In case you missed it, my old friend Chuck Culpepper wrote a great column yesterday for the Sports on Earth site.

Culpepper writes, “I am that exotic creature, a gay male sportswriter.”

Later, he writes: “I am believed to be the only gay male extant who can recite the final scores of all 47 Super Bowls, and if we’re together and you’re unlucky, I might start it up.”

Culpepper wrote about being in the Baltimore locker room Sunday and whether he should thank Baltimore Ravens lineback Brendan Ayanbadejo, who defended gays in the wake of comments by San Francisco cornerback Chris Culliver.

Finally, Culpepper did:

As we walked out together, he told of hearing Tom Coughlin speak at the previous Super Bowl about love, a remarkable turn of American life I had missed while abroad. He told of applying Coughlin’s concept to a note he placed in head coach John Harbaugh’s suggestion box. And as he said this, we turned left from the locker room out into the cold tunnel, where it seemed just about time to part, and where I surprised myself.

“You don’t know me,” I said, and he grinned at that, “but you have done a lot for me,” and his eyes told me he knew what I meant. “And I just want to tell you that I am so grateful. You are a good man.”

 Whew. There. I had spit it out. With reasonable concision, even. As we let go of our handshake, he said simply and unemotionally, “It’s the right thing to do, plain and simple,” whereupon I mustered a closing, “Thank you.”

Do yourself a favor and read the entire article. Culpepper is one of the best anywhere. And forget about the gay aspect, I bet he is the only sportswriter who could recite the scores for all 47 Super Bowls.