This is not a sports post.
2003 - Kordell Stewart was a Steelers quarterback off and on from 1995-2003. He had his moments, including a Pro Bowl year, but more often he was ineffective. Lots of factors contributed to this. He had three offensive systems in three years, for instance, and a revolving door of receivers and tackles around him. And he was simply not a very good quarterback. There are only 12 very good quarterbacks in the world at any given time, and he was not among them. But he had spurts of success, he could be fun to watch, and there was no one on the roster who was remotely as good. I wanted him gone, but I rooted for him.
You would think that last part would go without saying, wouldn't you? Of course I rooted for him. I'm a Steelers fan, after all, and he was the Steelers' quarterback.
It's kind of like how even if you don't care for the President, you root for his success. You're an American, after all.
Kordell was despised by my fellow fans with a venom I'd not seen before. They proclaimed him the worst quarterback in the history of football—mind you, a qb who twice took them to within a game of the Super Bowl. They vandalized his home. They dumped beer on his head. The belittled his intelligence. They fabricated rumors about his sexual orientation. I heard that Kordell was gay every single day for several years. The abuse and slander was unrelenting. And if I piped up to say something obvious like "Well, he's not the worst quarterback in the history of the planet," I too was vilified. Why, look, everyone—that moron John is proclaiming that moron Kordell a future Hall of Famer! John has a crush on his boyfriend Kordell!
I am not exaggerating.
"What is this?" I wondered. He wasn't my favorite player in the world, but these people were relentlessly trying to 1) inspire his suicide and 2) vivisect anyone who thought #1 was a little harsh. They were hysterical, incapable of reason, brazenly making shit up. They hated him for more reasons than his interception:touchdown ratio. And they hated me for not hating him.
I came to the extremely grudging conclusion that Kordell's great sin wasn't mediocrity, but that he was a black quarterback. I'm just about the last guy to attribute motivations to racism, but his defamers wore me down with their deaf hysteria. It's all they left me to believe. No other explanation fit the facts.
2010 - I've had a familiar feeling lately. It's not welcome.
In retrospect, Kordell had it easy. He was just "gay." Now he'd be the Socialist Nazi Muslim Antichrist with a forged birth certificate who's hellbent on eradicating our freedoms.