Last night, things in professional football changed for the rest of time. Michael Sam, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, let the world know that he is gay and will play his whole career being likely the first openly gay active athlete in the four major professional sports. This is a major step forward for sports as well as society... hopefully. Sam did the right thing by letting the world know about his sexuality before the combine and having the strength to do it before the process along with controlling the situation without having a general manager leaking it out to the media. When he is being asked at the Senior Bowl whether he has a girlfriend and his interaction with women, it makes sense for Sam to go guns ablaze and let teams know what's going on therefore nothing gets caught in the crosshairs. This takes a great set of balls and courage from Sam.
Many people will come out on sports radio, in print, online and everywhere else asking the question 'Why this is important?' 'Why make a big deal about it?' Well for one, any time there is a 'first' no matter what it is, people should pay attention to it. While other athletes have come out, football is a different beast. Second, there is a manliness about football where it is about getting girls, having a locker room culture where people deem it acceptable to use the word 'faggot' or use 'gay' in a derogatory manner. The football culture is one that is truly and deeply flawed. It bothers people to see or hear that, but there are too many problems around programs/franchises/fanbases. What's weird is the culture is not created for the most part by the players, rather the people whom want to be like the players perceiving that's how they act. Although the likes of Johnathan Vilma, Richie Incognito and Johnathan Martin would tell you players still are not 100 percent in the clear when it comes to having a clear mind and acting like a professional.
The more people that take no issue with this, the better, but there will be a great deal of people whom will despise everything about this from what Sam said to who he is as a person which is damn sad and disappointing. As a whole, this country is fracture for a variety of non-sports reasons meaning there will be people opposed to the idea of cheering for an openly gay NFL athlete, or that will think it is humorous when Sam tackles somebody and 'Oh he must like it being around other men.' This will occur with people, but as always, we assume the worst in people and recognize the NFL might have the lowest IQ when it comes to their fanbase. Of course, Roger Goodell and other executives hope the fans will be tolerable, but in the back of the head, he has to know it might not be the smoothest ride.
One of the bigger reasons why this is a big deal is those who have come or who people believe to be gay have seen issues finding work in their profession. Jason Collins does not have a job after telling Sports Illustrated he was gay. Granted, Collins did not have a great season last season yet no one sought his services out when needing a big man. Kerry Rhodes, an NFL safety that never came out, but pictures around the Internet painted him as a gay man whether he is or is not, no NFL wanted to take that risk and remained unemployed for the entire season. Sam will be on team, he is too good not be on a team and hopefully his sexuality will not have any part of it.
Most of the draft publications see Sam as a player going in the first three rounds. He led the mighty SEC in sacks last season with eleven and a half, and the only real knock on him is whether he can be a 3-4 linebacker or destined to be a 4-3 defensive end. As much as it is disappointing, Sam knows he might have cost himself some money on Sunday night by admitting he is gay even if the public relations team around him says he wants to be just a football player. There will be general managers that pass on Sam when they could use him because they do not want the attention or simply, they do not feel comfortable having the first gay NFL player on their roster. Ignorance like that will exist for awhile, and odds are someone makes a mistake by missing out Sam. This is one of four situations could happen with Sam when we get to the NFL Draft.
There will be others who worry about how their fans will react to having the first active gay NFL player which is also a wrong way to think about things. More need the Ted Thompson middle finger attitude where he does not care about what the fans think rather what makes the team better. All of that being said, there are definitely teams where having a player being gay would be an issue at the surface given their attitude towards gay rights. Thinking from the glass half-full, this could be the thing that might make those places in the Bible Belt as well as Texas, Indiana, Ohio and other areas that could open the general public's eyes about gay rights. Football is something that can be a unifier of sorts, and let's hope if Sam ends up on team such as ones with not a tolerable fanbase, they will keep an open mind.
One of my biggest worry for Sam is a team might draft him earlier than where he is projected because they want to exploit him for their greater benefit. While on the opposite end of the spectrum, Denver Broncos did this with Tim Tebow by drafting him in the late first round. Denver became the story of the first night of the NFL Draft rather than whatever happened in the first ten picks of the draft. While this is highly unlikely to happen with Sam, there could be a team out there thinking they need positive headlines and want the world to perceive them as an open culture. Now if Sam makes an impact at the NFL Combine where he deserves to be a first-round draft pick no matter what, then this paragraph becomes irrelevant but let's hope a team avoids this route.
Some people believe Sam will not get drafted because he is gay. CBS Sports dropped Sam from being ranked number 90 to number 160 which likely is due in lieu of talking to executives last night. While it is hard for me to believe 32 teams will pass 250+ times on the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, there is still a chance this might happen with Sam. If it does, some media will paint the picture 'This is a huge stepback for gay athletes', but if Sam ends up being a great undrafted rookie as many have before, it becomes nonsense. Now if Sam does not get immediately picked up after being undrafted, it might be time to reevaluate the people running the front offices in the National Football League. All of this is highly unlikely, but at the same time, you can never underestimate the idiocracy of people.
When Jason Collins talked about his sexuality, we did a podcast a couple days later talking about homosexuality in the National Football League. We discussed many different angles in the podcast, but none of them revolved around 'What if a highly-touted draft pick said he was gay before the combine or getting drafted?' Now, Sam will deal with more attention than we probably expected when he began the Senior Bowl, but from what I have heard and read from Sam, it seems like he is more than ready for it. There is something to be said for a man who is never scared.
Charlie.
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