Brendon Ayanbadejo of the Baltimore Ravens, left, thinks gay people should be treated equally. Chris Culliver of the San Francisco 49ers, right, thinks gay people need to "get up out of here." Photo: Ezra Shaw and Al Bello/Getty Images 
 
 Let's say you don't live in San Francisco or Baltimore and don't have any particular attachment to either city or their football teams. You could hardly even name any 49ers or Ravens players — maybe you've heard of the two starting quarterbacks and the guy who might have murdered someone. You have no opinion on who is the superior Harbaugh. In short, you basically have no basis for who to root for in the Super Bowl this Sunday. Well, if you feel strongly about gay marriage, now you do. 
 
 That's because the Ravens have linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, who reached out to gay-rights advocates last week to ask how he might go about "harness[ing] this Super Bowl media" to promote marriage equality. 
 
 On the opposite end of the spectrum, the 49ers have cornerback Chris Culliver who responded thus today when asked if a gay player would be welcome on his team: 
 
 "I don't do the gay guys, man," said Culliver, whose Niners play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. "I don't do that. No, we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do." "Can't be with that sweet stuff. Nah … can't be … in the locker room, man. Nah." 
 
 We have no idea how all the other players on either team feel about gay marriage or gay people, and frankly, we'd prefer not to hear from them, because that would only muddle what is currently, for rooting purposes, a conveniently stark contrast between tolerance and bigotry. 
 
 Update, 9:12 p.m.: It has been brought to our attention in the comments that the 49ers filmed an It Gets Better video, and that Ravens have a player, center Matt Birk, who is an outspoken foe of gay marriage. This obviously complicates things a bit, which is exactly what we were afraid was going to happen. 
 
 Update 2/2/13: The "It Gets Better" campaign has pulled its 49ers video after two of its participants seemed to have no idea that they had participated in a gay-rights video. Meanwhile, Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs told reporters he "wouldn’t have a problem" with having an openly gay teammate in the locker room. "Who cares? Whatever a person’s choice is, it’s their choice," he said. At the same time, though, 49ers wide receiver Randy Moss said the NFL should be able to "move on and accept" gay athletes, and his teammate, center Jonathan Goodwin, added, "If someone's choice is not affecting you, then you can't be upset with people for their choices." 
 
 In conclusion, we have no idea which team you should root for if you like gay people. 
 
 ||||| NEW ORLEANS – San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver has made inflammatory comments regarding homosexuality in football just a few days before Super Bowl XLVII. 
 
 Shock jock Artie Lange revealed he had interviewed Culliver at media day Tuesday and aired a segment on his show that night, where the player insisted that any gay players would not be welcome on the team. 
 
 "I don't do the gay guys man," said Culliver, whose Niners play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday. "I don't do that. No, we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do. 
 
 "Can't be with that sweet stuff. Nah…can't be…in the locker room man. Nah." 
 
 When quizzed by Lange whether any homosexual athletes would need to keep their sexuality a secret in football, Culliver responded: "Yeah, come out 10 years later after that." 
 
 You can listen to the interview here: 
 
 The 49ers released a statement Wednesday in response to Culliver's remarks: 
 
 "The San Francisco 49ers reject the comments that were made [Tuesday], and have addressed the matter with Chris. There is no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community." 
 
 Culliver issued his own apology on Wednesday. 
 
 "The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel," Culliver said in a statement. "It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience." 
 
 In the NFL's long history, there has never been an openly gay active player. However, sexual orientation has increasingly come into the spotlight recently. 
 
 The Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax saga was believed by many to be a ruse designed to hide his homosexuality, a claim that was vehemently denied by the former Notre Dame defensive star. 
 
 Story Continues 
 
 Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo has been an outspoken supporter of gay rights, using the profile of Super Bowl week to bring the issue further into the spotlight. 
 
 [Related: Ray Lewis agitated over link to PED during Super Bowl week] 
 
 And Monday, a report surfaced that former NFL player Kwame Harris had been charged with assaulting a former boyfriend. 
 
