Posted on 02/08/2017 7:26:04 PM PST by IMTOFT
lbany Former NFL player Michael Sam said he always felt like an outsider — the deaths of two older brothers, the bullying he endured by other family members and even his mother's religion, Jehovah's Witness, made him feel apart from his peers. But nothing made him feel more like an outsider than being gay in the NFL. "I had to prove myself, to show that I was one of the guys," said Sam, who spoke Tuesday night as part of Sexuality Month at the University at Albany. "I was cut from the Rams, even though I was in the top five in sacks. Then I went to the Cowboys and had to do it all over again. And then I was cut there. I always felt like an outsider looking in." Sam assured the few hundred students who came to hear him in the Campus Center that "everything happens for a reason." The difficult childhood and NFL disappointment led him to become a motivational speaker urging others to be true to themselves. "When I came out to the world on Feb. 9, 2014, I got tons of emails from people telling me how they were condemned for their sexuality," said Sam. "It made me sad and angry. I spoke to one girl who told me that because I came out, she didn't commit suicide. I was speechless." After high school in Hitchcock, Texas, Sam, a defensive end, was recruited to play for the University of Missouri. Named an All-American and Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, he expected to be drafted in the second or third round of the 2014 draft. But his prospects plummeted the day after he announced he was gay. He wasn't drafted until the seventh round for the St. Louis Rams. "When I was drafted I thought the headline would be 'NFL has first openly gay player,' but instead it was 'Sam kisses boyfriend.' Should I have kissed a girl? The media made it a distraction." He said it was also difficult that he, as a rookie, garnered constant media attention. "I'm still baffled," said Sam. "I thought it would be a story for two weeks and then it would go away." Sam remains wary of the media. He refused interviews with the local press and stopped his talk to ask the television crews to turn off their cameras. The attention and what he believes is the sports' discomfort with homosexuality ultimately destroyed his career. After being cut from the Rams and then waived by the Dallas Cowboys, he joined the Montreal Alouettes in the Canadian Football League. That stint didn't last either. He said he left preseason camp for personal reasons. "I tried to earn their trust, make them believe I belonged," said Sam. "Now I speak from the heart." wliberatore@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @wendyliberatore
If you can push a 280 pound offensive lineman out of the way and sack the quaterback the rest of the team does not give a damn who or what you are sleeping with. Performance is the only standard they care about.
I do not believe Michael Sam was ever an NFL player.
Know what’s funny?
My first thought on seeing the header was
“Oh jeez. No one cares. It’s a new paradigm (Trump, that is). I don’t have time for this sh[t”.
And no, I did not read the article.
the playing field is the most color-blind, gender-blind, identity-blind places on Earth
have you recently examined the racial makeup of your basic NFL team...?
I really don’t pay attention to the NFL, but I seem to remember rumors that the league twisted the Rams’ horns to give the openly gay and relatively mediocre player a shot.
If your are not following islam, there is hope for you.
Michael Sam is not an NFL player, only an NFL recruit. Never played a game.
The only good thing that came of this was the “outing” of DFW sports commentators and moralizing jerks Dale Hansen and Mike Doocy.
“My butt really, really hurts.”
That was what he said of this experience.
I’m not sure what your point is. Did you see Tom Brady throwing to all those white wide receivers in the Super Bowl?
Excuses ... excuses.
He could not even cut it in the Canadian league.
This effin’ guy? He’d be a minor question in Trivial Pursuit if that was still a thing. Didn’t that “first gay NBA” guy turn out to be a “homo so they don’t cut me?”
Your a last pick draft.
You ain’t all that...
News flash. He would not have been the first gay to play in the NFL!
He’s gonna coast on this forever, like John Lewis on Selll...ma.
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