Bruce Smith- 90's Bills had gay player, we didn't care....

[Clyde Smith]

1 hour ago, Solomon Grundy said:

I was thinking of another mild mannered DE 👀

Who?🤔

[Royale with Cheese]

36 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

I guess Nassib wasn't the first.

 

He was the first to come out to the public.

[buffaloaggie]

16 hours ago, Rico said:

Just a hunch...

 

If true, we should be seeing Darby the Dinosaur coming out in a new book soon

[Doc]

46 minutes ago, Albany,n.y. said:

Bruce was in the Bills locker room, not another team's.  He was saying that when you are trying to win as a team, nobody cares what you do off the field (unless, like Bruce it leads to a suspension).  

 

This is not true in all locker rooms.  I read a story when Glen Parker was with the Giants he had some problems with some of his more religious teammates because he is an atheist.  

Bruce was in the league for 20 years and also played for Washington for 4 seasons. Beyond that he shared locker rooms with guys at the Pro Bowl and probably interacted with hundred to thousands of players in other situations over his career.  I think saying “I’ve played alongside gay teammates in my career and it was no big deal to me” would have been sufficient enough to say a) they have been there a lot longer than most people probably realize and b) he didn’t have a problem with it personally.

[section122]

15 hours ago, Mango said:

Just for perspective. This is more for the group and the collective than it is to you directly. 
 

You or I might introduce our wives to our coworkers or post about getting married, and people go, oh that’s nice. Post, “I’m gay” or “this is my BF”. The internet/people get their collective pitch forks and go “keep it to yourself”, or, “they are just looking for attention”.

 

Is it lynching? No. Is it a harmless response? No. 

 

A day later and I just can't get over how well put this post is.  Seriously this is the best answer to the who cares posts I have seen.

 

I was going to add to it but I'm just going to say thank you. 

[chongli]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

Revealing what?  He named no names.  And who cares anyway?

 

Well, he does have to be careful, even though he did not name names, since the Bills from the mid- to late-90s are a small community, so people could make conclusions.

 

In the early 90's when I was still a young adult, I mentioned to somebody in the Rochester community that this lawyer there was LGBT. When I told that lawyer what I had done, they were angry, even though I never named the person. They said it was a small community and they could be outed. I learned my lesson.

Edited June 29, 2021 by chongli

[Chandler#81]

18 hours ago, Weatherman said:

Not sure why we need another thread about this.  The other thread IMO is the appropriate swimming lane for this discussion.  

Noobs shouldn’t even be seen, let alone heard from. #Chandler Rule #1.

17 hours ago, T master said:

I long for the good old days when you could watch a sport and just watch the sport you were interested in for the game rather than all the other BS of every day life just to get a couple of hrs to leave all that aside .

 

 

 

 

 

Them dayz is long gone, T.

[Chandler#81]

39 minutes ago, buffaloaggie said:

If true, we should be seeing Darby the Dinosaur coming out in a new book soon

That’s Mitch Ferrotte (R.I.P.). LB Ray Bentley authored Darby the Dinosaur. They were teammates, though. Bentley left after ‘91. Mitch after ‘92.

[Mr. WEO]

1 hour ago, Doc said:

 

Some probably do and that's why I was asking if the person or people to whom he was referring cared.

 

Did you think your "So...Bruce?" comment was funny?

 

 

Yeah it was a riot.  

 

Anyway, no one today is worried about being outed from Bruce's comments.  And if you're insinuating that some straight players from then might be worried about having shared regular team mate comradery with a gay player on their roster, that's ridiculous.  

36 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

Well, he does have to be careful, even though he did not name names, since the Bills from the mid- to late-90s are a small community, so people could make conclusions.

 

In the early 90's when I was still a young adult, I mentioned to somebody in the Rochester community that this lawyer there was LGBT. When I told that lawyer what I had done, they were angry, even though I never named the person. They said it was a small community and they could be outed. I learned my lesson.

 

Rochester probably had 250,000 people in it in the 90's (and probably more than 1 gay person). That's not a "small community.

 

No one has any idea who Bruce is talking about, unless that person has since outed himself.  Nothing to see here but fake pearl clutching.

[chongli]

5 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 

Rochester probably had 250,000 people in it in the 90's (and probably more than 1 gay person). That's not a "small community.

 

No one has any idea who Bruce is talking about, unless that person has since outed himself.  Nothing to see here but fake pearl clutching.

 

Well the person was trans, which was a lot smaller than the general GLB community; and we're talking about just lawyers, which is a pretty small group. And they were pissed at me when I mentioned it to them. I'll let the person decide for themselves what is preferable, and respect their wishes.

[Mr. WEO]

4 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

Well the person was trans, which was a lot smaller than the general GLB community; and we're talking about just lawyers, which is a pretty small group. And they were pissed at me when I mentioned it to them. I'll let the person decide for themselves what is preferable, and respect their wishes.

