Stop the presses, it appears that professional football players like unclothed women!

In the world’s most politically correct city, the city with the mayor that defied the law to perform same sex marriages, the city hosting the World Environmental Day, is it really a surprise that against this backdrop of respect for all things cultural that the city’s professional football team might find a little humor in lesbian soft-porn and topless blondes?

Predictably, the mayor of San Francisco and every other group that can claim to be offended is falling all over themselves to be the most outraged. A Google search of “49ers Video Outrage” came up with 3620 results.That’s a lot of outrage!

Come on folks. It is not the end of the world. Is anyone really surprised that professional football players are attracted to base level humor? Does anyone think that guys who barely made it through school (and probably wouldn’t have without a little help from football program-friendly educators) would be able to sit through a 15–minute training tape if it didn’t contain something that exploited women? While we are on the subject, has any one seen a beer ad that doesn’t?

Was the tape stupid? Sure. Was it predictable? Of course. Does this kind of thing go on every day in pretty much every professional team? Yes. So, let’s just keep it in perspective and hope that Jessie Jackson doesn’t fly in for a Day of Outrage and this story dies out on its own.

Here is the story as reported by MSNBC.

SAN FRANCISCO - The 49ers’ public relations director made just the kind of offensive gaffe he’d preached to the team’s football players about avoiding.

An in-house video meant to prepare players for being in the public eye and dealing with the media featured racist jokes, lesbian soft-porn and topless blondes — and even a scene of the well-liked PR chief Kirk Reynolds impersonating San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, taped right in the mayor’s office.

Reynolds, who called it a “terrible mistake,” is suddenly on his way out of the organization. He denies his resignation was related to the video, except to have speeded it up. He said he had already told the team he planned to depart to explore other interests.

“I’m more sorry than anybody,” he said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “My intention was to deliver a message important to our team. Certainly the execution and my decision-making were way out of line. I deeply regret it.”

Reynolds said he made the video to coach players on handling media questions in diverse San Francisco — and never meant it for public consumption. The 15-minute film was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The video was shown to players during training camp last August as part of a diversity workshop.

“I certainly offended people, and I never intended to offend anybody,” Reynolds said. “Anybody who knows me, that’s not a reflection of who I am. I did something for a certain audience that got out of hand. … I completely apologize to anybody who was offended.”

Newsom said the tape wronged the Asian and gay communities and exploited the women who appeared. In the future, the mayor’s staff will insist on knowing the the content of an entire video when it grants requests for filming inside City Hall, aide Peter Ragone said.

Team owners Denise and John York on Wednesday called the video offensive, inexcusable and “absolutely contradictory to the ideals and values of the San Francisco 49ers.”

“Ostensibly, the video was created to raise player awareness about how to deal with the media and to demonstrate by example how poor conduct can unintentionally make news,” the Yorks’ statement said. “Unfortunately, this video is an example in itself.”

Reynolds opens the film sitting behind the mayor’s desk, then goes to Chinatown, where a 49ers team consultant uses racial slurs. Next comes a topless, lesbian wedding filmed at a strip club and officiated by Reynolds, again impersonating the mayor.

“I know the courts say we can’t do this,” Reynolds says before the happy couple engages in heavy petting. “We make our own rules here in San Francisco.”

Reynolds then goes to SBC Park, where acting as “mayor” he throws out the opening pitch, then takes a bribe from the catcher, who thanks him for supporting “hookers and booze.”

“You do something controversial, you say something controversial, it will have an impact on this team. So remember, be mindful of your actions,” Reynolds says, wearing only a towel before joining three topless blondes for a group hug.

Click here you want to see the video for yourself. And click here if you do want to see what we find outraged in the world of sports: steroid abuse.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 2nd, 2005 at 3:41 pm by Insider and is filed under Funny ... to us. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.