So what does the future hold for Missouri’s Michael Sam? As the dust settles on his ‘ground breaking’ announcement the majority of the response has been mostly positive.
Statements, comments and tweets from dignified personnel and organisations from all walks of life have surfaced day by day with mostly words of praise and congratulations.
“Once I became official to my teammates, I knew who I was,” Sam told The Times.
“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.”
For an NFL team, the issue here is not his sexual orientation.
The issue will be about the media circus that will surround him. We live in an age where sexual diversification (albeit slowly) is on its way to being accepted, though the world of speculation and the country’s thirst for it will never stop.
The way he came out to his teammates at Missouri and how they reacted was admirable and was handled in a manner that their University should be proud of. Although that sense of secrecy would have been nonexistent in the NFL.
The fact that he came out prior to the NFL draft is testament to his character. By doing so, he gives the team’s adequate opportunity to comprehend how this player would fit in their roster.
His decision for full disclosure is commendable and therefore the team that draft him will not do so under false pretences.
As a consequence of his decision to come out, there would only be a handful of teams that would be able to handle Sam in their locker room.
Only well-established teams with a sound culture and a strong leadership group, who are prepared to change the perception, would be able to handle such a player. Initially Michael Sam would need to be nurtured and protected in a way that is unprecedented and therefore would need the support of the whole organisation.
The teams that would have the ability to manage the defensive end are; Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, New England and Green Bay. They are all successful and all have a strong leadership faction that can handle this situation, as well as a very dignified and very well respected management staff. Furthermore their locations also help being in parts of the United States that are more accepting of the gay community.
He is expected to be picked between the third and fourth round and you can be sure that if he is not, all 32 organisations will be vilified and be deemed as anti – discriminatory. They will immediately be berated by the media who will blame his sexual orientation as the reason for his drop as opposed to his talent.
Though it has to be understood that the reason why he might not be drafted is because of the baggage that comes with this pick.
So we ask, was the right thing for Michael Sam’s NFL aspirations to make the announcement when he did?
I guess we won’t know until later.
He will be used as a fall guy. As courageous and inspirational as he is, the result of his decision will unfortunately sabotage his career, well, at least initially. Of course, if he performs at an elite level then there would be no issues, but for him to have longevity in the NFL a lot of variables would need to go his way.
As a consequence of him coming out Mr Sam needs to deal with the repercussions. He needs to be a model professional on and off the field. His decision will automatically elevate him to be a major advocator for the gay community worldwide which means he would be under constant scrutiny.
More importantly, Michael Sam needs to be able to take a joke and understand that he will perhaps never have 100% acceptance. He needs to have the ability to laugh off the comments that he will hear on a daily basis.
Unfortunately lewd comments against gays are still very much part of today’s common profanities. If he constantly reacts to these comments, it would take away from his professional ethos and as a result, he will be targeted consistently.
He has added further pressure on himself by coming out now. Even though it was most definitely the honourable thing to do, one wonders if this decision would affect his NFL prospects in a major way.
Baggage is something that most GM’s and owners stay clear of.
Though Michael Sam was the best defensive player in the best conference in College Football and is clearly good enough to be drafted.
Several ‘anonymous’ owners have come out and said that the NFL is not ready for a gay man in a locker room for it would be ‘uncomfortable because it’s a man’s sport’.
Though if you beat a woman, murder a person, be a racist or a rapist, you’re considered welcome and even forgiven, but if you love another man, you’re not? Let’s hope this is not the case and learn to accept and move on.
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