🏈 First Openly Gay SEC Player

[JoshB]

The SEC’s Defensive Player of the Year Michael Sam says he’s gay, and he may become the first openly gay player in the NFL.

“I’m Michael Sam. I’m a football player and I’m gay,” he told The New York Times. “Once I became official to my teammates, I knew who I was,” Sam said. “I knew that I was gay. And I knew that I was Michael Sam, who’s a Mizzou football player who happens to be gay. I was so proud of myself and I just didn’t care who knew. If someone on the street would have asked me, ‘Hey, Mike, I heard you were gay; is that true?’ I would have said yes.”

According to the New York Times, Sam came out to his team last summer during a preseason team-building exercise at practice in August. Sam said he wanted to make his truth known to the fans and the front office of the team that drafts him.

Sam led the SEC in sacks with 11.5 and 19 tackles for loss. We’ll see how the NFL teams react to this news, as Sam is expected to be an NFL top-round pick in this year’s draft.

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Wow... right before the draft too... kids def. got guts, dont know how smart that was tho.

 

[ElephantStomp]

Good for him. Very very brave thing for him to do.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

Sounds like he wanted to wait until after the draft, but it was going to get out, so he went ahead and got out in front. It will almost certainly hurt him in the draft to some degree or another. Good or bad, NFL organizations don't like distractions. Ask Tim Tebow...

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

The one thing that helps him is, the NFL folks already knew. If the circus dies down some, it might not hurt him bad, or at all. Gonna be interseting to see. If more guys start to come out too now, it will help him obviously.

 

[JoshB]

I guess Tebow can go ahead and come out now... okay Im being an ass now lol

 

[ElephantStomp]

It's stupid that somebody has to "come out" instead of just being whoever. 2014 and a gay football is still headline news....

 

[JoshB]

I couldn't care less if the guy likes sheep dogs (Auburn fans :O) a man, a woman, a man/woman whatever, if they can play who cares?

 

[ElephantStomp]

I couldn't care less if the guy likes sheep dogs (Auburn fans :O) a man, a woman, a man/woman whatever, if they can play who cares?

Preach! The NHL has partnered with a group called You Can Play that goes by what you said if you can play you can play

 

[BAMANEWSBOT]

Former Alabama punter Cody Mandell supports 'courageous' Michael Sam

Mandell also responds to those critical of the former Missouri defensive tackle who revealed he's gay on Sunday.



Read More Here...

 

[planomateo]

The one thing that helps him is, the NFL folks already knew. If the circus dies down some, it might not hurt him bad, or at all. Gonna be interseting to see. If more guys start to come out too now, it will help him obviously.

Yup, teams were already asking question as the Senior Bowl about his personal life. Sad thing about all of this, that its news.

Pretty good read on the topic and how his team dealt with announcing this as the timelines for announcing it changed.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Fascinating story on behind-the-scenes media maneuvering on how Michael Sam came out. – <a href="http://t.co/LmYaHMfguF">http://t.co/LmYaHMfguF</a></p>&mdash; Jon Solomon (@jonsol) <a href="https://twitter.com/jonsol/statuses/432708150941061121">February 10, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. In a way, the NFL is under pressure now. Some teams will accept him, while others won't. He came out to his team after playing with them for several years, so they are going to be a little more understanding of the situation. NFL teams don't have that luxury.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Only 1 player since SEC handed out Def. Player of Year award has won it &amp; didn't get picked in top 33: LSU's Chad Lavalais taken 142th in 04</p>&mdash; Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/BFeldmanCBS/statuses/432726476249522176">February 10, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[bamaraider]

Congrats on him for coming out. Not an easy thing to do, especially when you're really the first one to come out.

 

[jdpas29]

i wonder how the locker room situation works out with this. i know i couldn't shower with the gym tiders and pretend like there was nothing going on. just curious.

 

[PhillyGirl]

It's stupid that somebody has to "come out" instead of just being whoever. 2014 and a gay football is still headline news....

Sadly, we live in a world where it is still a major taboo to be gay in an American men's pro sport .. especially football. Hopefully this allows other gay/bisexual/trans player the courage to be who they are and not feel as if they must hide a part of themselves. People should just be happy, but unfortunately the prejudices of others often keep them locked up inside. This kid has guts, I respect that.

Hopefully, in 50 years, this isn't news because we have a slew of non-hetero players. And it's no longer taboo, but accepted. And we judge the players based on their abilities on the field, not who they are attracted to.

 

[silvermetalflake]

It's stupid that somebody has to "come out" instead of just being whoever. 2014 and a gay football is still headline news....

Thank you. Gay athletes period = boring non-story.

 

[silvermetalflake]

Sadly, we live in a world where it is still a major taboo to be gay in an American men's pro sport .. especially football. Hopefully this allows other gay/bisexual/trans player the courage to be who they are and not feel as if they must hide a part of themselves. People should just be happy, but unfortunately the prejudices of others often keep them locked up inside. This kid has guts, I respect that.

Hopefully, in 50 years, this isn't news because we have a slew of non-hetero players. And it's no longer taboo, but accepted. And we judge the players based on their abilities on the field, not who they are attracted to.

