Hey now Sammy, you are taking me out of context and you don't need to. Last I checked I'm not a politician, I should be able to trust people to understand my meaning. I'm just here to have a discussion.
It is difficult to find the right analogy. To spell it out directly, I was only saying that when people are afraid of something, they will not be afraid of it if its presence is hidden.
I think we want the same thing, but where I differ from you is that I don't think this isn't about education or acceptance, but neurological wiring. Some guys just aren't going to feel comfortable being around gay guys, especially when naked. Some guys can handle it, some won't. It's not because they are afraid of anything happening. It's something else entirely. Most phobias are irrational but still difficult to conquer.
Further, almost everyone, players, coaches, execs, have predicted that there will be locker room fracturing. Some of that might be small mindedness, but some of that could be phobias and brain wiring too.
Even in a best case scenario, the media attention will be intense and this was often among the first concerns GMs cited.
You can really sense the hesitation by GMs, coaches and players. I seriously doubt they are gay-haters. But they know the realities of the NFL locker room culture, and the acute makeup of many of it's members. Many of them have stated that they think the NFL will be ready for a player like Michael Sam some day, they just aren't sure if that time is right now. There needs to be a pretty big culture change among the players and coaches, and as I've suggested already, it's possible that currently non-existing accommodations of some sort might be necessary as well.
This dilemma has never been about Michael Sam. It has been about how people might react to Michael Sam. This is uncharted territory with the closest thing being the military ban on don't ask don't tell a couple years back. But if you really think about it in great detail, there are some pretty big differences between the situations and the military was ironically more setup to handle openly gay soldiers than the NFL is for openly gay players in some aspects.
Full disclosure, I am left leaning and have supported minority / gay rights my entire life, and I vote in support of them in every election. I am rooting for Sam to succeed. But I think sometimes rooting for success means being measured and smart.
I think Sam forcing his way in like this is not the best way to break the barrier. When he came out to his teammates in Missouri, he had been there a while. They knew him. He had developed relationships and made friends. They had heard the rumors and were prepared to hear the truth. It wasn't a sudden shock to the system. He didn't cannonball his way in, he went in the water one toe at a time.
In the NFL it will be different. New locker room, new relationships, new culture, new status. You'll notice that no other NFL player or prospect has come out to join Sam. They've been there, they know. Maybe this ends up being all a bunch of fuss over nothing (wouldn't that be nice), but I would be kind of surprised by that given all the cards on the table right now.
Yxes1122":39jwil5o said:
I think the added issue is the questions the media will throw at his teammates. "How has it been having a gay player in the locker room?" "How do feel about it?" And unfortunately, I think that will really make the transition harder. I applaud Sam for doing what he thinks is right, but there are consequences to everything. The media, while constantly preaching "sensitivity", is one of the most insensitive industries out there. And those questions aren't going to go away. How many times has the "What did you think when you drafted Russell in round three?" I would expect the "How do you feel about Sam?" questions to be the same.
I think this a valid point, and shouldn't be overlooked. It could suck for Sam hearing his teammates field these kinds of questions all the time, for sure. I'm going to assume that Sam is prepared for it, but it could still be tough.
He will probably also hate this his identity will forever be that of a gay guy first, football player second. He will always be "the gay football player" (unless he dominates the NFL and becomes a huge star, but IMO that's very unlikely given his tools). I know if I were him, that designation would get old fast.