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“I don’t know if [being so outspoken] is the reason they drafted a punter or not,” said Kluwe, who has generated national and international attention for his support of gay marriage rights. “They haven’t said anything to me about it.”

Gil Dobie wrote:I'm sure the Vikings and their apologist will deny it, but last season they drafted a PK and cut Ryan Longwell. They year they draft a punter................Kluwe's days could be numbered.

Strib Link

“I don’t know if [being so outspoken] is the reason they drafted a punter or not,” said Kluwe, who has generated national and international attention for his support of gay marriage rights. “They haven’t said anything to me about it.”

dal4018 wrote:

Gil Dobie wrote:I'm sure the Vikings and their apologist will deny it, but last season they drafted a PK and cut Ryan Longwell. They year they draft a punter................Kluwe's days could be numbered.

Strib Link

Vikings must have forgotten something called The First Amendment!!!!

SuperHornet wrote:I don't see the link here. They likely felt Longwell wasn't doing the job they expected and brought in a youngster to push him. Then they cut Longwell because he didn't live up to the challenge. I suspect the same thing here with Kluwe. Dumping players strictly based on politics is stupid.

Kluwe is a staunch supporter of gay rights who used his megaphone as an NFL player this election to rail against supporters of a Minnesota constitutional amendment to define marriage as one-man, one-woman.

The Vikings supported Kluwe's

activism, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell encouraged him to continue speaking out during an October visit to the Metrodome. But Kluwe's advocacy apparently has worn thin on his coach.
"To me it's getting old. He's got to focus on punting and holding," Priefer said.

He was asked whether he shared that with Kluwe.

"Nah," Priefer said. "He don't listen."

Thursday night, Kluwe fired off this pair of tweets:

"I want you all to know that I just meditated for 5 hours in the lotus position, solely contemplating football. I feel spiritually cleansed."

Gil Dobie wrote:

SuperHornet wrote:I don't see the link here. They likely felt Longwell wasn't doing the job they expected and brought in a youngster to push him. Then they cut Longwell because he didn't live up to the challenge. I suspect the same thing here with Kluwe. Dumping players strictly based on politics is stupid.

Kluwe averaged 45 yards per punt last season and has been criticized by the Special Teams Coach for being a distraction. I realize you can't prove anything on the real reason, but I'm not putting my head in the sand like a Ostrich either.

Link

Kluwe is a staunch supporter of gay rights who used his megaphone as an NFL player this election to rail against supporters of a Minnesota constitutional amendment to define marriage as one-man, one-woman.

The Vikings supported Kluwe's

activism, and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell encouraged him to continue speaking out during an October visit to the Metrodome. But Kluwe's advocacy apparently has worn thin on his coach.
"To me it's getting old. He's got to focus on punting and holding," Priefer said.

He was asked whether he shared that with Kluwe.

"Nah," Priefer said. "He don't listen."

Thursday night, Kluwe fired off this pair of tweets:

"I want you all to know that I just meditated for 5 hours in the lotus position, solely contemplating football. I feel spiritually cleansed."

ALPHAGRIZ1 wrote:If I owned the Vikings I would replace him and then hold a press conference saying it was because he supported gay marriage. Then when the gay community started nancing around in uproar I would have another press conference saying I was going to apologize for m y comments.....then I wouldn't. I would talk about how special interest groups use intimidation to advance their political ideology and you can't intimidate real men.

Then I would go golfing at Augusta and kick Condos ass by 15 strokes or more because men are superior to women at everything

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ALPHAGRIZ1 wrote:I dont have anything against blacks..........I do have a thing for hypocrisy and double standards though.


As for women they are a vessel to transport seman to the bathroom and make sandwiches. Period

Plus white American women are crazy cu*ts that think their lives are a tabloid or reality TV show.....

"This is who I am," Kluwe said by phone after completing his exit physical. "I've decided in life to call out things that I don't agree with. If I see something that I think is hypocritical or not right, I'm going to say something about it."

That includes the issue of marriage equality, for which Kluwe waged a highly public campaign against a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage in the November election.

That includes the absence of a punter in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, for which Kluwe campaigned by wearing a "Vote Ray Guy" sticker on his uniform during a December game.

That includes football issues such as player safety, for which Kluwe drew attention with his white-board jabs at Commissioner Roger Goodell years before his stance on gay rights put him on the national talk-show circuit.

"I would hope that athletes wouldn't be scared to speak out on things that interest them, because it makes the game more interesting," Kluwe said. "It draws people's interest, because you're no longer this kind of robotic automaton that's just spouting out clichés. People can see there's an actual person there."

Had Kluwe not spoken up, rankling special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer in the process, there's a strong chance he still might have lost his job.

Gil Dobie wrote:Well, the hammer came down today.

espn 1500 link

Had Kluwe not spoken up, rankling special-teams coordinator Mike Priefer in the process, there's a strong chance he still might have lost his job.

clenz wrote:What cluck said.....


Although this will be played as a anti gay move...just like of Jason Collins doesn't make a roster next year

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Gil Dobie wrote:
It's not about his skill level, it's about him being a distracting and his salary compared to a rookie salary.

In order
1. Salary
2. Distraction
3. Skills

Cluck U wrote:

Gil Dobie wrote:
It's not about his skill level, it's about him being a distracting and his salary compared to a rookie salary.

In order
1. Salary
2. Distraction
3. Skills

1) Skills (bottom third of punters...that really is not up for dispute)
2) Salary
3) People making sh1t up

"I'm excited to be an Oakland Raider and be playing in California," Kluwe, who went to high school in Los Alamitos and attended UCLA, told Ayanbadejo. "Now, my family can actually come to games."

Kluwe, 31, holds several Vikings records -- including career gross average (44.0) and punts downed inside the 20 (198) -- and posted a career-best net average of 39.7 yards on 72 punts last season.

But the Vikings drafted fellow UCLA alum Jeff Locke in the fifth round and released Kluwe the day after rookie minicamp.

Kluwe had been due $1.4 million in base salary for 2013 but told 1500 ESPN the day after his release he was willing to punt for the minimum, which for an eight-year veteran is $840,000.

He intends to continue the activism that rankled some within the Vikings organization. He told Ayanbadejo he hopes to support the push to reveal Proposition 8, which was passed in 2008 and governs that California only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman.

"I'm still going to be myself socially and continue to tweet and interact with my fans," Kluwe told Ayanbadejo, whose own activism while playing for the Baltimore Ravens helped bring Kluwe into the national debate on marriage equality.

Kluwe was fined last season for wearing a patch on his uniform during a game in support of the Pro Football Hall of Fame candidacy of Ray Guy, who punted for the Raiders from 1973 to '86.

SuperHornet wrote:Why would Oakland pick him up? I thought they were happy with Shane Lechler.

Of course, if Oakland has a problem with the kicking game, it isn't the fault of the kickers. It's in that ego maniac McKenzie's idiotic blowing out of John Fassel as special teams coordinator.

SuperHornet wrote:Why would Oakland pick him up? I thought they were happy with Shane Lechler.

Of course, if Oakland has a problem with the kicking game, it isn't the fault of the kickers. It's in that ego maniac McKenzie's idiotic blowing out of John Fassel as special teams coordinator.

SuperHornet wrote:No, clenz, I hadn't heard that Lechler had left. Now I KNOW that Reggie McKenzie is a freaking incompetent nincompoop. Like many GMs, he seems to be of the mistaken opinion that punters are a dime a dozen. After what Lechler did in Oakland, McKenzie should have been falling all over himself to get a contract with Lechler done.

Why Lechler didn't sign with St. Louis, I have no clue. A reunion with Fassel would have been epic....