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

[JC]

The story says everyone in the NFL is against this?

 

[Point of Order]

The story says everyone in the NFL is against this?

More precisely, the SI stuff seems to have an editorial bent in that direction.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I hate anonymous quotes, but without them, every quote on this subject will make it sound like everybody is standing and applauding Sam and this declaration won't impact him at all.

Surely you see how messed up that is, right?

Of course... Would you rather have canned quotes about how proud they are of Sam and how inspiring he is to everyone and then sit there on Draft weekend and wonder why he's falling to the seventh round.

That's a fair question. I would rather have a story with genuine quotes about how proud people are of Sam and how inspiring he is to everyone juxtaposed with a line that said:

Several NFL employees made disparaging remarks about Sam's decision to come out, though none of them would agree to attach their names to such remarks.

Editorially, that would be a more honest telling, in my opinion, than having a whole story that basically says everyone in the NFL is against this without naming anyone's name who is against it.

They did not make disparaging remarks about his decision to come out.

 

[Dick Whitman]

They did not make disparaging remarks about his decision to come out.

The one quote, for all intents and purposes, read like this: "The NFL is not ready for this because we still think calling each other faggots is funny."

That may have been what he meant. But what they were doing was observing the locker room culture, and evaluating whether the culture was ready for an openly gay player. That's quite different from "disparaging" his decision.

 

[Point of Order]

If they weren't disparaging why did they need anonymity?

 

[Boom_70]

Terrell Thomas - "The NFL might not be ready for a gay player"
Makes some fair points. Give him credit for putting his name
on it.

http://nypost.com/2014/02/12/giants-thomas-nfl-might-not-be-set-to-accept-sam/

 

[Van Lingle Mungo]

Everybody jumped on the quote from MMQB where the GM said he didn't think Sam would be drafted, but the first and second quotes, both from GMs in that story... are as such...

"Should I really care," One GM said. "Is it going to be a big deal. Aren't we beyond this?"

"It's not really a shocking thing to me and it won't be to our organization," Another GM said. "You'll have old school guys on your team saying, 'Are you kidding, putting this guy on our team?' and you'll have others saying, "Who cares? I knew two gay guys who came out in college."

You haven't really seen those two quotes repeated everywhere and they were the first two quotes in the MMQB column.

I hate anonymous quotes, but without them, every quote on this subject will make it sound like everybody is standing and applauding Sam and this declaration won't impact him at all.

Why was the "Aren't we beyond this?" anonymous? You'd think that sentiment would easily be one he could get somebody to stand behind with his name.

 

[Dick Whitman]

If they weren't disparaging why did they need anonymity?

I don't know you'd have to ask them. I can only go by the content of the statements. They didn't disparage his decision.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Anybody who says anything that can be twisted into something other than, "Welcome to the NFL, Michael Sam, you are an inspiration, I hope you're drafted ahead of Bridgewater and Manziel and I also hope my kids grow up to be gay." is at risk to be ripped for giving their honest opinion.

Vilma said he's not comfortable showering with a gay player... OK, I think he's ignorant, but at least he gave an honest answer and said so on the record. Now he's a villain.

Even the GM saying, "Aren't we beyond this?" is at risk, because what if his team passes on Sam seven times in the draft. Is he now a liar?

 

[Mizzougrad96]

My point is the smartest people are the ones saying nothing.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

I think that's probably true everywhere; message boards included.

 

[Point of Order]

So what's your point? Accountability for one's statements is the purpose of disfavoring anonymity. Online comment threads, hello? People are smart enough to evaluate "anybody who says anything" and come to their own conclusions about that person.