Op-Ed: While there is a meltdown at 49er hedquarters, Joe Montana makes his own homophobic remarks in Sacramento

While another sports homophobia incident erupted at 49ers headquarters yesterday, with the story revolving around ex-49er and Raiders offensive lineman Kwame Harris, it needless to say was very quickly overshadowed by current 49er Chris Culliver‘s “heartfelt” feelings about gays. And the backpedaling by everyone connected with pro football began. In the electronic media age, that includes everyone down to the fans.

The bad news about sports homophobia in this day and age is how difficult it is to control these outbreaks of homophobia from ignorant comments by players such as Chris Culliver. The ignorant, often homophobic, response from organizations such as the 49ers continues to magnify the problem.

“I don’t do the gay guys, man,” said Culliver. “I don’t do that. No, we don’t got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff. Nah … can’t be … in the locker room man. Nah.”

While all this was erupting from the Bay Area, New Orleans and beyond, former 49ers star quarterback and enduring sports figure Joe Montana was working his current job for Success 2013, pitching how-to-be-successful seminars at Calvary Christian Center in Del Paso on Jan. 30.

While Joe has his own seminars to pitch for Success 2013, he was here to help attract an audience to hear several others’ seminars on how individuals can improve their life, and in a very sincere and true way, also the lives of those in the communities around them. Think of a live, 10-plus hour infomercial. I am not kidding. Like an infomercial you may learn or relearn, but you pay to come back for more.

Back to Joe Montana. I’m covering this event from different perspectives, including for business analysis and pure entertainment value; wearing several hats, including that of a business reporter and human interest writer; and totally unaware of the day’s growing pro-football homophobia scandal. From the sparse notes that could be recorded on Joe, some impressions:

Subjects: trust and teamwork. I noted “can’t talk about anything else but sports” five different ways, including “great at telling sports stories if you know what he is talking about.” His one good business bon mot was “Pay attention to the little things because you never know when they will help you.” This was his play on “You never know when they will hurt you.”

Joe should not only pay attention to the little things, but also to the big things, because homophobia is not a little thing in itself and does little to help the already especially bruised image of pro football.

He made two jokes in particular that I took issue with. One involved how uncomfortable Montana felt having Jay Leno put his arm around him. The other was the old saw about  where a quarterback has to put his hands to get the ball. They’re old jokes, but they are offensive to a diverse group of people.

After the first homophobic joke by one of the early presenters, an easy way to take notes was by ticking off things like homophobic jokes. Speaking to an audience of several of the general public while trying to convince them to buy products from his employers Joe Montana scored two homophobic jokes. Little did this reporter realize what was erupting back at 49ers headquarters. 

Some questions for Joe, or any readers that were present, include: Do you know or can you retell the jokes? Why are they homophobic? Why do tired old jokes and beliefs about homophobia continue to be strongly associated in particular with the National Football League, pro football, and generally includes pro sports in general? And as a business analysis of this event, it has to be recognized that the promoters must weigh his positives and negatives for a general audience. Also, you never know when little things like homophobia can come back to haunt you.

Hey Joe, on this subject you might give Steve Young a call. Last question:  How do you build trust and teamwork with a teammate you are uncomfortable about for who they are?

Editor’s note: Join The Sacramento Press on Tuesday, Feb. 12 at Chops Steakhouse to honor Journalism Open winners. Get tickets!