Last May, when 12-year NBA center Jason Collins announced he was gay, the sports universe stopped to analyze what that information meant. Collins was the first known athlete to publicly state his homosexuality while still an active player. Though the
Last May, when 12-year NBA center Jason Collins announced he was gay, the sports universe stopped to analyze what that information meant. Collins was the first known athlete to publicly state his homosexuality while still an active player. Though the news was monumental, Collins was not on an NBA roster at the time of his announcement and has not played for an NBA team since. His status as an active player may be a thing of the past.
While some may believe his sexuality has factored into that fact, I actually do not. The more important details to general managers are his age (35), his career stats (3.6 points per game, 3.8 rebounds) and his cost (minimum salary for players with his experience is around $1.4 million). Many teams don’t want to pay an older player three times what they can pay a young player for similar production, no matter how great their locker room presence.
So while it was and still is a big deal – though it probably shouldn’t be – that Collins came out when he did, he has not suited up for an NBA game with his sexual orientation a public fact.
That’s going to change soon, and change in a big way. Former University of Missouri defensive end Michael Sam announced Sunday on ESPN that he is gay. Sam recorded 11.5 sacks and was named the 2013 Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year and a First Team All-American this season, aiding the Tigers to a 12-2 record and a final ranking of No. 5 in the polls.
While the announcement by Collins probably made some realize that gay players have already been around without incident, Sam’s should be one that is a little more threatening to many stereotypes. Let’s face it, a 24-year-old man just named the best defensive player in the SEC being gay is going to change the conversation more than a soft-spoken Stanford graduate who has had a quiet NBA career.
And while the courage required of both men to do what they have is unquestioned, I still believe we overemphasize the anticipated reactions. Despite many a recent ignorant statement on the Internet regarding race (Richard Sherman) or nationalistic pride (the Coca-Cola commercial), the country as a whole is more than ready to accept homosexual athletes. But the inherent expectation is that there will now be a constant media spotlight engulfing Sam, shining on his every movement as though he were a convict attempting a prison break.
That expectation shone through when the immediate conversation shifted from Sam, himself, to the NFL’s anticipated reaction. Sam is projected to be selected somewhere between the third and fifth rounds of the upcoming NFL Draft, but there were plenty of scouts and GMs who quickly said they thought his draft stock would take a hit. It’s not because the teams are homophobic, they say, it’s because they won’t want to deal with the “media circus” his presence will invite.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Weren’t we here just a year ago? Granted, the circumstances were far different, but didn’t everyone (myself included) expect there to be a year-long media circus surrounding whichever team drafted Manti Teo? Know what? We were wrong. Teo went to San Diego in the second round, missed some early games with injury, but had a productive rookie season for a playoff team. All in all, he blended into the NFL machine. I’d be shocked to learn that any Chargers players found their team’s media coverage to be anything out of the ordinary after maybe the first week or two of Teo’s tenure.
Michael Sam is going to be a story when he enters the league. There’s no getting around that. But to assume that his presence alone is going to ignite a media spectacle that makes the professional football players surrounding him unable to do their jobs has little basis in reality. Some teams may deem his abilities unworthy of that potential, but I’d be shocked if Sam falls past the fourth round. I’ll be even more shocked if this “media circus,” which is usually more urban legend than anecdote, lasts more than a few weeks. Soon enough, he’ll be a football player with a unique story and judged simply by his on-the-field output.
If Michael Sam can handle what lies ahead, an NFL team should feel ashamed if it cannot.
