Since not everything Esera told me during our conversation could make it to print, here are some other highlights: **On John Amaechi, former NBA player who came out in 2007**: > “He’s a really good guy. We’ve talked about our experiences together as far as what we went through in the NFL [and NBA]. There were some similarities, but then there’s a lot that’s not (the same).” “He was stuck in the closet like myself. Any like a lot of athletes that are in the closet in the NFL or wherever, some of them have reached out and some of them haven’t. It’s one of those things where it’s a secrecy thing.” **On who he roots for today in the NFL**: > “I cheer for the Pack and I cheer for the Vikings. (What about when they play each other?) Then I’ll go take a vacation. I don’t answer my phone.” **On his visit to the UW campus**: > “I have been contacted by athletes at the University of Wisconsin, a wide range of them. There’s maybe over 10 of them that have contacted me, wanting me to contact the athletic department to see if they could make this thing mandatory for to come to because they don’t want to put themselves out there and out themselves. … I did contact the athletic department. They told me this thing that I guess all athletes have to go through twice a year where they have to go to some type diversity lecture, they’re including this one as one of those.” **On raising his twin 7-year-olds**: > “Going to schools and talking with the principals and teachers and making sure it’s a safe place for my kids, and all the parents knowing my kids have two daddies. To tell you the truth, there is not a single problem with any of them. Children are the products of your parents. You teach them to respect people and to honor people, that’s the way they’ll be raised. Now these parents, what they see in the world today with the war going on and all the hatred, I don’t think a lot of them want to raise their kids in hate.” **In general on gay athletes in sports**: > “To ruin somebody’s career in the NFL, start a rumor about them that they’re gay or out them, that is probably the worst thing you could ever do to a player. You have guys in the NFL that beat their wives, that do drugs, that shoot people. And yet it’s almost like they’re accepted back, and they’re accepted in society because there’s that bad boy mentality. … Look at Piazza, who spent a whole summer telling people and doing press conferences that tried to tell people and defend himself that he wasn’t gay. It’s crazy.”