BOOM! I Was An NFL Player Until I Was Fired By Two Cowards And A Bigot by Chris Kluwe

[Are_grits_groceries]

Hello. My name is Chris Kluwe, and for eight years I was the punter for the Minnesota Vikings. In May 2013, the Vikings released me from the team. At the time, quite a few people asked me if I thought it was because of my recent activism for same-sex marriage rights, and I was very careful in how I answered the question. My answer, verbatim, was always, "I honestly don't know, because I'm not in those meetings with the coaches and administrative people."

This is a true answer. I honestly don't know if my activism was the reason I got fired.

However, I'm pretty confident it was.

Allow myself to tell you a story about ... myself. The following is a record of what happened to me during my 2012 season with the Minnesota Vikings, written down immediately after the 2013 draft in April, when I realized what was happening, and revised recently only for clarity. I tried to keep things as objective as possible, and anything you see in quotes are words that I directly recall being said to me.
<snip>
Much more: http://deadspin.com/i-was-an-nfl-player-until-i-was-fired-by-two-cowards-an-1493208214

You go Chris Kluwe!

[MADem]

1. Unfortunately it seems that "You go Chris Kluwe! " is what the 2 cowards and a bigot said. nt

[Glassunion]

2. Side note... He is funny as hell on Twitter.

Been following him for some time.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

67. I follow him too. Wished he'd have been kept by Oakland.

thought for sure he'd land on his feet. hope so still.

[Jenoch]

75. Oakland made the correct decision.

The punter they kept instead of Klewe was the number one rated punter in the NFL for the 2013 season.

[Wait Wut]

3. Don't worry, Chris.

I'm sure all the Duck Dynasty fanatics that came to the 'rescue' of poor, misunderstood Phil Robertson will be right by your side defending your '1st Amendment Rights'.

But, please, don't hold your breath. We need more of you, not less. One more thing, as a lifelong Bears fan, fuck the Vikings. They don't deserve you.

[Scuba]

4. Good on you Chris Kluwe, from a Packer fan who's not surprised to learn the most dysfunctional ....

... team in the league is run by bigots and cowards.

Or as we here in Wisconsin refer to the Minnesota franchise, "just another expansion team that's never won a championship".

[DonCoquixote]

19. NEVER?

Hell even my Tampa Bay Bucs won at least one Super Bowl!

That being said, if we had more Kluwes, and less Icognitos, we would be a better culture for it.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

32. Actually ...

... the Vikings won the last NFL title before the NFL-AFL merger, in 1969. Then went on to lose the Super Bowl to the Chiefs.

It was not until a year later - the first year of the merger of the leagues in 1970 - that the Super Bowl was for the NFL championship (Super Bowl V).

But, yeah, they're just another expansion team in my book.

[Cresent City Kid]

65. I posted that as a trivia question and nobody got it

Other than the Bears, Packers and Cardinals, they're all expansion teams.

On the issue at hand, political and religious views should not be grounds for dismissal when all the job requires is distance and hang time on a punt. As society evolves they are going to have trouble finding qualified anti-gay punters or players in general. I'll bet they don't ask purchasers of season tickets to pass this litmus test.

[theHandpuppet]

5. Priefer is an evil prick

But I'll bet you'll not hear about his disgusting bigotry on ESPN (or even Chris Kluwe's accusations).

[Are_grits_groceries]

7. After a point,

they will not be able to ignore it. Players have been fined for using anti-LGBT language.

If Goodell is drawn into this, they will have to cover it. I don't see how something isn't done about Priefer. It may be another 'investigation', but this may force their hand.

They'd rather eat ground glass though.

[hootinholler]

6. I'm just glad he didn't punt on the issues. n/t

[countryken]

59. I concur and...

The Steelers need a punter for 2014. This can be our guy!

[Blue Owl]

8. P&R*

*Punt & Rec

[Enthusiast]

37. LOL!

[yuiyoshida]

51. Duzy!

[n2doc]

9. I'm glad he stood up

It is downright criminal how he was treated, but not surprising. He has a career ahead of him as a sports writer and commentator, but he will have to fight the same crap with that too.

