Michael Sam Says He Is Gay; May Become First Publicly Gay Player in N.F.L.

Did wonders for Mike Mamula

 

I agree with every word of this. The running joke about quoting anonymous NFL execs always has been, "I called 10 and asked the same question until one agreed with the point I was trying to make for my story.." That's not to say that's always the case, but a lot of times it seems to be.

But none are going to go on the record about this saying anything other than "Congratulations, what a brave man..."

Just wait until the combine... Some NFL coach or exec will be asked about this and will say something they shouldn't and will have to apologize if nothing else... I'm sure a few players will do the same, especially since almost every one of them will be asked about it.

 

I don't think people are listing SF as a possible destination for Sam because it's a gay-friendly community and they want to make the fans happy. They're suggesting it as a destination because, like Baltimore, New England, Pittsburgh, Green Bay and a few other places, they have the coaching staff and executives in place who are less likely to be deterred by this.

Never mind that the most openly homophobic player in the NFL is on the Niners roster.

 

Harbaugh runs a pretty tight ship. He would shut that down, especially during the season.

Also geography would help him. With the move of the stadium, the 49ers will spend 100 percent of their time in Santa Clara County, an hour south of San Francisco. (Team HQ has been there for decades.) It is a very welcome area for a gay person but not a particularly activist one.

In this hypothetical, I would imagine him to be part of a Gay Pride parade earlier in his career, and to take part in some other stuff during the off-season as any player might with the community involvement of his choosing, but that it wouldn't be part of his routine from July until January.

 

Another thing to keep in mind about Sam's public-service obligations is, how long will he be the only known gay player? I for one believe the talk to be legitimate that four NFL players were ready to come out last year until the Collins story hit. And it might not be much longer before we see a handful, then a dozen, then a large enough number that it isn't too noteworthy anymore.

So there's a good chance that Sam in three years is nothing more than a decent backup (or starter) whose personal life isn't all that remarkable.

 

If he goes undrafted he will still be going to a team as an undrafted free agent.

He will be going to an NFL camp this year.

 

Couldn't transfer the link (sorry) but Bryan Burwell is getting roasted by on-line readers of the Post Dispatch.

 

This is going to be YF's favoritest column of all! "I knew but I couldn't say anything"

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/columns/bryan-burwell/burwell-sam-s-secret-was-not-a-secret-at-all/article_e95c2df0-173c-5394-bb97-2e449b5b229e.html

Burwell: Sam's 'secret' was not a secret at all

 

But does he even want to do that? I got the impression he doesn't want to do anything other than live his life and play football now that he's out.

 

I'd say it's less of a deal to Sam and the locker room than the media. Which to me tells me where all the interest is in this is driven.
I've got next door gay neighbors. Discussing this the other day they both are of the opinion, and say most of their gay friends say the same thing, that they just all want to live their lives.They aren't comfortable with the media's in your face approach to this that tends to make it a spectacle.

 

I think you're right.

I also think that because of the publicist who arranged this story and the place Sam now holds, he will have to accept a certain amount of publicity. Maybe one appearance at the pride parade of the town where he is drafted -- which shouldn't be a big deal since, according to the stories, he went to the pride parade in St. Louis last year -- and then that's it.

 

The self-fulfilling prophecy is the worst part of this; the narrative becomes "he's a gay player" so the media swarms it; which leads the teams to cower in fear because of the narrative;

Society needs to say "screw you, we won't tolerate this, judge the man for his talents alone."

The man was the SEC Def POY where LSU, Fla, Bama and Auburn play; go ahead and say he loaded up stats on patsies; are the voters in the big bad SEC that stupid? Someone points to David Pollack and ignores the 95% of the other POYs? Come on, be smarter than that. We can all point to outliers/anomolies. Unitas was a free agent, cut twice before he became, at least at the time he retired, the GOAT.

All we need Sam to be given is a chance, doesn't matter if he goes in the 1st rd or the 5th (well it does in terms of how BIG a shot he gets of course); just let us see whether he can play. Missou is a legitimate top 10 program, not some second tier school where Sam put up huge numbers and won the Thorpe/Biletnikoff award. He's a player.