<p>I heard commentary that teams are hoping to sign him at a lower price than he would have commanded if he had not come out.</p>
<p>No team is going to say that it chose not to draft him because of the “distraction.”</p>
<p>^^^ Because just being a good player isn’t enough??? Gamechangers or superstars get a category of their own in terms of respect? That’s sad commentary. </p>
<p>Absolutely. That’s not news. Always been that way. It’s really tough to be just “one of the others” in any situation and when it comes to cuts, sometimes, the old “all things equal” comes into play, and then something like this is the distraction. For a game changer, teams, companies, etc will even put up with more, but when you are in the mix where anything can get you cut, yes, this may be an issue. If he’s up there in terms of the NFL draft, he’ll get picked, but once he’s on the team, this announcement may well have cost him leeway. Doubt anyone will be stupid enough to say it was an issue, but I think it will be.</p>
<p>Distractions get cut whatever the cause or reason might be in many places, unless there is very good reason to keep the person. You have to cut 3 people from your team whether its office, sports, whatever, and all things are equal, distraction is a factor that comes into play. That’s why affirmative action is often needed. Makes it harder to throw out someone just purely for prejudice. Have to show more reason. </p>
<p>CF, a few other captains or alternates who are involved with You Can Play - Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Manny Malhotra, Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews, Dion Phaneuf, Joffrey Lupul, Steve Stamkos, Andrew Ference, Jordan Eberle, Dustin Brown, Brian Gionta, Sidney Crosby, David Backes, Brooks Orpik, Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Ryan Callahan, Shea Weber, Andy Greene. I’m not sure that that is a complete current list. My H did some work for them and that was the list in his file. Pretty impressive. One could only hope that other sports would be as supportive.</p>
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<p>What, because he’s “damaged goods” now? He is less of a player than he was before he came out? The backlash any team that takes him will get if they don’t give him a very competitive contract will cost them more in PR than they would spend on his salary.</p>
<p>Sally, apparently, yes. Not because he is less a player on the football field before he came out, but teams don’t want to be in the limelight that way. Some teams may actually balk at taking him for his coming out, and that alone might bring his salary down. There will be some screaming for the "passes’, the teams that pass will give reasons difficult to disprove, and whoever gets him will get a deal if this happens since they’ll get him at higher draft number. That’s the way it would work </p>
<p>And if he turns out to be every bit the player he is supposed to be, the team that gets him will get far more out of this draft than they would have, and the teams that passed him out would have lost out in that regard. We’ll see how this plays out. </p>
<p>But,yes, a lot of coaches absolutely want no PR distractions on their team and this is a rookie here.</p>
<p>It took Burke having his son come out, and then get killed before all of this happened on the hockey scene. Dick Cheney split from the party line , as hard line as he was, because of his gay daughter. That’s what it has been taking for some of these changes to occur, but each year, each time there is an advance, it does get easier. Maybe, maybe the time has come where this won’t make any difference? I don’t think so, yet. What does everyone else predict?</p>
<p>Well, I’m going to have faith. I will not be on the “team” that says distraction means you are less attractive no matter your skills. And the “PR” idea is weak to me - I don’t believe that to be factual. Every team has its PR woes and that does not mean a ticket to being let go.<br>
I’m going to wait and have faith that a team will be proud to pick him up because of his talent on the field - and let it lie at that. Someone will. </p>
<p>Dale Hansen of Dallas sports reporting fame for the win!
