“You are bang out of order, this cause is far bigger than you,” is what former USMNT goalkeeper Tim Howard told his ex-teammate at Everton who refused to join their Pride campaign. Being very outspoken, if people disagreed with his set of beliefs, Howard says, he would have confronted them. Well, not anymore. Howard believes people with different stances can play in the same team, and what takes the most precedence is the team. And it’s all credit to Kansas City superstars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. The way the KC duo amicably dealt with Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker’s controversy brought a new viewpoint in him. This comes in light of USWNT midfielder Korbin Albert’s anti-LGBTQ comments.

Though Mahomes and Kelce disagreed with Butker’s misogynistic views, that did not affect the trio’s chemistry as teammates and they moved on. This episode from Kansas City has inspired Tim Howard to ‘understand where other people are coming from,’ and hence overlook the USWNT star’s stance.

Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce’s arguments changed Tim Howard’s views

Harrison Butker, as we all know, took heat for saying women should fundamentally be homemakers. He spoke against the Pride month too. Tim Howard says he would have confronted Butker if they were on the same team. “I thought Butker was out of line and if he was in my locker room, I’d have told him that,” Howard wrote in his Daily Mail column. “If I have a stance and it’s the right one and you don’t come around to it, I’ll be disappointed. But Mahomes and Kelce really opened my eyes.”

Howard recalled Mahomes and Kelce’s eye-opening arguments. “They are leaders on that team and they argued that we live in a world where not everyone’s going to agree. But we support each other as a family and we try to understand where other people are coming from – even if we don’t see eye-to-eye. That is much more accepting than I would have been,” Tim Howard added. Continuing, the veteran goalie said he can comfortably overlook USWNT’s Korbin Albert’s fiasco now. “So if I was on the USWNT and Albert was in my locker room, I would not be so hardline,” he added.

Interestingly, there is a similarity between the way the Chiefs dealt with their players’ controversial and regressive stances. Just like Mahomes and Kelce looked past Butker’s fiasco, coach Emma Hayes made peace with Albert.

Emma Hayes’ defense of USWNT’s Korbin Albert resembles Mahomes’ stance on Butker

After including Korbin Albert on the USWNT Olympic team, Emma Hayes said the former hit that milestone with ‘merit’ and is vital to the US midfield. Then, the US coach added Albert had struggled after receiving backlash. “She’s(Albert) a young person having to deal with a lot of criticism — rightfully so. She can hear the noise in the stadium and that’s affected her,” said Hayes. The USWNT coach also said it was time to move on and added she told Albert it is important to respect beliefs and ideals championed by her teammates.

Now back to the Butker debacle in the Chiefs camp. “There’s certain things that he said that I don’t necessarily agree with, but I understand the person that he is, and he is trying to do whatever he can to lead people in the right direction,” said Patrick Mahomes, referring to Harrison Butker.

It is indeed commendable to see athletes and coaches overlook and understand differences of opinion and strive together, as a team, be it the Chiefs or the USWNT. What are your thoughts on this? Tell us in the comments.