2006 draft pick Ryan O'Callaghan comes out

[ctpatsfan77]

It wouldn't surprise me if this ends up getting moved or locked, but let me just give you the first sentence, so you can understand why I'm posting this and why you should read this:

Ryan O’Callaghan’s plan was always to play football then, when his career was over, kill himself.

Former NFL tackle Ryan O’Callaghan comes out as gay

 

[Froob]

Crazy read, glad Pioli was there for him. Glad culture is shifting to become more accepting.

 

[Ive_Killed_People]

Terrible player......couldn't care less about his sexual preferences. As a human you hope he gets help and straightens his life out, but as a football fan he isn't on my radar. Best of luck anyway.

 

[Ring 6]

These kind of articles help to show that while they may be different than you, people are people.

 

[CheekyDave]

Good for him, good for us. There are young boys and girls who will see this, and may not kill themselves, and some of those young men, and women, are your brothers and sisters, or sons and daughters. It does matter, and Im pretty happy for any human being, that is miserable, and then finds a way out. Except for Jets fans.

 

[oldrover]

Best wishes and prayers for him.

 

[Mike the Brit]

Excellent article.

I read it thinking that I'm going to be confronted with how thoughtless and heartless football players can be to one another, but that's not so. Really, it's a story about how a poor guy had terrible trouble coming to terms with himself.

My heart aches at the thought of how unhappy he has been.

(By the way, I don't remember him being a "terrible" player. He did OK when he was healthy and had a lot of injuries -- same as a lot of O-line players.)

 

[varjao]

Talking about this subject I watched the movie about Alan Turing this weekend on Netflix, The Imitation Game, and I recommend, I didn't know he was gay and he went through a lot, the course of history could have been different had he been arrested for gross indecency before cracking the cryptography the Germans were using during the WW2.

 

[bbobbo]

These kind of articles help to show that while they may be different than you people are people.

it also shows how wrong those people are who say that gay athletes should keep their sexual orientation private. if o'callaghan had done that, he'd probably be dead now.
.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Someday in the future, athletes coming out won't be newsworthy, won't be considered brave, but rather just par for the course. It will be men like Ryan who helped make that so.

Or so I hope.

Regards,
Chris

 

[bbobbo]

.

edited since you changed your original post.
.

 

[varjao]

i think english might not be your first language, but FYI "homo" is a derogatory term you probably didn't mean to use.
.

Thanks, you are correct.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Talking about this subject I watched the movie about Alan Turing this weekend on Netflix, The Intimidation Game, and I recommend, I didn't know he was homosexual and he went through a lot, the course of history could have been different had he been arrested for gross indecency before cracking the cryptography the Germans were using during the WW2.

Intimidation is what they did to him. The movie is The Imitation Game.

And you have to wonder what would have happened if he wasn't hounded to commit suicide. He died at 42; imagine what he could have done in his 40s and 50s.

 

[Ring 6]

it also shows how wrong those people are who say that gay athletes should keep their sexual orientation private. if o'callaghan had done that, he'd probably be dead now.
.

More stories like this might make them feel differently.

 

[Tony2046]

Talking about this subject I watched the movie about Alan Turing this weekend on Netflix, The Imitation Game, and I recommend, I didn't know he was gay and he went through a lot, the course of history could have been different had he been arrested for gross indecency before cracking the cryptography the Germans were using during the WW2.

That was an incredible movie. It's sad how ignorant society was back then and can be now at times.

 

[jah]

That's such a scary quote.

 

[meatface]

Terrible player......couldn't care less about his sexual preferences. As a human you hope he gets help and straightens his life out, but as a football fan he isn't on my radar. Best of luck anyway.

the guy has been out of the league since 2011.

 

[Patjew]

What a powerful read. All the best to Ryan. Sounds like a very decent and thoughtful young man.

 

[PP2]

Thank God he made the right choice.

 

[pazrul72]

Unbelievable story and my heart goes out to him that he had to live a lie for so long. If I could I would make every single NFL player coach GM and NFL hopeful read it to understand gay guys in the locker room aren't checking you out and are WAY more afraid of you then you are of them. My respect for Pioli as a person also went way up. His treatment of a friend as just another person and humor same as always speaks volumes of the human being he is. We still have a long way to go but stories like this will help speed ready acceptance along to someday I hope we no longer hear stories like this because "coming out" is no longer something anyone cares about.