 "You always think because of the odds and the numbers there are gay players in the NFL," former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis told Huffington Post Live. "They haven't obviously come out and told anyone about it not even behind the scenes. 
 
 "Obviously there will be people who disagree and people who don't have a problem with it, but that will be in life as well. I don't think it is going to affect someone's play. 
 
 "Because it is so testosterone driven, it'd be really difficult for a gay player to stand up and say, 'Hey, I'm gay and I'm an NFL player.' " 
 
 Culliver, 24, did little to improve his own reputation on Wednesday, sending out a Tweet about a woman's monthly cycle. 
 
 Culliver, who started six games for the Niners in the regular season, recorded 48 tackles and two interceptions. 
 
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 ||||| NEW ORLEANS — If Chris Culliver, a little-known but productive backup cornerback for the 49ers, was looking to use the tremendous exposure of Super Bowl week to make a name for himself, he certainly did that — in a negative way. It earned him a public scolding from his team. 
 
 Culliver, in a radio interview with Artie Lange, said he has no desire to have a gay teammate. In a Super Bowl week that has been dominated for the first time by stories about deer-antler spray, Culliver became the first player in Super Bowl history to use the forum to make anti-gay comments. 
 
 “I don’t do the guys. I don’t do that,” Culliver said. “We don’t have any gays on the team. They gotta get up outta here if they do. Can’t be with that sweet stuff.” 
 
 Culliver’s comments were made Tuesday and began circulating Wednesday. That prompted the 49ers to issue a statement distancing themselves from Culliver. 
 
 “The San Francisco 49ers reject the comments that were made (Tuesday), and have addressed the matter with Chris,” the statement said. “There is no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community.” 
 
 Culliver, a third-round pick in 2011 from South Carolina, said if a player is gay, he should not go public with it. “Yeah, come out 10 years later after that,” he said. 
 
 No active NFL player has ever come out and said he was gay, likely fearing the backlash from teammates in the locker room. Culliver’s small-minded approach won’t go over well in San Francisco, which has a large gay community. 
 
 Later Wednesday after the comments circulated, Culliver offered a bizarre, half-hearted apology distributed by the 49ers. 
 
 “The derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel,” Culliver said in the statement. “It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart. Further, I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience.” 
 
 The 49ers were the first team to join “It Gets Better.” 
 
 Jack (l.) and Jackie Harbaugh, parents of head coaches Jim (49ers) and John Harbaugh (Ravens), get fired up to make Super Bowl a family affair. (JOE SKIPPER/REUTERS) 
 
 On its website, the organization says, “The It Gets Better Project was created to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential and positivity their lives will reach — if they can just get through their teen years. The It Gets Better Project wants to remind teenagers in the LGBT community that they are not alone – and it WILL get better.” 
 
 Hudson Taylor, Executive Director of Athlete Ally, a leading organization working to raise awareness and end homophobia in sports, issued a statement following Culliver’s remarks: “Chris Culliver’s comments are disrespectful, discriminatory and dangerous, particularly for the young people who look up to him. His words underscore the importance of the Athlete Ally movement and the key role that professional athletes play in shaping an athletic climate that affirms and includes gay and lesbian players.” 
 
 Culliver might want to have a chat with Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, a married father of two, who has been an outspoken supporter of gay rights and equality. 
 
 PASSING GRADE 
 
 Jim Harbaugh facing his older brother John is a Super Bowl first — there has never even been a set of brothers who have been NFL head coaches. Ex-NFL quarterbacks becoming head coaches is another rare feat. 
 
 I was talking to Jim Harbaugh after his news conference Wednesday when I brought up the subject of why so few quarterbacks become head coaches. He is just the second former NFL QB to coach in the Super Bowl following Cincinnati’s Sam Wyche, the losing coach to the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIII. Former Raiders coach Tom Flores won two Super Bowls and is a former quarterback, but he never played in the NFL. He played in the AFL from 1960-68. Sean Payton played in three games as a replacement quarterback for the Chicago Bears during the 24-day players strike in 1987, but never played in a real NFL game. 
 