[WillyT]

10. K & R !!!

[MNBrewer]

11. Chris, please move back to MN and run for M. Bachman's seat

Please!?!?

[progressoid]

14. That would be cool.

But, could he win? Isn't that kind of a regressive district?

[SomeGuyInEagan]

30. No.

In fact, Bachmann quitting probably made it even more likely that it will remain red.

She barely beat Jim Graves in '12 by 1.2% in a district in which Romney beat Obama handily by 15% on the same election night (http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/democrat-who-nearly-beat-michele-bachmann-wont-run-for-her-seat/). This was after redistricting, which made the MN 6th even more red by putting Carver County into it.

But make no mistake, the district is hardcore red. Rigged to be red. But they were getting sick of Bachmann and nearly booted her in '12. With her quitting, IMO, it is really unlikely that we can take the 6th.

[progressoid]

35. That's what I suspected.

I have some friends in MN that just roll their eyes when you mention Bachmann or her district. Kind of like IA's 4th and Steve King. We'll be happy when he's gone but I'd be surprised if it goes to a Dem. At least not in the near future.

[SomeGuyInEagan]

36. Yeah, King's off the rails, too.

I grew up in Iowa, up in the 2nd CD (pre-Nussle days, though I had to deal with some time with that clueless twit as well).

Bachmann is hard right, but everyone knew she was a joke. Kline - in the MN 2nd - is just as far to the right and far, far more dangerous to the state and the country, IMO.

[MNBrewer]

46. I disagree. If he ever had a Vikings jersey on those rubes would vote for him

in a heartbeat.

[DeSwiss]

12. K&R!!!

- On the upside, Chris is no longer required to freeze his ass off in Minnesota!



{j/k kidding Minnesotans!!!}

[mgardener]

56. Hey

It's -32 with the windchill in my neighborhood in NY!!!!!

[Major Nikon]

13. Fuck the Minnesota Vikings

...and the horse they rode in on.

[xchrom]

15. du rec.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

16. He's amazing! Simply an amazing and brave guy. I wish there were more people like him.

Instead, all we seem to get is HATEmongers.

[geardaddy]

17. Wilf seems to have backed him on his views

On Sept. 9, before our game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the owner of the team, Zygi Wilf, came up to me, shook my hand, and told me: "Chris, I'm proud of what you've done. Please feel free to keep speaking out. I just came from my son's best friend's wedding to his partner in New York, and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen."

But Wilf as owner should have demanded that the Kluwe stayed.

[DinahMoeHum]

18. BTW, "coward" coach Frazier was just fired by "coward" GM Spielman. . .

. . .as the franchise's head coach/quarterback merry-go-round continues to spin in a death spiral out there.

Regarding "bigot" special teams coach Mike Priefer: he may not have his job any longer if the new head coach brings his own people aboard.

As for Chris Kluwe, I wouldn't worry about him. He has a book out and can go on speaking tours to promote it. He's also well known in the gaming world (Warcraft)

http://www.amazon.com/Beautifully-Unique-Sparkleponies-Football-Absurdities/dp/0316236772/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388693392&sr=1-1&keywords=chris+kluwe+beautifully+unique+sparkleponies

What goes around comes around.

[Puglover]

20. Fuck the Vikings.

They have always sucked and never fail to let down the Minnesotans that support them

Chris Kluwe is simply amazing. I very seldom wish to actually meet someone in the news. I'd like to meet him.

One coward down. A bigot and another coward to go.

I live in Minneapolis. This will resonate.

[Bluzmann57]

21. Karma?

The Vikings made the playoffs in 2012 with Kluwe as punter and were really bad in 2013 without him. Yes they need a quarterback, etc. but it just seems odd that after Kluwe was cut, they sucked.
As a lifelong Packers fan this is another reason to despise the Vikings.

[Major Nikon]

34. Kluwe was arguably the best punter the Vikings had ever had

He had a minor injury, but he was still doing a good job. The Vikings also spent a high draft pick to replace him, which almost certainly didn't do them any favors.

[Jenoch]

43. High draft pick?

The Vikings drafted the punter in the 5th round. There are 7 rounds in the draft.

