No heterosexual was prouder than I was last year when Michael Sam became the first openly gay player drafted into the NFL.
He made history, but I had misgivings almost immediately. Not least because he signed with the Oprah Winfrey Network to turn his Football career into a Kardashian-style reality show even before he signed with his team. This indicated that he was more interested in the fame than the game, which only made my informed concerns about his ability to play at this level even more acute.
I delineated those concerns in “Michael Sam a More Worthy Jackie Robinson of Gay Athletes than Jason Collins,” May 12, 2014. Here is a prescient excerpt.
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I feel constrained to note that he was the 249th of 256 players drafted. Even then, it took the NFL team from Missouri, the state where he played his college Football, to draft him. And it did so only after drafting nine other players in the earlier rounds. This is why it’s arguable that he would not have been drafted if the Rams had not taken pity on him.
But let me hasten to clarify that there was nothing homophobic about other teams passing on Sam. After all, despite an impressive college career – highlighted by leading the Southeast Conference in sacks with 11.5 last season and being named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year, he simply failed to impress, by all objective criteria, at the NFL Combine in February…
Ironically, it’s probably fair to assert that the Rams drafted him only because he’s gay.
I hope Sam makes the final cut this fall – not as the NFL’s token gay, but as a bona fide player. Because there will be no gay pride in the Rams keeping him on the roster if he turns out be as big a bust during pre-season tryouts as he was during the combine.
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Sure enough, he did not make it in the NFL – not even as a token gay. Now comes this:
Michael Sam, who last year became the first openly gay player drafted by a National Football League team, said on Friday he was stepping away from football, citing concerns over his mental health.
The Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes, with whom he signed a contract in May, said on its team website that Sam had left the team for personal reasons and as a result had been placed on the team’s suspended list.
‘The last 12 months have been very difficult for me, to the point where I became concerned with my mental health,’ Sam wrote on Twitter.
(Reuters, August 15, 2015)
Unfortunately, for far too many, his failure will only reinforce gay stereotypes. No doubt the stress off the field, especially in light of his disappointing play on it, was overwhelming. But it appears Sam caused much of that stress. For reports indicate that he spent more time cultivating fame, while tackling homophobic trolls on social media, than earning fame by sacking quarterbacks on the Football field. I wish him well.
That said, trust me folks, Jackie Robinson would not have become a Black hero if he turned out to be only a mediocre Baseball player. What made Blacks so proud was the undeniable fact that Jackie was so good.
This is why all of the hype about David Denson becoming the first openly gay player in Baseball is so patronizing. After all, he’s not even playing in the Major Leagues.
David Denson, a first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers’ rookie affiliate [aka Minor League team] in Helena, Montana, made baseball history this weekend by revealing that he is gay.
(CNN, August 16, 2015)
In fact, it’s arguable that Denson outed himself because, like Sam, he is more interested in the fame than the game. What’s more, his chances of making a name for himself as a professional athlete seem even less than Sam’s were.
Which brings me to the dubious way gay basketball player Jason Collins and gay swimmer Ian Thorpe made news. Here, in part, is how I dismissed their coming out in “Nothing ‘Brave’ about Ian Thorpe Finally Saying, I’m gay,” July 16, 2014.
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When Ellen had the balls way back in 1997 to say, ‘I’m gay,’ she was at the pinnacle of her professional career and still a figure of considerable public interest. And, given the prevailing climate of homophobia, she had a lot to lose. But she was clearly more interested in being true to herself than in currying public favor. That was 17 years ago folks!
More to the point, thousands of public figures have emulated her pioneering coming out since then. Therefore, it seems more than a little patronizing – towards the person coming out as well as the public – for the media to continue covering people coming to terms with their own sexuality as a friggin’ news event.
But this is particularly annoying, if not cynical, in Thorpe’s case. After all, his ‘public service announcement’ would’ve had some socially redeeming value if he had emulated Ellen by coming out at the height of his career – during the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, where he was born. Instead, he chose to emulate the equally opportunistic, if not cowardly, Jason Collins [by waiting until his career was practically over to do so].
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Therefore, given the spectacular disappointment Sam turned out to be, I suggest we reserve our hosannas for the gay athlete who comes out as an undisputed superstar in his sport. Incidentally, thanks to Sam’s oversharing disposition, we know there are several playing in the NFL today who – he claims – just don’t have his courage to come out.
But only when a superstar does will gays be as proud of a gay professional athlete as Blacks were/are of Jackie Robinson.
Related commentaries:
Michael Sam…
Ian Thorpe…