Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
Those of you who have linebacker Scott Fujita on your All-Hair fantasy teams may want to add him to your All-Philanthropy rosters as well. (Everyone plays fantasy football like this, right? My All-Felon All-Stars just won a third straight league title.) The erstwhile Saint is heading for Cleveland a scant month after winning a Super Bowl, but he's leaving New Orleans with a little something to remember him by:
He gave half of his Super Bowl check to charity, half of that going to relief efforts in Haiti, and the other half going to coastal restoration in New Orleans. From nola.com:
"The people of this city and region have been so good to me and my family that we just felt strongly about doing something to protect the city we have come to love so much, " Fujita said. "And helping on the coastal issue has been on the back of my mind since I first got here."
There goes a man with a heart as shiny and sleek as his coif. And he's Browns-bound, bless him, which has to count in his karmic favor, somewhere.
17 comments
Comments
Scott's no Saint.
Not to say that he’s a bad guy either. But, when you make insulting and ill-informed comments toward others in order to bolster your position on a social issue, you don’t make many friends. It is well-known down here that many, if not most, of our Saints have a strong Christian belief. Fujita’s comments in support of same-sex marriage stated that Christians “wore blinders” and “have no argument” in their opposition to it. He claimed that same-sex marriage is “a human issue”, implying that anyone who opposes it is not human.
This, no doubt, rankled many of his teammates who, like anyone else would, may have taken offense to the fact that he dismissed the veracity of their position and insulted their beliefs and, ipso facto, them.
I won’t get into the arguments here, but suffice it to say that not all opposition to the social normalizing of homosexuality is religion-based or a product of prejudicial bias as Fujita claims. If Scott had voiced a rational explanation to defend his views instead of resorting to ad-hominem attacks against “religion (the religious), parents, and friends” and “coaches and locker rooms (teammates)”, he might still be a Saint and building another shelf for his next Lombardi.
The city of New Orleans and the fans of the Saints are grateful to Scott for his great play on the field and his contributions to the rebuilding effort of both the team and the city.
But, if karma is really the judge in this situation, as you say, is going to Cleveland an indication of karmic favor?
Just the opposite, I’m thinking. Maybe karma wears “blinders”, too?
by a_suitable_case_for_treatment on Mar 9, 2010 7:01 AM EST reply actions
Well, there's no arguing with that handsomely bronzed logic.
________________________________
I will give my shirt for Tennessee today.
by Holly Anderson on Mar 9, 2010 1:46 PM EST up reply actions
Speaking of handsome
Fujita is a good looking dude.
Welcome to Ohio, Mr. Fujita.
EAT IT, SUITCASE. We got Tressel. We got Fujita. We got Sherrod Brown. 17th State: BEACON OF OPENMINDEDNESS. All caps.
This is where San Pellegrino Limonata and Bombay Sapphire dropped me off.
by f o u r on Mar 12, 2010 7:24 PM EST up reply actions
I'm normally not inclined to do this
But here’s the full quote from Fujita:
So it’s not just “Christians” as you allege when he’s talking about blinders.
He also mentions friends, coaches, locker rooms and parents.
So that brush that he applied to the situation is much broader than you tried to paint him with.
And there are many Christians who can be found that do support gay marriage. Saying that karma is a bitch and so Scott Fujita wound up in Cleveland because of it is an insult to the city of Cleveland and an insult to Fujita.
Oh, and BTW: present me an argument against what you call the “social norming of homosexuality” that is NOT drawn on religious or prejudicial grounds.
Pigskin Punditry
"Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee is for closers." ~ Blake (Alec Baldwin), Glengarry Glen Ross
by D-Sing on Mar 9, 2010 1:57 PM EST up reply actions
+1
nice post…
no homo
bring Dawk & Westy home
by MeanGreen5 on Mar 9, 2010 3:55 PM EST up reply actions
Did you read my whole post?
I know what Scott said and I also mentioned ‘friends, coaches’ etc.
And any fan of the Browns will tell you, the franchise is not in the best of shape. It was the team I was referring to, and you know that, yet you tried to make me out as an insulter of the city. Well played.
No time for arguments now, Ellen’s on.
by a_suitable_case_for_treatment on Mar 10, 2010 1:54 AM EST up reply actions
Well, when you use the name of the city
what else do you expect me to do?
You refer to the Saints by their nickname.
Yet you refer to the franchise that plays in Cleveland as simply “Cleveland.”
Are they in great shape? Of course not.
But without using the nickname (as you used when referring to your team) it leads me to infer that you are referring to living in Cleveland as karmic retribution to his position.
I will concede the point that you did refer to friends and coaches in the later part of your graph.
But you also made the point in the beginning of your paragraph by specifically referring to the Christianity angle:
Thirdly, why do you decline to actually answer my closing question? I will repeat it again:
Pigskin Punditry
"Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee is for closers." ~ Blake (Alec Baldwin), Glengarry Glen Ross
by D-Sing on Mar 11, 2010 6:43 PM EST up reply actions
Third, do you really want to do that here?
by a_suitable_case_for_treatment on Mar 11, 2010 8:24 PM EST up reply actions
Why not?
You brought it up initially.
You refused to answer when asked the first time and instead decided to make a joke about watching Ellen.
So yes, you’re damn right that I want to do it here. Enlighten all of us in the SBNation community.
Of course, if Holly decides that this is not the place, then I will respect her decision to end the discourse.