[Viking12]

44. 5th Round is pretty high for a punter

Most are undrafted free agents.

[Jenoch]

45. Of course it is rare to use a draft pick on a punter,

but that does not make a 5th round pick a 'high pick'.

As far as I know, Ray Guy was the only punter taken in the first round.

[Major Nikon]

48. Any draft pick for a punter is high

The average is less than 2 punters drafted by all teams in any given year for the last 20 years. In some years no punters are drafted at all.

[Jenoch]

49. It is rare that a punter is drafted.

That does not make a 5th round pick 'high'. Rounds 1 and 2 are high, 3, 4, 5 in the middle and 6 and 7 low draft picks.

They used to have 17 rounds, would a pinter taken in the 8th or 9th round be a high pick? That is a rhetorical question because this is a trivial exchange we have going.

Back on topic, I think the veterans minimum has kept Klewe out of the league as much as his outspoken views.

I might have cut him after he punted to Reggie Bush twice for TDs and almost a third TD in the same game.

[tarheelsunc]

78. Kluwe was much better than he's given credit for...

but he was still in the bottom half of the league by most metrics. I don't know much about pre-90s football but I can name two better recent Vikings punters off the top of my head: Mitch Berger and Darren Bennett. They're probably two of the top 10 punters of the last 20 years.

With that said, there are worse punters in the league than Kluwe and I hope he catches on somewhere, but going public with these comments probably won't help him get looks from teams.

[Vashta Nerada]

22. I'm glad Leslie Frazier was fired.

I hope the bigot Mike Priefer doesn't get the head coach position. Then I'm really not going to watch the Vikings next year.

I'm glad Chris Kluwe stuck to his convictions. There needs to be more people like him out there.

[Major Nikon]

33. What's amazing is he had to have known he was risking millions

How many of us would have such convictions? What I think is sad is that there isn't a brighter spotlight on this.

[frylock]

23. Kluwe for Congress!

RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!12

[Kaleva]

24. He was later signed and then released by the Raiders.

"Kluwe signed with the Oakland Raiders on May 15, 2013, less than 2 weeks after being released by the Vikings.[6] Kluwe signed for a veteran minimum contract for 1 year. Kluwe was given his old number (#5) by the Raiders and competed with Marquette King for the position of punter. Kluwe expressed thanks to the Raiders for picking him up and stated that "I am glad to be a Raider and playing back in California, where I grew up." On September 1, Kluwe tweeted that he had been released by the Raiders.[7]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Kluwe#Oakland_Raiders

[Major Nikon]

27. The Raiders have the #1 punter in the league

Kluwe put up decent numbers in the seasons he played. He wasn't the best but was far from the worst.

[theHandpuppet]

28. I was suprised the Bengals didn't sign him...

... after their regular kicker got his face and neck smashed in by what should have been an illegal hit. Instead, they signed some bozo from Buffalo who wowed us with a 10 yard punt in the last game of the season.

[Major Nikon]

29. At one time Kluwe was the highest paid punter in the league

But relative to other positions punters aren't paid all that much which suggests they are easy to pick up. I suspect there wasn't a big interest in a punter who is probably on the back side of his career. I suspect he'll probably get picked up by someone at some point.

[dsc]

39. yeah

though I will say that the guy they got from Buffalo is nuclear hot in the looks department, though so is he.

[MNBrewer]

47. Like this?

[Le Taz Hot]

55. Whew!

Is it hot in here?

[Jenoch]

25. There is virtually no way that Priefer was going

to be named head coach for the Vikings. I don't think any NFL head coach has ever made the jump from being a special teams coordinator.

I do believe Kluwe was cut because of his vocal opinions. That does not necessarily explain why the Raiders cut him however.

[tazkcmo]

61. Actually...Leave it my Chefs

From Wikipedia:

"In January 1986, Gansz was named assistant head coach and special teams coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. He took over as head coach of the Chiefs in January 1987 after John Mackovic was fired. In his first year, a strike-shortened season, he finished 4–11. The following year, he went 4–11–1. In January 1989, Gansz was fired and replaced by Marty Schottenheimer."