 

Bruce didn't make this revelation in the 90's, thus, no one's wishes were disrespected......so, what's the issue?

[chongli]

2 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

Bruce didn't make this revelation in the 90's, thus, no one's wishes were disrespected......so, what's the issue?

 

The time is not relevant here since it is still a small community (Bills from the mid- to late-90's), and the person may not have wanted it out there. It is their choice. I am not trying to take Bruce or you to task, but I am just saying there is a bigger picture. And I am not too interested in this, but I just thought I would add my perspective to the discussion. I respect it you disagree, but I am just saying what I would do.

[Mr. WEO]

6 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

The time is not relevant here since it is still a small community (Bills from the mid- to late-90's), and the person may not have wanted it out there. It is their choice. I am not trying to take Bruce or you to task, but I am just saying there is a bigger picture. And I am not too interested in this, but I just thought I would add my perspective to the discussion. I respect it you disagree, but I am just saying what I would do.

 

You outed a person contemporaneously.  Bruce has mentioned  that there was a gay team mate 30 years ago.  And he didn't mention the player's name (every Bills player already knew who he was back then).   Who in the general public could possibly figure out now who that  player was back then because of Bruce's comment this week??

 

You're not making much sense.

[NoSaint]

2 hours ago, aristocrat said:

I guess Nassib wasn't the first.

Quite obviously true.

[chongli]

9 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

You outed a person contemporaneously.  Bruce has mentioned  that there was a gay team mate 30 years ago.  And he didn't mention the player's name (every Bills player already knew who he was back then).   Who in the general public could possibly figure out now who that  player was back then because of Bruce's comment this week??

 

You're not making much sense.

 

I outed no one. The person is long dead.

 

As far as who could figure it out is concerned, we don't know. Regardless, it is the person's choice.

[Patrick Duffy]

21 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

The time is not relevant here since it is still a small community (Bills from the mid- to late-90's), and the person may not have wanted it out there. It is their choice. I am not trying to take Bruce or you to task, but I am just saying there is a bigger picture. And I am not too interested in this, but I just thought I would add my perspective to the discussion. I respect it you disagree, but I am just saying what I would do.

In regards to which player it is, it's still not "out there", due to the fact no name is mentioned. So that's not an issue.

[Mr. WEO]

5 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

I outed no one. The person is long dead.

 

As far as who could figure it out is concerned, we don't know. Regardless, it is the person's choice.

 

The Bills player hasn't been outed.  So no one's choice has been suppressed or denied.

 

You said you outed a guy in the 90's to another person.

[Patrick Duffy]

3 minutes ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

The Bills player hasn't been outed.  So no one's choice has been suppressed or denied.

 

You said you outed a guy in the 90's to another person.

Lol, same thing I said, don't get why he stated said player may not want it out and was their choice and whatnot.......when nobody has been outed at all. People can speculate to who it may be, but that means nothing. 

[Rochesterfan]

39 minutes ago, chongli said:

 

The time is not relevant here since it is still a small community (Bills from the mid- to late-90's), and the person may not have wanted it out there. It is their choice. I am not trying to take Bruce or you to task, but I am just saying there is a bigger picture. And I am not too interested in this, but I just thought I would add my perspective to the discussion. I respect it you disagree, but I am just saying what I would do.

 

This is not the first time this has been spoken off.

 

I have heard several former Bills talk about this in the past as they had 1 player that came out to the team and there were at least 2 more guys that hinted, but never officially came out to the teams during this time. 
 

The players on the Bills from the late 80’s through the late 90’s did not seem to be bothered and they kept it fairly tightly sealed, but there were rumors that leaked.

 

There were also players way back in GB under Lombardi that were known by teammates to be LGBT, but basically Lombardi told the team if anyone can help us win - no one should care - basically treat everyone as an equal and do your job.

 

The Redskins also had several gay players in the late 70’s and were a very inclusive team.  A few of the players have since come out and several were outed by the beginning of the AIDS epidemic before treatment and drugs.

 

The NFL like many other groups (such as the military) has had their share of LGBT players and they have typically not seen the backlash associated with it that some people seem to want to think would happen in a locker room setting.  The players seem to respect the wishes of the other and expect them to do their job and be a good teammate.

 

The fact is - it doesn’t matter who the player/players were and people trying to figure it out is just stupid.  It doesn’t matter who - what matters is it is another voice saying look others have been through this and with support they achieved the highest levels.

Edited June 29, 2021 by Rochesterfan

[Weatherman]

1 hour ago, Chandler#81 said:

Noobs shouldn’t even be seen, let alone heard from. #Chandler Rule #1.

 

Them dayz is long gone, T.

If you noticed I apologized later in the thread to the OP for my oversight.  Something I have never seen you do before…Mr. Judgmental moderator sir.