"Never be afraid to do what's right. If no one ever says anything, nothing ever changes." Chris Kluwe
What would it be like if you saw Chris Kluwe running out on some road, somewhere in the football empire of the United States? Would you recognize who he was? Would you see his face and go "oh my gosh, that's Chris Kluwe"? Probably not; because for months now, Kluwe has been out of football, his name no longer spoken alongside the word "punter."
That is a travesty, a terrible example of how at times football can bear a terrible dark side. Chris Kluwe should still be punting for some team somewhere if he wants to. But he is not because of a string of ridiculous homophobic actions on the part of his team.
His story is long and incomplete. There is another chapter. But needless to say those that have already taken place need be retold.
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Chris Kluwe made his NFL debut back in 2005 as an undrafted punter for the Minnisota Vikings. He played 15 games that year, making 71 punts and averaging 44.1 yards on each one. From there, he honed his iron boot, blasting 40 yard punts on a regular basis and sticking shots down the field with ease. In each of the next seven seasons before his premature dismissal from the Vikings, Kluwe punted regularly and accurately averaging no less than 42 yards per punt. By the end of 2012, his 623 career punts had made him great.
More so, in those 8 seasons with the team, statistics like "highest career punting average (44.4)", "most career punts inside the 20 (198)" and "most punts in a season (93)" actually made him more than great. Chris Kluwe was a record breaker in Minnesota.
Over 8 seasons, his statistics proved the difference between bad punters, good punters and stupendous punters. But after all, he was playing punter, a position that has spawned just one hall of famer. Yes we know that "punters are people too" but nevertheless, it is not a lie to say that through all his wonderful talent and legendary mark left on his position, Kluwe remained in the bottom tier of the league in regards to name recognition. During the off-season of 2012 though, that all changed, but not for a football reason.
Beginning his mainstream activism in September of 2012, Kluwe became an supporter of marriage equality. On September 7th of that year, he sent a letter to a Maryland state political figure regarding sanctions by the Baltimore Ravens that prohibited activism within their clubhouse. The letter was also published on the website Deadspin making it public to all.
Soon after that, he sent another letter, that one in response to former Viking Matt Birk's video acknowledging his support of a ban on same sex marriage.
As his third, most mainstream moment of activism, Kluwe provided comments to an NBC documentary about breaking down barriers against gay athletes. That piece aired in December of 2012.
Over the 10 or so months following the documentary, he filed a brief with the Supreme Court, appeared on an episode of the Ellen Degeneres Show in support of gay marriage and served as the grand marshal for the Twin Cities Pride Parade.
Then in 2012, the Vikings released him. He was at the height of his career, his numbers still impressive and his actions off the field at the very least following of his Constitutional Rights.
On July 2nd 2014, he revealed in an intense piece submitted to Deadspin the disgusting link between his gay activism and his release. There was and still is homophobia in the NFL and the Minnesota Vikings in particular. His piece surely confirmed that.
Vikings coaches were said to have asked Kluwe to quit his activism. They were also said to have turned down interview requests without asking him.
Then there was Mike Preifer. The special teams coach of the team was quoted in the story as detesting the idea of two men kissing and asking Kluwe if he had defended "the gays" recently. Above all there was one specific address to the team that physically hurt to read about.
"Near the end of November, several teammates and I were walking into a specialist meeting with Coach Preifer." Kluwe wrote in the most shocking portion of the article. "We were laughing over one of the recent articles I had written supporting same-sex marriage rights, and one of my teammates made a joking remark about me leading the Pride parade. As we sat down in our chairs, Mike Priefer, in one of the meanest voices I can ever recall hearing, said: 'We should round up all the gays, send them to an island, and then nuke it until it glows.'"
By April of 2013 not to long after Preifer's worst moment, Kluwe was cut, leaving behind the Vikings, their cowardly head coaches and bigoted Preifer.
And so we arrive at this day in September, nearing the end of Week Two of the season Chris Kluwe should have been a part of. We arrive at this day when he is not watched, when his story, though brilliantly written, has faded into the archives of one of many sports websites. We look at the landscape of this day and see that Preifer has yet to be slapped with any kind of meaningful suspension (no, a one game ban does not count as meaningful) and not a sole from the Vikings or the NFL (other than Chris) has done anything to address what happened. That is a shame because Chris Kluwe should get to play again. He could play again.
The latter brings us again to the facts of life and the present. Chris Kluwe is an ordinary man who above all just loves football and just loves people. On Saturday evening, this was shown through a series of tweets occurring over just about an hour.
Treating his followers to a rather comedic timeline of his early evening, Kluwe tweeted: "First mile [of three mile run] in 7 minutes. Immediately regretting this decision." just after 7PM Saturday. Then, "Mile 2 - 7:30. Rum is making its presence felt. TIME TO POWER THROUGH. #sofocused," then, "Mile 3 - 7:30 again, but the dog stopped and tried to die halfway through. I'm counting it as a 7:15."
Mixed into that slew of live updates of his run were comedic lines like "Dog just pooped. Need to find a trash can. Running with poopbag is gross," that simply proved his normalcy.
But then moving back towards what makes him different Klwue said "In other news, still in NFL shape. Still not holding my breath waiting for a phone call."
Still ready, still not waiting. That is the true causality of the terrible actions of the Minnesota Vikings as well as yet another terrible non action by the NFL.
The Minnesota Vikings killed the career of a great. Without the actions of the Vikings staff, Kluwe would have been in Minnistoata Saturday night preparing for a marquee game against the Patriots. Instead he is at home, live tweeting a recreational run, not waiting for a phone call.
In conclusion, I as a writer, I as a person find it shameful that our culture allows this to happen. It is shameful that we let men like Preifer, men like Goodell disseminate and condone remarks that are so very unfit for our time. They hurt people, they end people's shots at living their dreams. Yes, this is true. Though he chose to retire, he did not choose to be cut. Without the events of last off season, Kluwe would have played for at least a few more years. Instead he has retired at 32, his career over prematurely.
Now I do not want to fault Kluwe for his retirement. After what happened with the Vikings, he simply did not want to live in the NFL anymore. He distanced himself from this league that hurt him, allowed himself to become a goofy activist, calling attention to his normalcy through live tweeted, dog assisted 5k's while noting that marriage equality must be reached in his occasional but meaningful supports of the gay community.
If he wanted to retire than good for him. But needless to say, we all know that the decision to retire was made long after he was cut. He should have got to play until either he or his statistics actually dictated that it was time to do otherwise.
Instead we now watch as Kluwe, a resilient, happy man, but a true casualty of homophobia indeed, tells us of his roadside running conquests.
Good for him.
Shame on football.
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