To be fair, he has assistant head coach as his title but here we all knew him to be Crash Ganz, the ST coach.

[Jenoch]

62. Ok, it happened at least one time 28 years ago.

There is still no way the Vikings would have hire him or any current Viking coach as their new head coach.

I'm not much of a Vikings fan anymore, but I do hope they make better decisions about choosing a quarterback and a head coach.

[tazkcmo]

63. lol You're still right tho

Yeah, it kinda did happen only half way cuz of the AHC title and the fact we were awful really just supports your point. If I was the owner I'd get rid of all the staff including the GM because he picked all these crappy coaches.

I used to love me some Bud Grant and Scrambling Fran Tarkenton but stopped following the Vikes when they went indoors.

[Jenoch]

64. The current GM did not hire Frazier.

He did however draft Ponder.

[Deny and Shred]

71. John Harbaugh was Special Teams coach for

the Eagles. He was then hired as Head Coach of the Ravens. Won a Super Bowl, too.

The Raven players wanted Rex Ryan as HC.

[Jenoch]

72. He was the Eagles defensive backs coach when the Ravens hired him.

But that does not matter because the Vikings were never going to hire from within the organization. They did that already and it did not wkrk out.

[Deny and Shred]

82. My bad, Special Teams coach for nine years, DBs for one.

The point is the quality of the person, not the position.

In-house Rex, the favorite of Ray, Ed, Terrell, etc. was passed over for lightly-regarded Harbaugh, not because of their resumes.

Preifer clearly has issues for a 21st Century coach. Minn would do well to head in another direction, coach-wise. Probably would do well to divest themselves of Freeman and Ponder, too. Two 6th round picks, a kicking tee and a blocking sled ought to be the asking price.

Cassell might hold it down until a draft pick is ready. Not many options offensively.

BTW, the Iggles secondary blew that year. Lito, Sheldon and Dawkins were never worse. Started 5-8. It wasn't his DB coach acumen that garnered the Raven job. Semantics.

[Jenoch]

83. As I understand it,

he was named DB coach to give him a better shot at a coordinator or head coaching position.

Speaking of DBs, what the hell happened against the Vikings? They made Cassell look like Brady?

I think the Vikings will keep Cassell and draft a QB, but not necessarily in the 1st round. They need defensive help even more than a QB, if they keep Cassel that is.

[closeupready]

26. He'll always be brave, and a hero, in my book.

K&R

[mtasselin]

31. Really

Really, the owner is a bigger coward than those other two asshole, because he could have stopped it but chose not to. As a lifelong Packer fan I can only hope that this dysfunctional organization continues on its same path, although I know the fans are not the same as the owners and his the people of Minnesota are very progressive. Good Luck to you in whatever you chose to do.

[DonCoquixote]

38. OK, what did I miss?

The OWNER, he that writeth the checks, liked this, but the coach did his best to kick him out? Where are all these sons and daughters of Ayn Rand to defened the right of an OWNER. Of course, the fact that said Owner is silent says a lot, it says that like most sports owners, he bought the team to compensate for what nature probably did not give him.

[alarimer]

41. Only Jerry Jones interferes in these types of things.

He made himself GM after all.

No, I think Wilf is more hands-off. Or maybe he didn't know the extent of the hate.

[Hippo_Tron]

66. If the coach is seriously firing him for gay right activism...

It's the purview of the owner. If I owned an NFL team I would never override a coach on firing a player for performance or conduct that inhibits the team's performance.

But if he ways indeed fired for his support of gay rights, that wasn't a decision based on team performance AND it has serious repercussions for the Minnesota Vikings brand. That's a perfectly appropriate time for an owner to exercise his absolute authority.

[mythology]

69. You're assuming that there was an email from the coach and gm to the owner

saying "We're releasing this guy because he's pro same-sex marriage". I think the most important reason is that as a veteran of a certain number of years, the team wanted a cheaper punter to save on salary cap space. The difference between the best and worst punters in the league isn't that substantial. So why not shave a few cap dollars there?

