Society

Sam, I Am . . . A Ram

275px-Michael_Sam_final_Mizzou_home_gameSt Louis Rams HelmetI am delighted to post the great news that Michael Sam, who came out earlier this year, is now the NFL’s first openly gay player. Sam is now a Ram.


I have been following the draft each day to watch the selections of my beloved Bears. However, I have been increasing nervous that Sam might not be drafted. It is a great day for the Rams, the NFL, and the country in my view. Sam shattered one of the most virulent barriers in professional sports. While many players and coaches are entirely supportive, the homophobia has a long and disgraceful history with individual players and some owners.

I am very happy with the choices of the Bears. I was a bit surprised by the selection of Ego Ferguson, LSU defensive tackle, but I have come to trust Trestman’s instincts. He was criticized for picking Kyle Long last year and it proved an inspired choice.

Sam was selected as the 249th overall pick in the seventh round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was an All-American and the Southeastern Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior at Missouri. It took guts to come out and the Rams secured a noble place in history with this selection. Perhaps in my lifetime the sexual orientation of a player will no longer be such a controversy. In the meantime, watching a player like Sam on the field will do more to overcome stereotypes than every public campaign by every advocacy group in the country. While many people do not like football and may be underwhelmed by this news, it is the most popular sport in the country and watching a gay man play this sport could be a transformative moment for some.

As for Sam, he tweeted “Thank you to the St. Louis Rams and the whole city of St. Louis. I’m using every (ounce) of this to achieve greatness!!”

Many of us want to join Sam and say “Thank you St. Louis Rams.”

111 thoughts on “Sam, I Am . . . A Ram”

  3. George you stated that homosexuals were ruining the culture. It appears that it isn’t just homosexuals ruling the culture, now is it?

  5. I believe we are all adults Nick, we can moderate ourselves, thank you. Or JT will.

  7. I am not a moderator, Abe. Is asking for civility on an emotional blog post offensive to you? Or is it my asking that and giving a substantive comment the problem? Is it personal? This is an important topic and I would like for it not to degenerate like so many do. Shoot me!!

  8. So how are hetero couples who cheat advancing marriage? Looks like gay couples will have to be an example to these cheaters and swingers.

    1. abe – to give you some background. a couple of people have been banned from this site in the last couple of days so the rules of civility are important to the rest of us.

  9. I am not a guest blogger, so I am useless except as a poster.

  11. George, my community is one in which we are richly blessed with loving acceptance. Plus it’s a beautiful place, highly desirable. Some of the hetero couples are swingers though, tsk, tsk. My partner and I don’t approve of that sort of thing.

    1. Jonathan is the only moderator. There are several guest bloggers who have access to retrieving things from WordPress, but I do not see any on right now.

  15. Abe,

    I wouldn’t allow that at our district. I guess your community has loose morals. Nick, too bad. Sam deserved no attention at all. The only reason he is in the news is because he is gay. Talent wise he would not even be on the radar today.

  18. George, we had family day at school. My lawfully wedded partner and our child were there. All the kids had a great time meeting my partner and our child. Not one parent complained. That is love in action.

  19. Sad thread so far. Paul and I had a substantive exchange on another thread. I’ll try it here. I was a little skeptical as the draft passed on Sam. But, I read many RELIABLE sources. The most unbiased source was the great Nate Silver. He had Sam @ 50/50 being drafted. Sam did not have good numbers @ the NFL Combine. That is where all players undergo physical and psychological testing. Sam is slower and smaller than what is needed in the NFL. Everyone thought Sam would get a shot either in the draft or as an undrafted free agent. The commissioner was pushing for someone to draft Sam. To his credit, Roger Goddell was on the right side of this. He has been on the wrong side of many issues, including but not limited to, head injuries and concussions.

    Sports are really the final frontier in our country vis a vis openly gay people. Baseball will be the toughest IMO. So, all of the negative people here, we are not perfect but we are pretty damn good when compared to other countries. This is a big deal. It’s not Jackie Robinson big, but it’s up there. Ironic it is a gay black player. The great Roberto Clemente was very open about culture and race. He noted that he owed much to Jackie, but that people like him were really, “Double n@ggers.” They were black and couldn’t speak English. I despise the fact that I have to alter the word that Clemente used. But, that’s the PC rules here. You can’t even quote the powerful word Clemente used. Almost karma like, when I was taking my walk through the UW campus today I saw the great author, David Maraniss. David wrote the definitive biography of Clemente, as well as other great bios and historical books. For all you anti-war lovers, I suggest his, They Marched into Sunlight. It is about the anti-war protest @ UW. His bios of Clinton and Lombardi are also great reads. I didn’t want to bother Maraniss today as he was w/ some people. I wanted to ask about his take on Sam. Maraniss is a very nice, approachable, gentleman. I have conversed w/ him on the terrace @ UW Student Union about his books. An incredibly knowledgeable and humble man.

    Again, this is important. I understand the emotions. Just keep it civil.

    1. I had two gay brothers, neither ‘choose’ to live that lifestyle. It was good old genetics in action.

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