The National Collegiate Athletic Association removed a Focus on the Family banner ad from one of its Web sites this week, NCAA spokesman Bob Williams said Wednesday.

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.”

Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger said that if such material were “all of a sudden labeled hate speech, we have deeper problems in our country than we even know.”

Williams said the decision to pull the ad was based not on the message but on the messenger.

Advertisers “should be generally supportive of NCAA values and attributes and/or not be in conflict with the NCAA’s mission and fundamental principles,” according to NCAA standards. The NCAA may exclude ads or advertisers “that do not appear to be in the best interests of higher education and student athletes.”

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.

He said the ad was reviewed and the content did not raise any red flags. Williams said he was sure there was some discussion of Focus on the Family, as well, but he did not know the details.

Schneeberger said there is nothing political, controversial or hateful about the ad, saying it’s meant to urge people enduring life challenges to check out Focus on the Family as a resource.

But 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. A large part of their energy goes to preventing other kinds of families of having recognition.”

Griffin said it’s one thing for CBS to accept such an ad, but it’s different for the NCAA.

“It’s not the right image or role for the NCAA to be endorsing an organization that has such an extreme right-wing Christian political mission,” said Griffin, who used her blog to protest the ad.

Schneeberger said Focus on the Family spends 90 percent of its budget on providing parenting and marriage resources and 10 percent on advocacy on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.

The Tebow Super Bowl ad – featuring the football player and his mother – attracted protests even before it aired from women’s groups that suspected it would feature an explicit anti-abortion message.

The ad featured Tebow’s mother talking about how she nearly lost her son during pregnancy and ended with Tebow tackling his mother and the pair joking they have to be “tough” to endure their trials.

Last night I went out for a celebratory drink (to commentator wayne m: I understand that act is the cause for the world’s homophobia). My beloved UNC Tar Heels are headed to the Final Four. If you are a college basketball fan (no one here is because a certain GQ writer says so) you know Duke University is UNC’s hated rival and whenever Duke has a sub par year, the heart of Tar Heel nation beats a little bluer.

Which is why I was intrigued by a March 19 New Republic article. The writer Seyward Darby, a proud, yet calm Duke crazy, looked at a strain of homophobia that seems to be part of  Duke U. hatred. Wiki-pages for players filled with misinformation about sexuality, an opponent telling the press the way three-point shooter J.J. Redick shot the ball was a sign of his supposed man-love, and missives on multiple message boards that sound like they were penned in the basement of the Westboro Baptist Church.

I think Darby stretches the envelope a little bit. Sports fans, and right now I’m talking about the straight ones, always add the gay tag to a player or team they dislike. I’m sure many a folk in Red Sox Nation have, after down-grading the skills of Derek Jeter, also added he sleeps with men. Homophobia is part of sports culture, from fans to players,  and it’s one of the reasons I tend to enjoy my sports from a distance.

What an athlethe does off the court really shouldn’t matter, but it’s hard to imagine a Division 1 major sports player being out. The crowds would be brutal, the opposing team just as so, and  religious teammates would more than likely revolt. And the media?! Lord help the kid because there is nothing more conservative, or annoying, than a sports writer.  And let’s look in the mirror: we would be just as troublesome, wanting the athlete to carry the water for the movement as opposed to kicking butt on the field.

I’m not willing to speak for all of Tar Heel Nation, but as long as you pull 10 rebounds and 12 points a game, your mate for the night matters not. Just take me to the Big Dance so I can mock all my Duke friends.

PS: Did anyone see the Iowa State Cyclones’ comeback on Saturday night? It’s March madness baby!!!