OPINION: Why Is The NFL Afraid Of A Gay Superstar!?
Pressure. A lot gets written and said about “pressure” in the NFL. This week, the St. Louis Rams proved they can’t handle the pressure of the National Football League.
Michael Sam, rookie defensive end out of the University of Missouri and the first openly gay player in the NFL, was cut from the Rams’ 53 man roster. Despite a more than impressive pre-season, Sam wasn’t selected to go any further in this NFL version of “American Idol” – where what’s popular outweighs talent. Sam had 11 tackles and a team-best 3 sacks in the his 4 pre-season games. According to Rams math, those numbers are reduced to zero when adding in the fact that Michael Sam is gay.
His alleged “opportunity” was simply the NFL running a con job by using a potential superstar who was brave enough to come out of the closet.
When Michael Sam first publicly came out of the closet weeks before this year’s NFL draft, Sports Illustrated talked to NFL GMs, Scouts and other NFL personnel about a gay player entering the league. None of whom had the guts to go on the record. They all spoke anonymously. The opinion was that Sam had done irreparable harm to his draft stock. One unnamed assistant coach said “maturity” was too big of a problem in the locker room for this to work. Then that’s an NFL problem, not a Michael Sam problem.
With these sentiments, the plot was obviously already in motion and the conspiracy against Sam started immediately. The first part of the plan was to humiliate Michael Sam by making the SEC Co-Defensive Player of Year sit around for 3 draft days before finally calling his name and then get rid of him before the season starts no matter how well he performed. His late late draft selection by the St. Louis Rams was dismissed as a publicity stunt. That’s what Michael Sam’s life long dream and the hard work he put into that dream were reduced to, a stunt. The St. Louis Rams did their best to perpetuate the old “straights only” tradition of picking the gay kid last in sports.
Fortunately, Michael Sam would have none of it. He performed brilliantly. Nine times in four games, he sacked, hit or hurried the quarterback. A straight player with that kind of potential and production wouldn’t have been put on waivers.
There isn’t a gay American or supporter of gay equality in this country that will buy another ticket to your games.
ESPN tried their best to make a sideshow out Michael Sam in the NFL by actually reporting on Sam’s showering habits in the locker room and who would and wouldn’t shower next to him. Like a kid who’s scared of the circus, the clowns at ESPN scared the Rams who were afraid of becoming known as a gay team and they buckled.
At best, this was an absolute lie from Snead. His only mission was making headlines, not history
The St. Louis Rams cutting Michael Sam is like the Dodgers cutting Jackie Robinson instead of having the courage to follow up on an ideal that is more important than just sports.
Like Michael Sam, I came out as gay on a national stage. I know what that moment of risk and uncertainty feels like. Also like Michael Sam, I know the support from the people who mean the most to me in the world and the ignorance of people who attack me because they’re afraid of the world changing in the 21st century. I am so proud of Michael Sam. I cried the moment he was drafted from that pride. Now I feel tears coming on from the deceit of the St. Louis Rams who got to look good while acting like they were doing the right thing and all along planning on doing the wrong one. I still feel a shocked over Michael Sam being cut by the team, although I shouldn’t. The Rams and the NFL never had any intention of letting Michael Sam in its “straights and closeted only” club. This is the same league that allows an owner headquartered in Ashburn, Virginia, to promote an ethnic slur with his team’s name each and every NFL Sunday in the name of tradition.
Despite what NFL insiders said, Michael Sam did nothing wrong in coming out. In the pre-season, he did every thing right. Maybe he was too perfect for a gay man in the NFL. Because the National Football League still isn’t grown up enough to accept a gay superstar.
Fez Whatley co-hosts the Ron and Fez Show, which airs on SiriusXM’s Raw Dog Comedy Hits 99 weekdays from noon to 3pm et.
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