I'll have to admit that, in a sports media world dominated by crotchety old men who are both deficient in their knowledge of urban lingo and always itching for a story to blow out of proportion during the offseason, that Dwayne Bowe using the phrase "no homo" hasn't become a bigger deal. For those not in the know, "no homo" is a phrase used mainly by rappers(most notably and ironically, Cam'ron, who went through an entire phase where he did music videos in pink chinchilla fur coats while driving a pink Escalade), urban youth and the type of surburban kids that normally evoke the popular Dave and Gabe phrase "fucking white people", to clarify their manhood and heterosexuality in the event of making a comment that may be taken as homo-curious(You know, because you don't want to be seen as a potentially gay gangsta rapper when you're dancing in your pink fur coat and making nursery rhymes about jewelry).
My issue with Bowe's comment is not the use of the term "no homo". In fact, I tend to concur with the statement of New York rapping legend Jadakiss on the subject when he said "a real man shouldn't have to say 'no homo'". My problem is the timing. Earlier this week, Bowe made headlines by completely throwing his teammates under the bus and giving us a look into the world of "importing". Clearly, Bowe did not follow the famous quote: "Better to be silent and be thought a fool than open your mouth and leave no doubt." Once you've made an ass out of yourself(not to mention out yourself as a snitch by yapping to a magazine reporter about the potential philandering of married teammates), it's best to keep your mouth shut until things die down. From all accounts of both stories, Bowe's "no homo" came within an hour of news breaking out of Bowe's "importing" story. Keep in mind, these quotes come from a guy who was a holdout as a rookie, and spent most of last season in head coach Todd Haley's doghouse(to the point where he was nearly traded midseason). This isn't exactly how you win over your brothers in arms, Dwayne.
As for the inevitable reaction to "no homo", if the media's treatment of Allen Iverson is any indication, tragically unhip columnists are going to always be against anything that combines sports and urban culture. Much like many got on their high horse about Brian Cushing and his positive steroid test, don't be surprised if some writers suddenly become gay rights advocates over the next few days. Again, it's a slow offseason. The NFL Draft is over. All the big time free agents are signed and we're at least two months from Favre Watch 2010 begins.
That brings me back to my initial point about this being ill-timed. With radio jocks and sportswriters looking for reasons to fill up space, the easiest way for them to do so is for a public figure with an addiction to microphones to go spouting off nonsense. I'm sure Bowe wasn't trying to offend gay people and I know people familiar with the term will just shrug it off as people overreacting(If anyone should be offended, it should be Cassell. No dude wants to be referred to as another man's "girlfriend", even if it was supposed to be metaphorically), but when you're a professional athlete, you have to be mindful of your audience. Bowe was doing a radio interview on a Kansas City radio station, not presenting at The Source Awards.
Word on the street is that Haley sat down with Bowe and had a heart-to-heart(which, if Haley's temperament tells us anything, probably boiled down to him telling Bowe to just shut the fuck up), and the two are probably going to do their best PR spin over the next few months while they wait for the attention from this week's version of VH1 Storytellers with Dwayne Bowe goes away.
In an effort to help matters toward that effect, we're cutting D-Bowe's mic off.
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