‘Hands Up, Don't Shoot!’ — St. Louis Rams

Yes, they really did: the St. Louis Rams came out on the field, each raising both arms, palms outward, in the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture used by many of the protesters of Michael Brown's killing by Darren Wilson. (Daily Kos, Huffington Post)

According to the Kos article, many Rams fans were not amused. And now the St. Louis Police Officer's Association is "condemning the display." Did they get their lil' fee-fees hurt? Awwww, that's too bad... at least no one shot them dead in cold blood when they were unarmed and mouthing off.

But y'know what? A great many of the Rams players are African American. In their place, I'd probably make a similar statement. If the league punishes them, the league board should be taken to court for a First Amendment violation. Yeah, I know; that would never happen...

The Race Issue

No, not one color of h. Sapiens against another... I mean the Grand Prix Houston. I can hear the cars from my reading chair at home. The race starts in about 5 minutes; I suppose the drivers will prove whose Prix is the Grandest...

Gay NFL Players Too Big A Problem To Tackle? ESPN Survey Shows Most Players Don't Care

I confess I'm getting really tired of football fans who feel it's just too icky for one of their NFL heroes to be gay. A survey shows it's not an issue with a great majority of the players. So why is the players' sexuality even the fans' business?

'That defensive lineman is
flirting with me!' —
NOT on this man's mind!

This is not about whether players are boinking other players. In general, it's considered bad form in America to hit on one's colleagues (for a meaning of "hit on" that doesn't involve one's job as a defensive lineman), whatever your occupation, for women or men, gay or straight. Not that it doesn't happen, but that people who pursue their love lives at the office probably have more serious problems to contend with than whether someone outside the relationship approves of the participants' sexual orientation.

As a musician, I often found myself in situations in which fifty percent or more of my colleagues on a job were openly gay. I'm openly straight. Why it occurs to anyone that s/he should care about his/her teammates' (coworkers') sexuality is beyond me. And no audience member ever asked me questions or expressed concerns about the matter. Why should it be any different in sports?

I realize football involves more physical contact than music. Or maybe it's about locker rooms, but I can't even comprehend that: when I think of the number of times I've changed into concert dress in the men's room of a hall or museum, I find it just isn't an issue... just before and just after a performance, a musician has a whole lot more on his/her mind than that. The same is surely true of professional football players. And the same should be true of fans.

Put bluntly: if it bothers you, just get over it. It's none of your business... and it's damned tiresome to listen to.