So I was at my gym on Sunday before the game. My gym is on the sothside of Chicago, predominately black. I really like this gym and have been a member there for 10 years. For the most part, I think the guys are very friendly and welcoming. So one in a while you catch someone speaking loudly about "fags". It's usually always guys in their mid 40's and older. On Sunday, guys were watching the television sets that are hung around the locker room and I think there may have been some brief commentary about Culliver and his anti-gay comments. Following this, this one dude just goes off on a rant about how this type of coverage is rediculous with all the murders in Chicago and there is no way that this is a civil rights issue, etc. The guy is raving really loudly and there are a few murmers of agreement from some of the other guys (again, age 40 and older). I really wasn't particularly bothered by this because it's cultural in this community. What did bother me was that this very articulate mature black guy attempted to engage him in a very rational manner and spoke of tollerance and empathy, etc. The guy that was ranting refused to engage him and essentially called him an idiot, and no one took the rational guy's side. What bothered me, more or less after the fact, is that I said nothing. Had I been in an all white gym, I definitely would have joined the conversation. However, in this particular gym, I'm practically the only white guy and when these guys get fired up, it feels like a powder keg and they nearly always connect their issue to race. The misinformation passed between these older men is really an eye opener in a city of this size. I guess my question is, what would other guys have done in this situation. Keep in mind, I don't think I'd had been physically attacked or anything of that nature but my immediate thought was that I'd had been viewed as some arrogant meddlesome white guy.