College Football Star Michael Sam Says He Is Gay; May Become First Publicly G...

[Fencer]

Because quite a few other players knew he was gay and instead of rumor and innuendo spreading around NFL circles he decided to address it on his own terms. It obviously meant something to Sam, so good on him for doing so. Now we can all carry on with whatever it was we were doing.

Right. If the choice is to get the announcement over with or try somewhat deceptively to keep a secret from everybody, the courageous choice seems to have a lot of merit for him personally -- even without all the society-changing leadership aspects that the drumbeat of celebrity self-outings entails.

 

[Fencer]

The signing of Tebow and keeping him until the final cut shows that BB an manage media circuses pretty well and make football decisions based just on football ability/focus/exceution

I'd go further and say the Patriots are the perfect team from that standpoint. Hard to blame them as being Sodom/Gomorrah for taking a marginal gay player when they tried to make Tim Tebow work out the previous off-season.

 

[Fencer]

How will news that Michael Sam is gay affect NFL draft stock? - College Football - SI.com

SI has a depressing take.

 

[primetime]

The world is full of racist people of all colors.

This is an oversimplification and depends on your definition of racism. If you define it as it is done so popularly, as hate or even discrimination based on skin color, then certainly.

On the other hand, if you define racism as "a system of group privilege by those who have a disproportionate share of society’s power, prestige, property, and privilege" as sociologists do, then, on a macro-level in the United States, it's not at all true.

I don't know why I'm even bothering with this to someone who wrote the utterly and completely nonsensical "There are people who don't approve of his lifestyle, for sure, but enough with the hate baloney. That's the same as saying that half the USA is heterophobic and hates straight people."

 

[condon84]

Should this guy have his own locker room? This is a question of sexual orientation and teammates who are straight will probably feel uncomfortable being naked in front of this guy.

 

[primetime]

How will news that Michael Sam is gay affect NFL draft stock? - College Football - SI.com

SI has a depressing take.

These GMs are idiots, and that article reads word-for-word what the reaction to Jackie Robinson was from baseball executives when the Dodgers signed him.

10 years ago, 60% of players in a survey said they would be accepting of a gay player on their team. And a lot has happened to attitudes in the last decade, so the number would be much higher today. For players it's a non-issue, as it should be.

 

[primetime]

Should this guy have his own locker room? This is a question of sexual orientation and teammates who are straight will probably feel uncomfortable being naked in front of this guy.

Why

This doesn't even make sense

 

[condon84]

Why

This doesn't even make sense

This guy prefers men. It's his sexual orientation. And he is going to be in a locker room amongst other men, his sexual preference. By that logic, isn't it the same as a straight man being in the locker room as women? If we're going by sexual orientation logic.

 

[patchick]

You'd be surprised what GMs and coaches use for criteria. Some of them can be pretty idiotic. At least one coach has admitted to passing over Andy Dalton simply because he had red hair

My husband talked to a football talent evaluator at a conference a few months ago. The guy was working on some really advanced statistical metrics that did an amazing job of predicting college players' success in specific roles. He said he made a presentation on his findings to an NFL GM, and afterwards the GM just said: "You know what I like? Farm kids. A farm kid'll put his elbow in your face just like that. Find me some kids who grew up on farms." Welcome to the non-Ernie-Adams NFL.

There's no question Sam is taking a genuine risk here. But he seems to have made a series of tough but smart strategic decisions over a period of time. I think the boldest, smartest move was to be frank about his orientation with his college team before the season started. Becoming the SEC defensive player of the year and teammate-voted team MVP while openly gay makes it a whole lot harder for drafters to use the excuse that he won't be accepted in a locker room.

So now he's basically saying "screw the insidious grapevine" and daring teams to discriminate. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in a draft setting, where any given pick of a different player will always be defensible based on team needs, etc. It's especially true of a player like Sam who isn't as good an athlete as he is a football player. (Doesn't project well to the Pats, IMO. Maybe as an MLB?)

 

[primetime]

This guy prefers men. It's his sexual orientation. And he is going to be in a locker room amongst other men, his sexual preference. By that logic, isn't it the same as a straight man being in the locker room as women? If we're going by sexual orientation logic.

