Unsettled Wednesday, then cooler before heating up next week

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Stefan Fatsis, the NPR sports commentator, is suggesting bad journalism has created the message that the NFL isn't ready for a gay player. 

, Fatsis says Sports Illustrated blew it in its follow-up story to University of Missouri player Michael Sam's announcement over the weekend that he is gay. 

The SI article quoted several insiders suggesting Sam would be a distraction.

Fatsis notes that Sports Illustrated did not quote the NFL execs who profess no problem to having a gay player -- that includes the Vikings' Zygi Wilf.

"The institutional pressure—from commissioner Roger Goodell, who has a gay brother, to progressive-minded owners like Kraft, Mara, Tisch, and others—to welcome Sam to the league will be great. NFL clubs are pragmatic, but they’re not uniformly retrograde. Owners have different priorities than scouts and personnel assistants. They want to win, but they can see the arc of history bending, too," Fatsis says.

 the recent departure of Michael Pesca from NPR

 -- that Fatsis didn't say any of this on NPR.

Because you sure don't want your sports reporter sharing an opinion. It destroys your credibility, the experts say.

Do racially insensitive slurs in a work of art get a "pass" because they're in a work of art? Adrienne Doyle, a gallery attendant at the Walker Art Center, doesn't think so. Writing on 

, Doyle takes artist Bjarne Melgaard to task for crossing the line "between claiming freedom of expression and producing truly oppressive works for mere shock value" in Melgaard's "9 Artists" exhibition, exploring the changing role of the artist in the global community.

The offensive nature of the exhibition is exacerbated by the fact most of the Walker's patrons are white, she says.

Ilhan Omar is telling her side of the caucus-night fighting in the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood. She pens 

 in which she says she suffered a concussion in the altercation. The fighting pitted supporters of incumbent legislator Phyllis Kahn against Minneapolis school board member Mohamud Noor, who is running for her seat at the Capitol.

"We should vehemently condemn any attempt to express these differences of opinion through violence," she writes.

4) WHAT? A GUY CAN'T SLEEP IN SAINT PAUL ANYMORE? 

There've been worse viral portrayals of Saint Paul cops in recent years but this is the current flap, the 

 reports. It's gone viral and suggests a cop pulled a guy over for sleeping. But, the paper says, it's one of the cops' friends.

The great warmup of 2014 is underway and soon it'll take the ice caves with it. The winter everyone seems to hate has done wonders for the tourism business along the south shore caves. Because you may only get one chance to see 

 A New York Times reporter tells a story 

) about his depression and learning of his mother's suicide.

: GoPro camera falls from plane. Pig tries to eat it.

Jacky Chamoun, a Lebanese skier, deals with fallout from topless photos

And there's the occasional bottomless photo to consider also:

https://twitter.com/kare11/status/433937852645117953

Are attractive people given unfair advantages in your workplace?

(9-12 p.m.) - First hour: Young Christian conservatives and the GOP. (Rebroadcast)

Second hour: The Buddha always looks so peaceful and serene no matter where you spot his image in this chaotic world. Just how can a person find the peace the Buddha projects in their busy daily life? Modern day Buddhist and teacher Lodro Rinzler is the “cool kids Buddhist” who offers practical advice for the young kids of Generation Y. His latest book Walk Like a Buddha offers advice for those suffering a hangover, gritting their teeth through a workday or navigating bad dates to good people. (Rebroadcast)

Third hour: Krista Tippett joins Kerri Miller to talk about "the adventure of civility." That was the title of speech Tippett gave at Stanford last fall. She urged her audience of teachers and civic leaders to be the catalysts for productive, hospitable and tolerant conversation.

 (12-1 pm) - Garrison Keillor's talk from the Public Radio Program Directors Conference.

 (1-2 p.m.) - How does the Northeast storm stack up with others in history?

 (3-6:30 p.m.) - The state’s rainy-day fund could get a significant boost this year, as long as Minnesota’s next economic forecast still shows the budget running a surplus when it's released at the end of the month. DFL leaders in the Senate have said increasing the budget reserve is a high priority for them in 2014. A bill to accomplish that has also been introduced in the House. MPR's Tim Pugmire will have the story.

Artist Jim Hodges makes extraordinary things from everyday items. Old denim becomes an epic skyscape, light sockets and bulbs become sculpture, and ancient boulders become modern art. This weekend the Walker Art Center opens “Give More than You Take,” a show featuring a quarter century of Hodge’s work. MPR's Euan Kerr talks with him.

Last month's chemical spill into a West Virginia river sent hundreds of thousands of residents scrambling for bottled water. Since then, the national headlines have faded. But peoples fear of the local drinking water has not.

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

Upon further review, the NFL may be more enlightened than the media portrays. Is racially offensive material more acceptable if it’s art? Behind the caucus night fights in Minneapolis. The viral cop photo in Saint Paul. And how to see the ice caves of Lake Superior.

Maybe the NFL is ready for a gay player (5×8 – 2/13/14)

Go Deeper.

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