News: Robbie Rogers Retires, Also Maybe Comes Out?

Mods, feel free to move if necessary, but seeing as he's in the pool I thought it would be relevant.

http://robbierogers8.moonfruit.com/

Open letter on his website seems to confirm that he's retiring, and maybe retiring because he doesn't want to deal with being an openly gay athlete? Interesting on either front. Even if he's only a fringe player, he still would be a solid MLS pro and it would be a damn shame if he is retiring because of what he worries the perception might be.

Interesting footballing career (from his early days as a club-mate to Jay Göppingen -- some secret there), and an even more interesting end (apparently) to his footballing career.

Well it is already on his Wiki page.

So he is going to live in Boca Raton in a retirement community?

Good for him, but if he is retiring because he doesn't want to deal with the crap fans will say to him is sad but I fully understand. He could still be a good player on an MLS team and I think most of the teams would welcome him but it's his life and he should do what's best for him.

I don't give a rat's ass that he's gay. EDIT: That's not entirely true. I'm not bothered that he's gay. It is, I must admit, interesting because of the novelty of a pro athlete admitting it.

I'm bummed that he's retiring so young. He still has a lot he can give the game as a player and that doesn't begin to touch on the pioneering he could do as an active pro athlete who is gay and out of the closet.

Best of luck either way, Robbie, but I hope you reconsider and keep playing.

I didn't see the Wiki update.

It's his decision, but if the thought process was that he didn't want to deal with the crap...well, that's really unfortunate. I know it's not his obligation to try and be the "Face Of The Gay Athlete" or whatever, but he could have really done a lot of good had he continued playing, especially if he came back here to MLS.

This is really sad, both that we're losing a good kid and a good player at such a young age, and that he feels like he'd be openly persecuted as an openly gay athlete in this day and age.

Damn shame, good luck Robbie, but I still think you can make a difference if you keep playing!

He's still young enough to where he could come back and contribute even if he sat out a couple of years. I'm sure the last thing he wants is to be the "gay" athlete in the media while just trying to figure out his life.

Rogers should continue playing. In a few months, maybe less, nobody will care about his personal life. Times have changed. Being gay is a stupid reason to stop play soccer at age 25, if that is a main reason.

I applaud him for coming out. At the same time, I am a little saddened that the coming out was commensurate with the retirement, though I certainly understand and respect the decision. I can understand any individual not wanting to be saddled with the intrusion and pressure that would come with being the first or among the first openly gay athletes still playing. I would just hope that anyone's retirement would be solely because of a desire to no longer play, and not linked in any way to something that should be meaningless and personal, but sadly is not.

I have a great deal of admiration for Robbie.

Wrestling with your inner demons stemming partially from being gay isn't a stupid reason though.

I imagine the sport is still pretty homophobic and it would be hard for him in the locker room with some of the guys. But, if you love a sport or anything else I say you don't quit. You don't let who you are deprive you of something you love to do.

He can wrestle with that all he wants. But he's an athlete, and that time goes by fast. The personal stuff he'll have to deal with for another 60+ years, perhaps. He can't be a pro soccer player 60 years from now.

I am hoping he will get a lot of positive support that he wants to come back. 25 is starting the prime years of a career.

This clearly goes deeper than the footballing community. Seems to me like its a struggle with how his family will treat him and how it challenges his views on God/religion.

That is no small matter.

Sorry to see that he is ready to walk away from the game at such a young age. I just hope he's not doing it because he didn't feel like it would be possible to come out and continue playing.

I'm sure he's getting inundated with e-mails, but here it is in case anyone wants to give words of support/encouragement:

RobbieRogers@Halsey44.com

It doesn't seem like it could hurt.

******** you.

What an ignorant thing to say.

I couldn't care less about his sexual orientation, but I don't have a problem with him coming out. Regardless, I hope his is a brief hiatus from soccer. Perhaps he could hook up with an MLS club, if not this season, then perhaps next. He is a good player who still has considerable upside. If he came back soon and had an impact in MLS, he'd have an outside chance of making his way to Brazil.

Depends what "wrestling" means. If a person is really struggling with something, sometimes it's necessary to address that above all else, even if it means giving up on opportunities that would otherwise be compelling.

For the benefit of whom?

If he doesn't think a continued soccer career would benefit himself, then what's the point?

You sure about that? ("nobody" is a fairly exclusive group.)

How so?

Things have changed to the point where someone like Rogers feels he can continue his career, even after coming out as gay?

Maybe if he sticks to his retirement, then times haven't changed all that much.

People do a lot of stuff for "stupid (or just personal) reasons."

Times have changed, but the pace of change seems to be a lot slower in professional sports than it is in most other areas (where I personally don't think the pace of change has been adequate either).

There has still never been an openly gay active male-professional athlete in a major sport. When the percentage of openly gay professional athletes is so much smaller than the percentage of openly gay professionals in countless other area of public life (and when sexual orientation has no bearing on athletic capability), that either means that gay athletes are disproportionately pressured or discouraged away from entering professional sports or that gay athletes feel a disproportionate amount of pressure to hide their sexual orientation. Either way, it's a serious problem.

If Rogers has lost his desire to play, then so be it.

But do people quit their jobs as accountants or doctors, or pharmacists, or secretaries, or nurses, or baggage handlers, or bus drivers, or business exectives when they come out as gay? I thought we were past that. If coming out is being used as a reason to retire from a game he loves and a career he has dreamed about, then I hope he changes his mind.

If he doesn't want to play anymore, regardless of his orientation, then that's different.

Regardless, I wish him the best and totally respect him as a human being.