Didn't seem to bother Mizzou players. I guarantee you have been somewhere with a gay man before. I hope you weren't uncomfortable - he almost certainly was not ogling you.

Different-sex locker rooms are largely a product of outdated gender stereotypes anyways. There's also nothing wrong with gender neutral locker rooms or bathrooms, unless you think everyone just wants to have sex with everyone all the time. Adults of any gender who can't control their urges are probably mentally ill.

 

[primetime]

My husband talked to a football talent evaluator at a conference a few months ago. The guy was working on some really advanced statistical metrics that did an amazing job of predicting college players' success in specific roles. He said he made a presentation on his findings to an NFL GM, and afterwards the GM just said: "You know what I like? Farm kids. A farm kid'll put his elbow in your face just like that. Find me some kids who grew up on farms." Welcome to the non-Ernie-Adams NFL.

Just like with basketball and even baseball, there's a place for a mixture of analytics and traditional scouting (and in football, the latter is probably more useful). But this sort of thing makes you realize why so many NFL teams are just so bad.

I watched every Mizzou game this year (roommate is a big Mizzou fan). There were some games in college where Sam was absolutely unblockable. I suspect he'll go in the 3rd or 4th to a team like the Chargers, Steelers, or Ravens - teams with a 3-4 defense and a good GM who realize they're getting a 1st or 2nd round-caliber football player because of fairly narrow scheme fit and 'locker room concerns.'

 

[mayoclinic]

My husband talked to a football talent evaluator at a conference a few months ago. The guy was working on some really advanced statistical metrics that did an amazing job of predicting college players' success in specific roles. He said he made a presentation on his findings to an NFL GM, and afterwards the GM just said: "You know what I like? Farm kids. A farm kid'll put his elbow in your face just like that. Find me some kids who grew up on farms." Welcome to the non-Ernie-Adams NFL.

There's no question Sam is taking a genuine risk here. But he seems to have made a series of tough but smart strategic decisions over a period of time. I think the boldest, smartest move was to be frank about his orientation with his college team before the season started. Becoming the SEC defensive player of the year and teammate-voted team MVP while openly gay makes it a whole lot harder for drafters to use the excuse that he won't be accepted in a locker room.

So now he's basically saying "screw the insidious grapevine" and daring teams to discriminate. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in a draft setting, where any given pick of a different player will always be defensible based on team needs, etc. It's especially true of a player like Sam who isn't as good an athlete as he is a football player. (Doesn't project well to the Pats, IMO. Maybe as an MLB?)

Sam's never been high on my draft list for the Pats, based on an assessment of his skill set/athleticism and projection. If anything, his coming out raises my interest in him - he's obviously bright, articulate, courageous and determined, and those things all increase the odds of his succeeding in the NFL.

The NFL AM show had a pretty optimistic take on this, arguing that it was a relative non-issue, and that there are already a number of gay players in the NFL. Will there be homophobes? Yes, and racists, and bullies. And rednecks, and born again religious guys, and thugs. It's a diverse league. But it's going to be harder and harder to accept ostracizing guys for being different.

I'm sure Sam will take some shots. He looks like he can handle it. I'm sure some teams will downgrade him, but not all. I still think he's a 3rd/4th round prospect, and he'll get a chance to show whether he belongs in the NFL based on his skills, not his sexual orientation.

 

[Boogs]

Didn't seem to bother Mizzou players. I guarantee you have been somewhere with a gay man before. I hope you weren't uncomfortable - he almost certainly was not ogling you.

Different-sex locker rooms are largely a product of outdated gender stereotypes anyways. There's also nothing wrong with gender neutral locker rooms or bathrooms, unless you think everyone just wants to have sex with everyone all the time. Adults of any gender who can't control their urges are probably mentally ill.

I disagree, mens and womens lockerooms are a good thing. And IMO guys will cover up a little more if they know there is a homosexual changing clothes and showering with them. Most women would be the same way if a guy was in their lockeroom.
Sam can help this by how he acts around his teammates. Seems like Mizzou gets along ok with him. So that suggests he's an allright guy in the lockeroom.

