The year is 2021, the NFL has been around for a century, and an active player has just come out of the closet for the first time. On the one hand, it’s astonishing that it took this long, but on the other hand, it’s a miracle that it happened at all. 

Earlier today, Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib posted a video and a statement on Instagram today coming out as gay:

Full statement from Carl Nassib. #PRIDE pic.twitter.com/92cSSDqZoR

— NFL (@NFL) June 21, 2021

I think this has the potential to spur similar announcements (not that they’re required to share the details of their personal lives) from more NFL players and other professional athletes. 

Whether that happens or not, I think this announcement will definitely be a big deal for boys and young guys who are having trouble reconciling their attractions to other guys with stereotypically masculine demeanors and interests, because Nassib is totally correct, representation does matter. And it doesn’t just matter for little boys who want to be broadway stars or princesses, but also for boys who want to be soldiers or football players. There’s nothing wrong with boys who have more feminine personalities or interests, but our society seems to forget that not all same-sex attracted guys fit that mold. 

For the first time, boys who can tell that they’re a little different but otherwise feel normal will have a man to look up to who acts them and likes some of the same things they like. And I think that means a lot — I know it would’ve made life a lot less confusing for me, personally — because it’s important for boys to know that honestly acknowledging who you’re attracted to, whether publicly or privately, doesn’t mean you have to alter your behavior, interests, or personality to fit a stereotype. Seeing masculine, everyday guys come out in roles they look up to will help to show young guys that healthy expressions of traditional American masculinity don’t just belong the insecure, conservative, evangelical men who have tried to exclude other men who make them feel threatened.

On that note, while progressives have done a ton for same-sex attracted people, there’s a large part of the movement that thinks being male and acting like it gives you enough privilege to alleviate all your other problems, and that’s just not the case. Being able to pass as a straight guy in a homosexual-hostile community has its advantages, but it also results in a lot of internalized problems that these men don’t deserve to be blamed for, because they’re conditioned to never feel comfortable addressing them. Given this hurdle, it’s remarkable that a successful football player with everything to lose finally worked up the courage to go against the grain and take this step, but it’s great that he did because it helps to break a link in a vicious cycle. If more young guys in those homophobic environments see same-sex attraction as a normal aspect of human sexuality, then they won’t have to wrestle those demons as young men, and our whole society will be better off. 

All that to say, representation does matter, and for a lot of kids, having a football player to look up to who is open about his same-sex attraction is a big deal. Nassib is going to be at least a few kids’ new favorite player.

I was hoping to write the opposite headline. If you’re not up to speed, last night the Steelers played the Browns, and with less than ten seconds remaining in the game (which wasn’t close enough to matter, with the Browns have 21 points and the Steelers 7), Myles Garrett delivered a late hit to Steelers QB Mason Rudolph. After exchanging words on the ground, Garrett ripped off Rudolph’s helmet and attempted to bash him in the head with it, making some degree of contact which, fortunately, didn’t result in a life-threatening injury for Rudolph. Watching it was enough to make my blood boil.

I don’t care what names Rudolph may have called him or what he could’ve said about his mother while they were on the ground, what Garrett did was disgusting. Sure, tempers can run high in any competition, but there’s absolutely no excuse for behavior like that which so callously endangers another player’s life. In my opinion, Garrett shouldn't have been suspended, he should’ve had his contract terminated and been banned from the NFL. If you wanna play bush league football, you don’t deserve to be in the big leagues. The act of removing someone’s helmet is indecent because the only reason to do so would be to cause them significant physical harm, and that move alone should be enough for a multiple game suspension, much less using it as a weapon to bludgeon the player’s then-unprotected head. This wasn’t just a case of poor judgement on Garrett’s part, it was criminal, and Mason Rudolph would’ve been well within his rights to pursue legal action for an unwarranted attack that amounts to assault with a deadly weapon. If not legal action or expulsion from the league, Garrett absolutely deserves to have his public perception indelibly tarnished.

Honestly, based on the several late hits and multiple instances of obvious charging on the Browns’ part in this game, I think the whole team should be suspended for the rest of the season. There is no excuse for any team to have such an irreverence for the safety of their opponents.

The Verge’s Nilay Patel and Chris Welch do a deep dive into the technology that has finally made it possible to watch live football games in 4K HDR; while the nerdy details are interesting, the most exciting part for sports fans really is in the headline—the fact that that we can now watch our favorite pro teams with incredible detail and clarity (this comment won’t have aged well in five years) is huge.

It’s worth pointing out that the advancement of augmented reality in recent years has really made NFL games a lot more enjoyable. In just a few years, we went from only having those superimposed, yellow first down lines to having crazy run patterns and play breakdowns served up almost instantly, and they make complicated plays much easier to follow. It seems a bit odd that those effects came before 4K HDR, but I'm glad we’re finally getting caught up, and I’m sure this will be just as transformative. Hopefully 4K HDR broadcasting will soon expand to all NFL games and top college matchups as well (go Vols).

I’m a Vol for life, don’t get me wrong. But what an incredible metaphor for our supremely shitty football program; a LITERAL ship on fire, right outside Neyland stadium, on the first game day of the season. And we ended up losing horribly to an unknown team. Poetic. Prescient. Tragic. Go Vols.