Courtesy: CNN.com
When I first heard the news of Michael Sam coming out as an openly gay man, my first thoughts were probably like some of yours.
I made a Facebook status soon after… here it is verbatim: “Good for Michael Sam, but the media frenzy is about to ensue. I hope he is ready to be bombarded just like Manti Te’o was last year…”
And my opinion will not change in any way.
Sam is brave for doing what he did, but even he realizes that he’s not only opened Pandora’s box in terms of the mass media coverage of his monumental announcement, he’s damn near shattered it completely.
Not for awhile will there be a scene that will likely ensue during the 2014 NFL Combine.
His Pro Day?
Probably not as dramatic or crowded with media personnel throwing microphones in his face asking him not about his ability to get after the quarterback or how he feels he fits in on professional defenses.
He will be asked questions about his lifestyle as a gay man. The atmosphere in the locker room. What his peers, friends and family think about the decision. How he fits in to the “macho” lifestyle of the NFL.
If he is asked a football question, there may be a drinking game that needs to come of this situation. Either you may get more drunk than you anticipated, or you’ll be left with a 30-pack that is yet to be cracked because the press conference isn’t what you had hoped.
The creator of The Sports Column Brett Dickinson took a closer look into this situation and found three viable destinations in the league where Sam could fit in and coexist with the players and respective city in this piece. I took a different stance and wanted to focus on whether or not Sam’s choice to come out before he could really help or hurt his draft stock through his workouts was a wise move or not in this piece.
Then, I read a story on Myron Rolle… and it got me thinking.
You may be wondering why I bring up a guy like Myron Rolle.
Yes, that guy. The smart “nerd” who made an unpopular move to forego his senior football season and not only not declare for the NFL Draft following his junior campaign, but decided to take on the challenge of a Rhodes Scholarship while studying at the University of Oxford.
If you haven’t read the piece up at SB Nation, go immediately HERE… it’s a dandy.
The trials and tribulations Rolle felt are very similar to what Sam will likely endure. Like Rolle, Sam will not be judged upon arrival based on his performances on tape, his workouts or his ability to exist as a cohesive unit with the guys in the locker room.
Both guys were different from the rest and not by choice. It’s who they are.
Courtesy: Pro Football Talk – NBC Sports
Sam’s motivation to come out was not some ploy to try and grab attention, or if teams wouldn’t draft him to file a discrimination suit against the NFL. I have never personally met Sam, but I can imagine it was an extremely difficult thing for him to do and the same goes for Rolle. He happened to have a passion for the game of football and academics and when he took the Rhodes scholarship, it’s all everyone wanted to talk about. Rolle didn’t do it for the attention either.
Sam and Rolle are trying to become was so many fear doing in society today: not try to be like everyone else and lead by example.
Far too often in sports, if you aren’t a talker, you’re viewed as weak. If you don’t play the popular position, you aren’t viewed as important. In these two guys’ cases, they aren’t like everyone else in the way they live their everyday lives and it rubs a lot of people the wrong way.
Especially Sam.
There are going to be a lot more people that you and I won’t hear about who don’t like the idea of Michael Sam playing in the NFL. A lot of people will share the sentiment of recently-released linebacker Jonathan Vilma.
He has since modified what he originally said and gave the world a clarification as to what he meant in his comments, but he is what he originally said to Andrea Kramer of the NFL Network:
“I think that he would not be accepted as much as we think he would be accepted,” Vilma said. “I don’t want people to just naturally assume, like, ‘Oh, we’re all homophobic.’ That’s really not the case. Imagine if he’s the guy next to me and, you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me.
“How am I supposed to respond?”
That is going to happen… and it’s not just exclusive to Jonathan Vilma either.
There are the polar opposites like Chris Kluwe and Brendon Ayanbadejo — both of which aren’t currently playing football — who are in support of gay marriage and extremely outspoken about the issue versus guys like Chris Culliver, who made homophobic remarks during last year’s Super Bowl media coverage, and retired offensive lineman Matt Birk whose views are more conservative in nature.
Then, there are guys who are in between. There are some who don’t care and just go about there business even with a gay man in the locker room.
But there will also be guys who are jealous of all the attention Sam is pulling away from them in the locker room and ask themselves why he is entitled to such coverage.
It’s going to be a mixed bag wherever he goes, but similar effects may happen with Michael Sam as they did with Myron Rolle.
Football won’t matter anymore. The game will be treated more like a job and a chore than a passion. The game may or may not become fun.
Both Sam and Rolle are men of tremendous character, but one human being can only endure so much.
The NFL is taking this situation and running with it, but it remains to be seen what is going on behind closed doors in locker rooms about players who have expressed their opinions about this situation in private.
Coaches and executives want to get to know the player for who he is and how he treats others. But this is a players league and the team is only as strong as the players’ bond on the field of battle.