But if she is game, then let’s hear it.
Pigskin Punditry
"Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee is for closers." ~ Blake (Alec Baldwin), Glengarry Glen Ross
by D-Sing on Mar 11, 2010 10:15 PM EST up reply actions
Ok...
First, the point of my post was that you don’t endear yourself to people by insulting them or their beliefs. Period. Fuji’s comment was likely insulting to many of the Saints. I was simply trying to posit a reason why such a good player was let go so easily, without a fight, more like a “don’t let the screen door hit you” departure.
Now, as far as what seems to concern you: Years ago, I got a job working at a chemical plant that produced sufuric acid. When I first got there, I was knocked over by the stench of the place. It was nauseating. The acid in the air corroded everything in the plant. I wondered, ‘How in the heck does someone work in this environment?’ So, I asked one of the guys who’d worked there a while. He said, “You get used to it.” He said I would, too, but I never did. And the fact that many of the workers had gotten “used to it” didn’t negate the fact that the noxious odor was still present and the chemical was still destroying everything around it, including their lungs.
Similarly, a person doesn’t have to be religious or prejudiced to find homosexuality repugnant. The sight of two guys or girls kissing is nauseating. Maybe a lot of people “get used to it”. I, and a lot of other people haven’t. Would the sight of a person eating their own feces make you ill? If so, why? It isn’t hurting anyone. Why does it bother you? Because it’s an instinctive, visceral reaction to a perversion of normalcy and decency. Would you want your child to eat his or her own feces? Even before a kid is sexually aware, the gay agenda is educating and indoctrinating him into ‘the life’. They are getting him ‘used to it’, so that they can stave off the visceral reaction he will surely have if he is grown before he witnesses it for the first time.
My guess is that you will spout the mantra “Get over it”, which is the usual sensitive response I’ve come to expect from proponents of homosexuality and basically what Fujita was saying in his comment.
You can dismiss, as Fujita did, reasons of religion or the normal negative reaction labelled as ‘prejudice’ if you want to, but that doesn’t make those reasons any less valid any more than getting used to the smell of sulfuric acid negates the effect it has on lungs and steel.
by a_suitable_case_for_treatment on Mar 11, 2010 11:08 PM EST up reply actions
If you really want to know what my response is
you can read some of it below.
But for folks like you, who have a visceral reaction to seeing two people expressing their love for each other, you simply cannot say “get over it.”
I may think that. I may feel that, or feel sorry for you to having such a narrow view of what is considered “normal” that two people of the same gender kissing physically makes you ill.
But you feel how you feel, and while I may wholeheartedly disagree with you, I would never tell someone like you to simply “Get over it.”
Because there would be no point in doing so.
Pigskin Punditry
"Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee is for closers." ~ Blake (Alec Baldwin), Glengarry Glen Ross
by D-Sing on Mar 12, 2010 2:44 AM EST up reply actions
Well that's just fricking brilliant, suitable_case
I’ve been saying the same thing about the band Human League for years now: Anyone who doesn’t like them is not human. It’s right there in the name! “Don’t You Want Me”? How can you not love that? It’s a classic!
Nice to know you guys are still on the “Every single bad thing that happens to someone I don’t agree with is a sign that God hates them” train, by the way. That never gets old.
by Doug Gillett on Mar 9, 2010 6:25 PM EST up reply actions
who are 'you guys'?
and wtf are you talking about?
by a_suitable_case_for_treatment on Mar 10, 2010 1:56 AM EST up reply actions
hell'ova guy
all around- seems like a standup dude
bring Dawk & Westy home
by MeanGreen5 on Mar 9, 2010 10:25 AM EST reply actions
From the Pigskin Punditry blog, heeeere's Dave!
Bet I know what bothers you about Tebow.
It’s good to know that you understand the visceral reaction. Very telling is that a great player/guy like Tebow seems to nauseate you, but two guys sodomizing each other doesn’t.
I get a pretty clear picture of you now, Dave. I won’t bother explaining my position to you anymore as it would clearly be a waste of both our time.
Have a nice day.
by a_suitable_case_for_treatment on Mar 11, 2010 11:28 PM EST reply actions
Show me where I said I was nauseated by Tebow
He actually doesn’t nauseate me as much as the coverage of him does.
But to simply duck and run also does nothing to engender an honest debate about this topic. I don’t view it as a waste of my time simply because you will not convince me that homosexuality is this abomination. Quite frankly, the only way to truly have tolerance and acceptance of folks is to respect their differences and actually learn about the point of view.
I will caution you, though, to be careful about overuse of the term sodomy, since it has absolutely nothing to do with the gender of the people involved. Acts of sodomy are committed every day and night around the world—even in the homes of straight folks.
I wish you the best, sir.
Pigskin Punditry
"Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee is for closers." ~ Blake (Alec Baldwin), Glengarry Glen Ross
by D-Sing on Mar 12, 2010 2:39 AM EST up reply actions
What's love go to do with it?
I love my father, my brother, my friends. We don’t sodomize each other.
And sodomy in any form, even heterosexual, is sick and disgusting. Ask any decent girl.
Tolerance? Is that what I was shown simply because of my feelings about homosexuality? Ah, but they are tolerated, oh yes. And I’m not because I call a spade a spade.
by a_suitable_case_for_treatment on Mar 12, 2010 7:14 AM EST reply actions
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