<p>So ESPN is essentially starting a Lloyds of London type of speculation/gambling regarding Sam’s NFL draft prospects. Not surprising at all from a silly “there’s no there there” operation like ESPN. Red Barber, Howard Cosell and Mel Durslag, where are you? Is anyone at ESPN vociferously standing up for Sam’s right to an opportunity like Cosell stood up for Muhammad Ali?</p>
<p>If checking out means looking discreetly, I can’t imagine many women would very upset about that. </p>
<p>FYI, Dale Hansen will be on Ellen tomorrow to talk about his stance this week.</p>
<p>I wish this young man well, hopefully the vast majority of people will see this as a nothing issue and move on.
It is like any other cultural transition, it will take time to have acceptance. There are a lot of dynamics involved, peoples fears, their immaturity, their religious convictions etc.
Athletes supposedly are a representation of our most masculine men within society, especially so in our most violent sport. There is a lot of cultural and emotional baggage tied up in this circumstance, lots of irrational fear attached to this.
Kudos to Dale Hansen for his commentary! Good luck to this young athlete, unfortunately I do not anticipate it will be easy for him.</p>
<p>It would be a ‘nothing issue’ if he just keeps his bedroom choices to himself like everyone else. The issue is that he is drawing undue attention to himself right before the draft and teams don’t want to deal with distractions. Any drop in his draft position has nothing to do with the specifics and more to do with the media circus around whichever team drafts him. Since the guy was not projected to be a top couple of rounds pick, his position was tenuous anyway. Now wherever he gets drafted, people in the media will assume he dropped due to his preferences rather than due to his perceived ability and/or the benefit he could bring to a particular team.</p>
<p>@sally305 - sorry to break it to you…didn’t think this was really news, but just about every male is ‘checking out’ their co-workers every day. I would be very surprised if most women are not also checking out their co-workers. Does not really matter what our preference are…we are all human animals and only the very strong can ignore the pull of biology.</p>
<p>There is a huge difference between checking out co-workers in an office and doing so in communal showers in a locker-room. </p>
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<p>This is exactly the attitude that makes me happy that young men like Michael Sam do come out and announce to the world that they are gay and that you are darn well going to have to deal with it.</p>
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<p>LOL yeah because straight guys do such a good job of that. </p>
<p>What a load of crock. </p>
<p>Torveaux, if it really bothers you to know about others’ “bedroom choices,” surely you object to people wearing wedding rings or being pregnant or displaying photos of their significant others and offspring at work too…right?</p>
<p>Also, if you really think people constantly view each other as sexual objects even after getting to know them and NOT BEING ATTRACTED to them, you live in a very different world from a lot of us. Attraction is not just being in the same room as someone with the desired opposite (or same) body parts. And besides, if you think it’s possible for straight men to control their sexual impulses in the presence of women, why wouldn’t you trust gay men to do the same? I’ve got news for all the homophobic straight guys out there: most gay men are just not that into you. In fact, they’re not into you at all.</p>
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<p>I take communal showers every morning as a member of a master’s swim team. Some of my team members are gay. So what, I doubt they care and I certainly don’t? You think somehow that is a big deal or a huge difference? </p>
<p>By your logic, Torveaux, straight male doctors should never be OB/GYN docs…right?</p>
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<p>Actually, the distraction could be worse, and unpredictable, if he did not go public. Enough people knew he is gay (it is not like he was making it a top secret), and enough others were probably passing around rumors of such that it could become a media distraction at an unpredictable time, and in an unpredictable manner. Better to get that over with now, in a more controlled manner of his choosing.</p>
<p>Yes, some team with weak or unsupportive leadership or an unfriendly locker room culture may refuse to draft him. But it would not be surprising if he preferred to be drafted by a team with strong supportive leadership that will make his being gay an non-issue and non-distraction on the field, in the locker room, and elsewhere, even if that happens to be slightly later in the draft.</p>
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<p>That’s right! Romani, you keep parading your sexual orientation in front of us when you keep talking about your fiance. How dare you. And alwaysamom, haven’t I heard mention of a husband? Disgusting-- why do I have to keep hearing about your “bedroom choices”?</p>
<p>Lol, CF. My sexuality was known by my teammates in high school. The difference between my team and many grown males is they weren’t so full of themselves as to think that because I liked women that I would automatically like them. </p>
<p>Good grief some men are so full of themselves lol.</p>
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Yeah, if only we could stuff Tom Brady and Gizele Bundchen back in the closet. B-) </p>
<p>If only Giselle Bunchen could keep her mouth shut. “My husband cannot throw the #!@$ ball and catch the #!@$ ball at the same time!” Now that’s a locker room disruption. I wish she would keep her football orientation to herself. My guess is, Giselle Bunchen is a bigger locker room distraction than any player could ever hope to be. Have they banned HER from Patriots’ stadium?</p>
<p>Teams that think Michael Sam might be able to help them based on his football ability face a very real problem. He is not a “can’t miss” prospect; there are very real doubts about whether his college success will translate to the pro game. Suppose a team drafts him and then wants to cut him solely because he can’t cut it. It doesn’t matter whether performance was the reason he was cut; the PC police are going to be all over them, claiming that the REAL reason that Sam was let go was because he was gay. So if you are a GM, you have a very real dilemma (assuming that you like Sam as a player). Do you want to take that risk?</p>
<p>I doubt, it EMM1. Statistics speak for themselves and if he stinks in the pro’s he should be cut. PC people are not idiots.</p>
<p>I think the biggest problem is that we are such sexual people that many become obsessed and can ONLY think about gays in terms of their sexual preference instead of seeing them as people.</p>
<p>Kinda like what I hear all the time about racial differences. Why do we always have to identify people by their race if it is different from our own? For example, I overheard a conversation yesterday in which an elderly guy was talking about his nice neighbors who helped clear his snow: “the guy up the street started doing my sidewalk and then the black lady across the street came to help”. I hear things like that all the time. For some reason, anything that makes someone different from ourselves becomes their identifying characteristic. Poor Sam will always be known now as the gay wideout, even if he becomes a spectacular player.</p>
<p>What statistics are we talking about? Sam is a defensive lineman/linebacker. I suppose you could count tackles,or sacks, but even that is not going to give you an accurate perspective on the total picture. In any event, we are initially talking about training camp and maybe a handful of preseason games–not enough to provide a good statistical picture of a rookie, particular one who (based on my reading of the evaluations) does not project to be an immediate starter.</p>
<p>Finally, it is very difficult to overestimate the willful blindness of zealots on any side of an issue.</p>
<p>He seems like a young man that is comfortable in his own skin. Today yahoo has an article about a gay Navy Seal I like to see stereotypes getting thrown to the wind.</p>
<p>It seems to me that it must be difficult and unhealthy to hide who you are. I hope every person feels they can express themselves and who they are attracted to.</p>
<p>As for Sams football the issue is can he handle the move from DE to linebacker. I for one hope he can. I will routing for him.</p>
<p>I meant rooting but can not figure out how to edit.</p>