Missouri DL Michael Sam likely to become first gay US major pro athlete

BvBPL said:
Sam's apparent skill enables him to push the edge of professional sports' acceptance of homosexuals. If he was not a top draft pick and was instead a "maybe" or even a "probably" then his coming out could mean he had no draft prospect at all. What if, like Tebow, his professional skill is not a the level that people expect of him at this time? It seems to me that could result in a potential backlash against gay athletes.
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That's a real risk. Sam is very much more in the "probable" camp than the sure thing camp. He isn't a first round draft pick given concerns about his size and flexibility, but he does project to be at least a good (or rotational) NFL player. The potential for a wash out is still there. 3rd round talents flame out every year.
 
Kyriakos said:
It was a good choice for him to announce this, cause when they move him further down the bench line he can always claim it was due to the dreaded phobias infesting 'Merica.
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I had no idea you had such good knowledge of American professional sports and homosexuality. What is your opinion of NOTED 12th man Jason Collins after he revealed he was gay while being in the NBA as a bench warmer for 5+ years?
 
downtown said:
That's a real risk. Sam is very much more in the "probable" camp than the sure thing camp. He isn't a first round draft pick given concerns about his size and flexibility, but he does project to be at least a good (or rotational) NFL player. The potential for a wash out is still there. 3rd round talents flame out every year.
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Yeah. If I were Sam, I would have wanted until I earned my stripes in the pros before coming out. My fantasy of it would Sam coming out after winning a game against the 49ers and being MVP of the game (although how a defensive lineman gets to be MVP I don't know) and then coming out in the post-game press conference and throwing it in Chris Culliver's face.

But, hey, I'm not Sam.

I do want to point out that Sam, if picked up, would not be the first active major US pro athlete to be out of the closet. Billie Jean King came out in '81 although I don't think she played any Opens after coming out. Martina Navratilova came out later in '81 and that continued to be a pro player after coming out.

Once I realized this, I became perturbed that very few commentators mentioned King or Navratilova. Obviously men's pro football is significantly different from women's pro tennis in all sorts of different ways, but Sam will walk in King's shadow when he reaches the pros.
 
I like how literally Sam is following Billie Jean King's advice to the dot and you seem to have not clicked the link, watched the NY times brief video, nor read any of the reasons of why he is coming out to the public at this time.
Mr. Sam, 24, is projected to be chosen in the early rounds of the N.F.L. draft in May, ordinarily a path to a prosperous pro career. He said he decided to come out publicly now because he sensed that rumors were circulating.

“I just want to make sure I could tell my story the way I want to tell it,” said Mr. Sam, who also spoke with ESPN on Sunday. “I just want to own my truth.”
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Billie Jean King:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Jean_King#Personal_life

Besides loss of endorsements and personal lawsuits resulting because of being "outed", she spoke numerous times about wishing to have been able to come out earlier and on her own terms [though this is a bit of a false equivalence to this case, since Michael seems to have been comfortable coming out in his private life with no problem as compared to King].

But presumably, for such things as endorsements and being able to manage any story before things get out of hand, Michael Sam is literally taking the lessons learned from former homosexual or bisexual athletes and getting everything out of the way ahead of time. To suggest he should do something else is pretty silly.
 
Wrymouth3 said:
I had no idea you had such good knowledge of American professional sports and homosexuality. What is your opinion of NOTED 12th man Jason Collins after he revealed he was gay while being in the NBA as a bench warmer for 5+ years?
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Hey bro, one just needs to read enough of the consistently knee-jerk articles on US sites, and posts here, to form a decent opinion of what is going on there :thumbsup:
 
Kennigit said:
I like how literally Sam is following Billie Jean King's advice to the dot and you seem to have not clicked the link, watched the NY times brief video, nor read any of the reasons of why he is coming out to the public at this time.
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Obviously King is on the mind of Sam and others. I just think it would be have been nice if the sports reporters had mentioned her by name. Maybe they did in the video, I don't know, I only read the NYT article. Still, I haven't heard her name much from other sports journalists.
 
DinoDoc said:
He's a mid level prospect: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/prospectrankings/2014/DE

4th round draft pick at best if a team wants to take the related media circus that will follow him after this. I wouldn't expect a world shaking NFL stint from him, dt.
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I never said I expected one. I said I didn't think he would be a bust. Lots of 3rd and 4th rounders are productive NFL players (look at Seattle!). In fact, given the NFL Salary Cap rules, you pretty much *have* to nail some of those picks to build a playoff caliber roster.

I think he projects to be a useful situational player, as an end rusher. He's fast, and he's demonstrated that he can pressure the QB in the most challenging environment in college football. Maybe his size issues means he can't be a regular DE, or they try to move him to OLB and that transition takes a long time, but his pedigree and his single, established, universality desirable skill means that somebody is going to want him, and if he can do just that one thing and stay healthy, he's going to get NFL paychecks.

For what it's worth, CBS moved him 20 spots down the list OVERNIGHT after he announced he was gay. They're stupid, willing participants in the NFL GM world of manipulating draft stock publicly so management can get a deal on picks.
 
downtown said:
For what it's worth, CBS moved him 20 spots down the list OVERNIGHT after he announced he was gay. They're stupid, willing participants in the NFL GM world of manipulating draft stock publicly so management can get a deal on picks.
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Well, as it stands now, his value did go down substantially as a result. Some teams will likely think twice before drafting Sam, and others will be worried that they will get less for him if they decide they need to trade him later.
 
I still think that it will be easier for him this year, compared to any other year. From what I read (downtown, you can probably give more examples) if anything, hazing had been going up at NFL camps. After the Martin issue last year, my guess is whoever drafts him will have a meeting with the team captains/leaders and lay down the law that no one gives this guy problems. Still going to be tough for him, but could be much worse.
 
A former Nebraska player says he was openly gay, and no one cared (in 2003!).

On the Gaskins and Stephens show (Part 1, Part 2), Lueshen, a Husker from 2003 to 2006, said that when teammates Sean Hill and Corey McKeon asked in 2003 if he was gay, he replied “Yes, is that a problem?”

“They were like, ‘Oh no, that’s really cool. We all thought that you were, and we just wanted to know.’ ”

The Pierce, Neb., native said coaches were also aware that he was gay, and that the Nebraska walk-on and World-Herald All-Class selection in C-1 once took a boyfriend to the student-athlete formal.

And while he said that some assistants made him feel uncomfortable, “numerous coaches were very, very kind, and very sweet to me.” Coach Bill Callahan was “accepting of me,” Lueshen said. “I know in the conversations I’ve had with him how much he respected me as a person.”

Lueshen said that his decision to be open with his teammates was ultimately a good decision, as his “experience went from being a very scared and somewhat shy gay person on the team to a very welcomed and loved teammate of many.”
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I have no idea who he is so I didn't know what to expect. The person who posted this on facebook isn't exactly known for posting things supportive of homosexuals. But then I listened and it turned out to be the best thing ever said about the whole "issue".
 
Looks like some old guy is gonna beat him to the punch.

Jason Collins close to deal with Brooklyn Nets

Jason Collins is on the verge of becoming the first openly gay NBA player to actually, well, play.

With free-agent-to-be forward Glen Davis telling the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday that he intends to sign with them after he clears waivers at 5 p.m. Eastern and thereby taking the Brooklyn Nets' top free agent option off the table, Collins is - according to a person with knowledge of the situation - in the process of finalizing a 10-day deal with the Nets that would be nothing short of historic.
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Course, it's just basketball, so not like it's really a major sport.

/me runs like hell away from DT!
 
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