"Don't ever take sides with anyone against the family"

In an oft quoted line from the 1972 motion picture The Godfather, Mike Corleone lets his older brother know that dissent from the "family" carries severe consequences. He underscores the notion that family is family and business is business but that the business ultimately comes first. Now, I will not go so far as to say that sports organizations are run like the mafioso, but Chris Kluwe might.

Post by Chris Kluwe.

Kluwe punted for the Minnesota Vikings in the NFL for 8 years. He was a decent punter on the field and a determined social activist off the field. His support for same sex marriage and for other athletes  for supporting same sex marriage put him at odds with the Vikings organization. The full story is told here by Kluwe on deadspin.com. His documentation of his perception of events helps to cast him in a sympathetic light and his seeming interest in using his influence for a cause he believes in is admirable. He even identifies Vikings owner Zygi Wilf as encouraging his advocacy for same sex marriage. However, according to Kluwe, the Vikings organization saw his repeated attempts to speak out on social issues as insubordinate and damaging to the Vikings brand. They repeatedly advised him to stop and when he didn't, again according to Kluwe, they began distancing themselves from him and eventually released him from his contract.

Hypothetically speaking if I am a garbage man and I have a twitter account from which I support a controversial subject like same sex marriage nobody outside my circle of social media followers is likely to care. The only way my employer is likely to care is if their personal beliefs conflict with mine but since my ranting and raving is not likely to affect the company there is little he or she can do to silence me. If however I am a part of a large prominent sports organization who butters its bread by being in the national spotlight, and I now have relevance because of my association with that organization, and I use that relevance to speak my mind about controversial subjects or advocate causes of my choosing I have to navigate carefully to avoid "going against the family." What I do and say has the potential to hurt ticket and merchandise sales. If I hurt the bottom line I may not be sent to "sleep with the fishes" but I'll have plenty of time to sleep while fishing.

I absolutely agree with Chris Kluwe's right to speak his mind and use his position as an NFL player to advocate for whatever cause he wants. I also agree that if his depiction of events is accurate, that the Vikings organization has a long way to go as far as tolerance is concerned. One of problems here is the lack of a specific policy for social media use and more specifically a policy outlining the appropriate use of social media to support causes. This policy should be explicitly understood by both coaches and players. If Coach Priefer knew what Kluwe was given permission to do it may have made a difference in how Kluwe was treated or at least given him some recourse for grievances. Instead Kluwe opted to take the team  to the mattresses.