 Harbaugh didn’t have any theories about why so few quarterbacks have become NFL head coaches. He said he would do some research. Currently, the only former NFL quarterbacks who are head coaches in the league are Harbaugh, Gary Kubiak (Texans) and Jason Garrett (Cowboys), not counting Payton. 
 
 GLEASON INSPIRES 
 
 Steve Gleason, the former Saints player who is suffering from ALS, held a news conference Wednesday regarding the $350,000 grant by Chase to The Team Gleason House for Innovative Living, which funds the development of technologies that will help ALS and MS patients continue living more productive lives. 
 
 After the news conference, Gleason demonstrated how a computer, connected to his wheelchair, tracks his eye movement and allows him to pick out words and communicate through his pre-recorded voice. Gleason is best known for blocking the punt against the Falcons on the night the Superdome reopened in 2006, one year after Hurricane Katrina. He was diagnosed with ALS, a fatal disease, in 2011. 
 
 “The story is how he meets the challenge. That is what is so inspirational,” former Saints teammate Scott Fujita said. “That’s the message that resonates with so many people. That is why so many people are drawn to Steve and Team Gleason.” ||||| This article is from the archive of our partner . 
 
 Just when the NFL was starting to shed its homophobic reputation and look like an accepting place for gay athletes, one San Francisco 49ers player had to come along and ruin all of that — and all under the Super Bowl spotlight. 
 
 Backup 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver told the comedian Artie Lange on Super Bowl Media Day that he wouldn't welcome an openly gay teammate in the locker room, and he did it in the grossest way possible. "I don't do the gay guys, man," Culliver told Lange on a radio interview broadcast last night and making waves today. "I don't do that. No, we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do." Culliver said gay players "can't be... in the locker room, man. Nah." When asked by Lange if gay players should keep their sexual preference a secret, Culliver said they should. "Yeah, come out 10 years later after that," he told Lange. 
 
 The reaction so far has mostly been disbelief. On Wednesday, ESPN's Pardon the Interruption hosts Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser both expressed their disappointment with Culliver. Kornheiser said it was "the stupidest thing he's heard in the last 24 hours." The 49ers organization released a statement Wednesday evening rejecting Culliver's remarks, too. "The San Francisco 49ers reject the comments that were made yesterday, and have addressed the matter with Chris," the statement said. "There is no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community.”
– San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver says he doesn't want gay players on his team. "I don't do the gay guys, man," he told Artie Lange in an interview. "We don't got no gay people on the team; they gotta get up out of here if they do ... Can't be with that sweet stuff," and "can't be in the locker room," he said. Gay people should stay in the closet while playing and "come out 10 years after that," he said, per Yahoo! News. The team has rejected his comments: "There is no place for discrimination within our organization at any level. We have and always will proudly support the LGBT community." Culliver has since apologized, saying that "the derogatory comments I made yesterday were a reflection of thoughts in my head, but they are not how I feel." He added: "It has taken me seeing them in print to realize that they are hurtful and ugly. Those discriminating feelings are truly not in my heart .... I apologize to those who I have hurt and offended, and I pledge to learn and grow from this experience." The media is reacting: The apology was "half-hearted" and "bizarre," writes Gary Myers in the New York Daily News, noting that the 49ers were the first team to join the "It Gets Better" program for young LGBT people. An advocate for gay people in sports calls Culliver's initial comments "disrespectful, discriminatory, and dangerous, particularly for the young people who look up to him." "There goes a year's worth of progress for gay rights in the NFL," notes Connor Simpson at the Atlantic Wire, pointing to a year in which Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo and Vikings kicker Chris Kluwe have taken a stand for gay rights. On top of that, former 49er Kwame Harris was outed this week after a fight with his ex-boyfriend. "So, sorry, Chris: gay players have been in your locker room before," Simpson writes. It's now clear which team to root for in the Super Bowl if you support gay rights, notes the Daily Intelligencer.