<a href=“demonews.org”>demonews.org;
<p>We’ll soon find out. If he doesn’t get picked by the how ever may teams expected to take him when they make their pick–these things are usually predictable to some degree, if he goes way longer than expected, it’s pretty reasonable what the reason for it would be. I doubt the team that picks him will give him less than expected for that number pick. It’s when he is picked and what teams pass him over, if any, and we’ll see. Maybe things have changed that much.</p>
<p>^^^^ atta boy. Thanks for sharing MOWC. I’ll live in that world.</p>
<p>The NFL combine is coming up in 10 days. I’m sure a lot of discussion will come out of that both football and non-football related. Sam is undersized for DE in the NFL so it’s going to be a matter of whether teams think he can play OLB. Those teams who don’t want to draft him may downplay his ability to make the position change.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link MOWC - put it up on my FB wall!</p>
<p>That’s the thing: Sam was a very good college player, but he is regarded as undersized and would have to switch positions. Presumably that’s why he was projected in the third round in the first place, but that sort of projection is unsure. That is, if he were straight as an arrow, there would still be a good chance he’d go fourth round or lower. </p>
<p>You beat me to it, MOWC. What a wonderful commentary.</p>
<p>it will be interesting to see how this plays out, in some ways the NFL faces a difficult situation on this. If Sams goes lower than expected because teams felt he was undersize, for example, there will be significant talk that he went lower because he came out as gay, or if he goes undrafted free agent.</p>
<p>Manti teo went lower because he looked like crap when Notre Dame got bounced around in the championship game, he looked horrible, I think that, not the idiocy of his ‘girlfriend’ is what nailed him, and mostly it is performance. We have had guys go in the first round who had serious problems, with drugs, with criminal arrests, you name it…I am not saying teams might not bypass him because he is gay, because either the team has homophobic coaches and gm’s, or because they are afraid they might alienate evangelical Christians or some such, but based on what I know of the NFL most of it is going to come to performance (on the other hand, the team I unfortunately root for, the Jets, probably wouldn’t take him because he doesn’t have a criminal record, hasn’t gotten caught with drugs, doing nasty things in public places and so forth <em>lol</em>). </p>
<p>It is funny, while in some ways there are differences between being gay and being black, if you read about what happened when Rickey signed Jackie Robinson, you hear a familiar refrain in the reaction of other clubs. Players, especially from the South, said they were ‘uncomfortable’ being in the same locker room as him, felt it was demeaning, others said that they were afraid of when teams have players and their families socializing, some of whom said they were afraid for their wives, all kinds of things like that. An upper level executive of the NY Yankees said that the Yankees would never bring in black players, because they were afraid it would offend box holders from Westchester (the Yankees were one of the last teams in MLB to have a black player on their roster, Elston Howard was the first, in 1959, 12 years after Jackie Robinson)…we can shake our heads at this now, but back then those expressing that were just as uncomfortable, felt just as strongly. Like with having to play with black players, some of it is outright bigotry, doesn’t matter whether it is religion or common stereotypes (like that gay men can’t control themselves sexually), it is based on irrational fears, fears that once black players entered the league went away, especially when other players saw what Robinson and others could do…</p>
<p>and yes, I have been in gyms and such where the clientele had more than a few gay men, and to be honest, I never saw any different behavior from the gay guys than the straight ones, most got their shower, changed, and went on their way, and to be honest, a lot of the straight guys acted more boorish than the gay ones, their idea of jokes or pranks was sophomric to say the least…</p>
<p>My guess is there will be a circus, but teams have dealt with that before, it dealt with Brian Piccolo and Gayle Sayers rooming together, it dealt with the three ring chautaqua tent that was Tim Tebow, San Diego drafted Manti Teo and so forth…when Ray Lewis got tangled up in the law, the Ravens became a big deal for a while…I think in the end, after the posturing by religious conservatives and those otherwise opposed, after it is discussed ad nauseum, I think it is going to become a non issue. If Mr. Sams makes it onto a team, it will drift away as an issue when the season starts, if he doesn’t make it, there may be claims he was dropped because he was gay, but in the end, I think it is going to become a non issue. He if he makes a team will face issues I am sure, but over time players are going to realize it is no big deal, like they did with integrating baseball or today, with the internationalization of baseball…</p>
<p>It is funny, I agree with others but for very different reasons. I have heard couched in language many use when talking about gays, about ‘okay, you are gay, why do you have to be out with it’…they are saying that saying you should be in the closet (since straight players are out, they talk about wives and girlfriends, kids, family, all the time. as does the media), what I am saying is it is sad in the 21st century that someone has to come out, rather than being openly who they are the whole time. It will happen, I suspect in another 10 years being gay will be about as controversial as being a member of the rotary club and those who express bigotry towards gays will be as popular as those expressing outspoken racism…</p>
<p>Someday in the future (near?) we will be able to accept that people have different preferences—sexual, religious, economic, athletic, educational, spiritual–and no one will feel insecure because of it. But first we must realize we are not all alike. Different is ok.</p>
<p>Often times NFL teams are all thumbs when it comes to draft strategy, so some teams may have legit reasons to low-ball Sam. Ever hear of 5th round draft choice Tom Brady? Or the un-drafted Kurt Warner, a guy who was a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl three times? Sam should be judged on talent and potential alone, but we all know that in football and in life, that’s not a certainty and not always fair.</p>
<p>Before Coming Out, a Hard Time Growing Up
Michael Sam’s Troubled Upbringing in Texas
<a href=“Michael Sam’s Troubled Upbringing in Texas - The New York Times”>The New York Times - Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos;
<p>MOWC, I’ve met Dale Hansen before. The public perception of him was entirely different than my own. I have always loved how he tells it like he sees it, often to the extreme annoyance of others. And I found that in addition to being sharp tongued, assertive, intelligent, etc., he was EXTREMELY nice. Just very, very nice.</p>
<p>Good for Dale!</p>