Sissy Caption - Football Culture

I tend to draw inspiration from a variety of places.  I've written captions and stories inspired by movies, other fiction, television shows, and, occasionally, real life.  Most of the time, the real life stories are simple "what if" scenarios in which I take a news story and imagine a TG bend to it. 

And that brings me to the story of Man'ti Te'o, a football player for Notre Dame which has been in the news over the past two days for getting tricked into believing 1) that he had an online girlfriend, and 2) that that girlfriend had died from leukemia (You can find the story HERE).  I'm not going to get into what I think of the story (because it would just be speculation), but I do suggest you take a look at it.  It's stranger than most fiction and quite interesting. 

That said, there is rampant speculation that the young man created this fictional girlfriend to cover up his being a homosexual.  I don't know how realistic that assumption is (there are easier ways to stay in the closet), but stranger things have happened, I suppose.  But it did inspire a little story in which someone in that position might react a little differently to that sort of pressure.  This is that caption:

I've written a lot of captions dealing with football players, simply because it makes for a fun conflict.  It's interesting to wonder how some of these people who live their lives in a macho, homophobic culture might react to some of the situations I create in my stories (being feminized, being confronted with an attraction to men, being attracted to feminine boys, etc.).  But I do think it says a lot about our culture that a man creating a fictional girlfriend (and subsequently "killing her off") to hide his homosexuality is seen as a plausible explanation for one of the stranger stories to come out of sports in my lifetime.  Whether it's true or not is irrelevant.  The fact that it's understandable (and believed by a fair amount of people) is what's important.  In terms of tolerance, we've come a long way.  I'll grant that.  But we still have a long road ahead of us.

I realize that the vast majority of you don't come here to read my thoughts on equality (and our quest for it), but it's my blog, and I'll do what I want to (I need a sarcasm font!).  Seriously, though - thanks for reading my little thoughts for today.  I hope you enjoy the bonus caption.