Does being outspoken help his case? Probably not, likewise the low level player who gets a DUI gets cut and the star player doesn't. Do you think the 49ers would have let Aldon Smith stay on the team after 2 DUIs in a year as well as being charged for weapons charges in another incident if he wasn't a good player?

[Hippo_Tron]

70. I agree that this isn't an open and shut case (so does the guy who get fired)

But I'm saying that in general, such a situation would merit the owner getting involved. Doing so wouldn't be a Jerry Jones style micro-managing of everyday affairs.

[alarimer]

40. Why is it that outspoken liberals are always a "distraction" for teams and never bible-thumpers?

I mean, those guys who shove their religion down everyone's throat in the locker room, on the field and in interviews.

Even Richie Incognito was allowed to get away with his shit for years, until someone spoke out.

Still, I am now an ex-Vikings fan. Looking for a team to support that won't keep homophobic bigots employed.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

68. I would say Tim Tebow is the biggest distraction in the NFL

So that's not really true.

[tarheelsunc]

79. Some people actually think Tim Tebow's being blackballed.

Never mind that he's less accurate than a coin flip, some people are convinced that NFL owners hate outspoken Christians.

[MerryBlooms]

42. He's occasionally on Stephanie Miller

Brave, talented and a keen sense of humor.
I hope he throws his hat into politics- he'd be a great.

[Egnever]

50. Woa he was fired?

That is just incredibly lame.

[malthaussen]

52. I thought retribution would come even faster than it did.

I thought the NFL would fine him for being disrespectful, but I guess the owners preferred to fire him. Hope he saved up some cash from his career.

Maybe the Steelers will hire him, they've always been misfits, and the Rooneys are fairly liberal for millionaires.

-- Mal

[Crabby Appleton]

53. k&r

[davidpdx]

54. I read this earlier today

The special teams coach should not have a job in the NFL if he is making those comments while on the job. I'd like to see a petition calling for him to be fired.

[ancianita]

57. I say we call for Mike Priefer to be fired. What a barbarian.

[brett_jv]

58. I love's me some Kluwe, and am a huge Raider fan ...

Unfortunately, though, he just wasn't punting well enough to make the team & was beat out in a legit competition in the preseason w/2nd year man (he spent his first season on the Raiders practice squad) Marquette King. Ergo, I'm not sure it's really 'accurate' to say he's out of the NFL because of these cowards/bigots. Certainly I'm not saying I 'support' these guys if they indeed let him go for his outspoken views, but I'd say it's more like he doesn't have a job because he's no longer one of the 32 best punters at this stage of his career.

[idendoit]

60. It wasn't what Kluwe said..

..so much as the fact that he dared to criticize the NFL and the Vikings at all.

[VA_Jill]

73. I'd guess

if Kluwe is anywhere near correct and the owner shares his worldview, then Priefer has definitely nuked his chances at being head coach of the Vikings. He sounds like he belongs with a totally dysfunctional outfit like the Dolphins anyway.

[NobodyHere]

74. Kluwe was a mediocre punter at best

The Vikings were paying him an above average wage for his position. I have no idea if the other stuff came into play but releasing Kluwe was the correct business decision.

[Paolo123]

76. Kluwe was at mest a meidocre punter

Of course if the Coach said those things he should be fired, but the fact is that Kluwe was at best a mediocre player and he was replaced with a guy doing just as well for 1/3rd of the cost.


I think we should take his conclusion that he was fired for being pro-gay rights with a huge grain of salt.

[LTR]

77. Here's why he was let go

Kluwe:s salary was $1.6 mil. His rookie replacement? Just less than half a mil. Essentially the same production and a million bucks removed from the cap.

The problem with older veterans in that position is that the veteran's minimum prices them out of the market when a rookie can come in for a third of the price and do the same thing.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

80. Do we have any reason other than his assertion to believe this?

My understanding is that he hasn't been hired since he was dismissed, which is at least circumstantial evidence that his dismissal may just have been due to his performance.

[Jenoch]

81. Klewe was cut by the Vikings last May.

He was signed by the Raiders shortly after and was cut before the regular season started.

[c588415]

84. > 49er fan for Obama and H Clinton