantage of a rule and get something for nothing. That perverts the system and hurts all of us - just like how the environment in schools has become dysfunctional in many ways because of parents endlessly suing about every trivial thing.

 

Bottom line - in the real world people can be fired simply because their boss doesn't like the color of their shirt, or what they eat for lunch every day. Your reason for existence as an employee is to make money for your employer, and if you want to feed your family it's your obligation to either fit in, or find another job. Just like "the customer is always right", in turn "your boss is always right". Basic rules to live by. If the company is truly fostering a bad environment the cost to them is that they will have a competitive disadvantage in retaining competent employees, and they will eventually root out the cause or lose out because of it. Sometimes lawsuits are clearly warranted, but even if everything that the punter says is true, it sounds like a truly frivolous complaint.

 

And I'm not judging the punter by anything but his own words. His notes about the termination rationally portray his supervisor in a poor light, but his comments about the ownership, head coach and others don't even rise to that level. They seem to have treated him just fine, they just ultimately let him go. Of more interest is this article which I referenced earlier: http://deadspin.com/5941348/they-wont-magically-turn-you-into-a-lustful-cockmonster-chris-kluwe-explains-gay-marriage-to-the-politician-who-is-offended-by-an-nfl-player-supporting-it. That's an example of what Kluwe was actually doing. In contrast to the rational picture that he painted of himself, in it he sounds like a belligerent disrespectful jerk, and it's pretty darn clear that the fall out from his actions came right down on his employer. How much nonsense should they accept for an average overpaid punter coming off an injury?

 

As the Vikings pointed out in their very professional response (http://deadspin.com/i-was-an-nfl-player-until-i-was-fired-by-two-cowards-an-1493208214/1493412327/@barryap)  Kluwe represented them while in their employ, but apparently refused to consider their interests. Now he is no longer in their employ. Makes perfect sense to me, and I don't think that his supervisors "bigotry" (which he denies in an equally professional press release http://deadspin.com/mike-priefer-denies-that-he-is-a-bigot-1493500480  ) has got a blessed thing to do with any of this. I also am a tremendous advocate of "innocent until proven guilty", but the one doing the accusing isn't coming across too well in my opinion.