The NCAA made the decision after some of its members – including faculty and athletic directors – expressed concern that the evangelical group's stance against gay and lesbian relationships conflicted with the NCAA's policy of inclusion regardless of sexual orientation, Williams said.

The ad in question was not about sexuality. It featured a father holding his son and the words, "All I want for my son is for him to grow up knowing how to do the right thing." Like the Tebow ad, it included the address of Focus on the Family's Web site and the slogan, "Celebrate Family. Celebrate Life."
...
Williams said the decision to pull the ad was based not on the message but on the messenger.

CBS Sports maintains the NCAA website (why I have no idea), and placed the FotF ad in the rotation for the NCAA website.

The NCAA Web site is maintained by CBS Sports, and the ad was part of Focus on the Family's Super Bowl contract with CBS, Schneeberger said. CBS sells ads to support the NCAA.com site – which features information about NCAA championships – and the NCAA reviews the ads, Williams said.

and the NCAA reviews the ads, Williams said.

Most things the NCAA does are seedy. They are in the business of making money, and they do it on the backs of student athletes who are subjected to draconian rules about their opportunities to make money. They're the college athletics version of the IOC.

It's a perfect racket...sell a product and be required by law not to pay your workers (student athletes).

It's a perfect racket...sell a product and be required by law not to pay your workers (student athletes).

I figure a scholarship could be considered payment enough...

I don't think it's law that prevents student athletes from being paid. Those are the NCAA's own regulations.

That statement alone should make this a non-story.
If the NCAA originally failed in their due diligence, don't raise a stink about it after the fact.

Pat Griffin, a retired University of Massachusetts Amherst professor who is a consultant to the NCAA on gay and lesbian issues, said it's not a generic feel-good message. She said the slogan's "life" reference is anti-abortion , and celebrating families does not extend to all families but "a very specific kind of family – heterosexual married families.

Well, it's probably a small committee at best reviewing the ads, and some faculty expressed concerns. It's not like the people that raised a fuss were the ones reviewing it in the first place.

I don't agree with your assessment.

The NCAA has a policy of acceptance when it comes to homosexuality, including homosexual relationships.

FotF is on record as strongly against homosexuality, and homosexual relationships.

The two bodies have opposing positions. The NCAA chose not to accept advertising from an organization that advocates an opposing viewpoint.

As they said, it was about the messenger, not the message.

Um... I call Bullshit? Your kidding right? That in no way discriminates against gays in ANY WAY. The thing is with messages that are not spoken, is a person can interpret them in any way he wants, and the mood of the person has a huge influence on that. The guy who reported this ad was most likely having a bad day, misinterpreted the message and went to report what he thought was right.. I mean come on just cuz it says "I want my son growing up knowing he did the right thing" ? IT COULD BE ANYTHING if it was directed towards gays I think they would have made that more clear, because to me, that looks like "I want my son growing up, doing the right thing, so he can be a good person in life and not some asshole on the street" Every father wants whats best for his son, you dads out there cant disagree with that...

And if the reason is they took it down not what the message said but because of the messenger? Isnt that invoking on their right to free speech? I believe so, If I post something on here that you guys dont like but it was my opinion or view on something your not going to scream bloody murder over it and demand it be erased because it was completely absurd on every level and i was directly trying to discriminate against someone or something...


All Im saying is there are making something out of nothing and this whole thing is total bull shit.

The issue isn't with the ad itself, it's with the values of the organization.