 

[condon84]

Didn't seem to bother Mizzou players. I guarantee you have been somewhere with a gay man before. I hope you weren't uncomfortable - he almost certainly was not ogling you.

Different-sex locker rooms are largely a product of outdated gender stereotypes anyways. There's also nothing wrong with gender neutral locker rooms or bathrooms, unless you think everyone just wants to have sex with everyone all the time. Adults of any gender who can't control their urges are probably mentally ill.

Put it this way, if I was changing in a women's locker room, I'm not gonna be ogling majority of the females there. A lot of them are hideous and probably look worse naked. But I can't tell those women to lighten up because i'm not into them anyways. They're gonna feel uncomfortable just because I prefer women and I'm in there with them.

I'm sure I've been in a locker room with a gay guy before, but I didn't know he was a gay guy so it didn't bother me. BUT, if I'm in the locker room, and all of a sudden one of the guys announce loudly that he is gay. Would that make me feel uncomfortable? It would definitely change the way I might be naked in the locker room if that guy is there.

 

[primetime]

Just as a reminder and comparison, Riley Cooper screamed the n-word a bunch of times in public and it went viral on the internet and by the end of the season everyone had forgotten all about Riley Cooper as locker room implosion because he had a good year. And what he did was actually incredibly offensive as opposed to inexplicably uncomfortable for the less open-minded.

 

[primetime]

Would that make me feel uncomfortable? It would definitely change the way I might be naked in the locker room if that guy is there.

That's your problem and not his, however, and it's important to remember that.

quick edit: I don't mean that to be overly critical, I think that kind of thing is a fairly common if unvoiced sentiment even among the most open-minded. But it's important to realize that's a learned behavior, too, because it's the way people were trained to think for a long time.

 

[BennyBledsoe]

Uncomfortable? Yeah, I probably would be... but like it has been said, that's my problem. Maybe I'm worried gay guys won't think I'm hot, either?

 

[Uncle Meat]

Didn't seem to bother Mizzou players. I guarantee you have been somewhere with a gay man before. I hope you weren't uncomfortable - he almost certainly was not ogling you.

Different-sex locker rooms are largely a product of outdated gender stereotypes anyways. There's also nothing wrong with gender neutral locker rooms or bathrooms, unless you think everyone just wants to have sex with everyone all the time. Adults of any gender who can't control their urges are probably mentally ill.

LOL at "mentality ill," like sexual urges are a rational thing...they are exactly the opposite. Not like other players are worried about what will happen if they drop the bar of soap, either. It's more about the uncomfortable feeling that some people are bound to feel since Sam likes men sexually, and you are naked with him...and we are talking about some real athletic studs.

I don't care who you are...put a straight guy in the cheerleader's locker-room, and that guy is going to have certain thoughts go through his mind. It's absolutely inevitable. Is that any different? Should we lay a huge guilt trip on the women if some of them are uncomfortable about being naked with that guy?

It's an issue, and it will be with some people no matter how open-minded you think everyone should be. How do you know if that particular aspect of it didn't bother some Mizzou players?

These type of things WILL happen, especially since we are talking about the American culture...but it would probably happen most anywhere.

 

[Tunescribe]

Why in heck would they be disappointed?? Your post makes no sense.

Because by coming out via public announcement, a gay person presumes the "news" matters to strangers. It shouldn't. It matters to two kinds of people: gays who see themselves as social crusaders, and homophobes. I'm neither and consider this a personal matter to be dealt with on a personal level by all concerned.

 

[upstater1]

I disagree, mens and womens lockerooms are a good thing. And IMO guys will cover up a little more if they know there is a homosexual changing clothes and showering with them. Most women would be the same way if a guy was in their lockeroom.
Sam can help this by how he acts around his teammates. Seems like Mizzou gets along ok with him. So that suggests he's an allright guy in the lockeroom.

People can get used to anything.

I spent some time over in Europe last year, and though I've never been in a mixed bathroom before, I quickly got used to using a toilet stall right next to one being used by a woman.

Even in the 1980s, I was on a Co-Ed dorm floor with Co-Ed showers. No big deal. Most people just covered up after the shower and went on their way.