5 years not 50, me thinks. Thanks to the ongoing, lightening fast (and getting faster by the day) development and implementation of technology in our lives, people's minds like the software in their phones and tablets are becoming faster and faster at adapting, converting, and evolving on issues and belief systems. And while societies change on issues and cultural norms are not processed and re-released with the speed of the latest Android update, most folks today change at a developmental pace so fast that it makes people and society in the 1950s & 60s seem like plebs in robes the dawn of man. More has been done for gay rights in America in the last 5 months than has been done in the last 50 years. Just yesterday, Eric Holder made than big announcement about the push toward gay marriage equality and the rights of spouses. Football players waving their hands trumpeting.. "Look at me I'm gay, I'm gay!!! will be passe before next season starts.... hopefully... cuz it's already boring NOW!!!

Now, I will agree with you, there will always be prejudices to a degree. But in time those folks who don't change will be in such a minority that no one will give a sh*t what they think or say, or post on threads because the majority of society, that has long since adapted to that social change, will surround them like wolves and bully them down with names and cat-calls.

 

[PhillyGirl]

5 years not 50, me thinks. Thanks to the ongoing, lightening fast (and getting faster by the day) development and implementation of technology in our lives, people's minds like the software in their phones and tablets are becoming faster and faster at adapting, converting, and evolving on issues and belief systems. And while societies change on issues and cultural norms are not processed and re-released with the speed of the latest Android update, most folks today change at a developmental pace so fast that it makes people and society in the 1950s & 60s seem like plebs in robes the dawn of man. More has been done for gay rights in America in the last 5 months than has been done in the last 50 years. Just yesterday, Eric Holder made than big announcement about the push toward gay marriage equality and the rights of spouses. Football players waving their hands trumpeting.. "Look at me I'm gay, I'm gay!!! will be passe before next season starts.... hopefully... cuz it's already boring NOW!!!

Now, I will agree with you, there will always be prejudices to a degree. But in time those folks who don't change will be in such a minority that no one will give a sh*t what they think or say, or post on threads because the majority of society, that has long since adapted to that social change, will surround them like wolves and bully them down with names and cat-calls.

Here's hoping! :tickled_pink: I have several gay family members and man, it is incredibly tough to be a gay male in American sports, especially football, even in these "enlightened" times. Still a lot of discrimination, both spoken and unspoken.

I hope that the few brave individuals who DO stand up, like Sam did, will make it less of a deal for others down the road. Eventually, I hope that nobody will need to "come out" because "coming out" won't need to happen. To teammates and fans, it won't matter if you're gay, like it does now. But for now, the guys who do come out are making it easier for others. And soon it won't be news, because the majority won't be a jerk about it.

I am a straight girl who played baseball, soccer, basketball, and swimming (and wanted to play football desperately), and I got called discriminatory gay names throughout high school. It was quite hard to find a boyfriend when everybody thinks you're a lesbian, lol. But hell, just ACTING like a "stereotypical" gay woman was enough for me to get bullied .. It was much worse for the actual gay folks, especially from teammates .. No wonder we have so few people "out of the closet" in sports today .. It's a damn shame.

 

[TerryP]

Mike Sam. What if he plays Will?

It's not news, according to those who have been writing articles and tweeting consistently about him.

Overnight, CBS's draft projections have dropped him 70 spots.

 

[PhillyGirl]

Not surprised by that in the least. Damn shame. He's a good player. He was ranked in the top 10 at his position recently, I believe.

Wish people would judge him by his play, not his sexual orientation.

 

[silvermetalflake]

What's crazy is that simply by the law of averages, there has probably been I-don't-know-how-many gay football players in the past 100 years (pro football is that old in Canada.. don't know the States) whether it was known or not. Suddenly "knowing" makes all the difference? I guess ignorance is bliss... or er ah.. was bliss.
[MENTION=18080]PhillyGirl[/MENTION]. You're not the only one who was bullied and couldn't find a boyfriend/girlfriend in high school. Even guys and gals who are obviously straight as an arrow go through it too.

 

[PhillyGirl]

What's crazy is that simply by the law of averages, there has probably been I-don't-know-how-many gay football players in the past 100 years (pro football is that old in Canada.. don't know the States) whether it was known or not. Suddenly "knowing" makes all the difference? I guess ignorance is bliss... or er ah.. was bliss.
<!-- BEGIN TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention --> @PhillyGirl <!-- END TEMPLATE: dbtech_usertag_mention -->. You're not the only one who was bullied and couldn't find a boyfriend/girlfriend in high school. Even guys and gals who are obviously straight as an arrow go through it too.

It's interesting, I read somewhere that about 10% of the U.S. population identifies as gay or lesbian. Now, do the math on that, per team, per year, since the advent of football and you've got quite a few gay players! And that's just in football.

Oh, I didn't mean to imply that only gay or seemingly gay folks get bullied and have trouble in the dating game, apologies if it came off that way. I just wanted to share my personal story with being labeled "gay" and what the ramifications of so much as appearing "gay" were, at least to my ignorant classmates :tiger: