Michael Sam seems to be suggesting that he’s not playing in the NFL because homophobia.
Michael Sam believes he’s not on a NFL roster because of the fact he’s openly gay — telling TMZ Sports he strongly believes he’s got the talent to play in the league.
Sam was at LAX this morning when he was asked if he thinks NFL teams are shying away from him because of his sexual orientation … or if it has to do with the level of talent he faced after college.
“I think I was the SEC Defensive Player of the Year last year … so I don’t think it had to do with talent.”
Yeah, I’m sure playing the victim card will really help his NFL chances. Also, “SEC defensive player of the year” isn’t saying much… the SEC has terrible defense.
He didn’t make the cut & saying this will ensure that he’s shunned by everyone in the future. Should have kept his mouth shut.
Hey, at least he’s not playing the race card!
Seriously, Gay Victim syndrome is obviously part of this, but I think Athlete’s Overconfidence syndrome is in play also.
Successful athletes tend to be people who believe in their own talent a lot. (Think about it…the self-doubting ones weed themselves out.) So, if Sam wasn’t picked….his high confidence demands some sort of explanation, OTHER than “I wasn’t good enough.” The Gay Victim syndrome kicks in from there.
He was the 249th draft pick out of 253!! This is not stellar stuff.
Don’t follow the NFL or know what draft round means as far as chances getting a full time gig but in the NHL players picked late 4th round or later generally have very low chances of getting full time NHL jobs. Most end up floating between the AHL and NHL or turn into the AHL veteran presence in the team if they keep playing hockey.
Can’t imagine football is tons different.
If no-talents like Jay Cutler and Tim Tebow actually managed to play on the team (Hell, Jay is a FRANCHISED quarterback), then I don’t see why it should be any different for Sam.
Michael, it is a crying shame that you played in the SEC, which is so full of itself that it thinks that it is unAmerican not to have an SEC team in the National Championship game. With that kind of ego going, it got you thinking that a simple title will ensure you of getting into the NFL.
Let me tell you something. I have seen plenty of players who have played very well in college, won awards and such, and went bust in the pros, simply because it is an entirely different game there. Scrambling quarterbacks who were dazzling in college go bust in the pros, because quarterbacks don’t scramble there. Running backs who were incredible in college run into defensive behemoths that knock them cold with one hit.
Frankly, you came out because you KNEW you were marginal, and you thought that nobody would DARE refuse you if you said you were gay, lest they be called homophobic (since you obviously can’t use your race to garner favor).
You are a spoiled primadonna. Just go away.
At least Cutler and Tebow were FIRST round draft picks (12 and 25), so while they may have disappointed in the NFL, they started off with much more potential than Sams — SEVENTH round and forth from the last.
Cutler and Tebow are actually good examples of college success not always translating into NFL success.
There is no automatic ticket to the NFL.
This is why I can’t stand guys like Sam. They can’t admit that their failures are because of some personal failing or lack of ability. No, it’s got to be everybody else. That, or the thought of being “common” in any way drives them wild, so they convince themselves that everything that happens to them is because of the one little things that makes them different.
“No, I can’t just be a mediocre football player! I’m special! They must not want me because I’m gay! They’re jealous of me!”
Yeah, Mikey. We’re jealous of you and the Ken Doll who tops you. Not!
The LGBTXYZ Alliance for Sex Equality should pay Michael Sam a salary and demand an NFL team to take Sam and train and play him at no cost to the team. Then, when Michael Sam proves he is a valuable superstar, the team will be delighted to fund him. They can settle any concerns about being gay outside of the arena of being competent and valued.
Honestly I’m way more interested in Baseball.I’m happy that an umpire recently came out but surprised that professional Baseball players are like the last holdout when it comes to comming out while still playing.I know that all locker rooms tend to oddly be hotbeds of both homoeroticism and homophobia all at once,but I guess I didn’t think Baseball would end up being a more antagonistic environment for gays than football.
Hey lay off Sam, I can empathize with him because I would be a chess grand master if not for the homophobia, & the reason women are not landing spacecraft on comets is a guy wearing a Hawaiian shirt.
Bobby from what I understand being a gay Latino is hard because of the whole machismo thing. I just wonder if the really high presence of Latinos-especially non American Latinosis part of the problem.
In American culture at large being gay is more accepted but there are pockets where coming out and being openly gay is still pretty difficult.
And I can see a gay Latino baseball player not caring if some fellow players know but coming out publically means grandma finds out and he doesn’t want that (I had a very good friend who was out to friends and his immediate family but by his choice kept it from his grandmother because she was in poor health, was staunchly religious and he just didn’t feel like bringing it into their relationship at that point in her life). Sometimes the reasons for not coming out are personal but if your famous you can’t easily keep that stuff personal.
@ Just Me: I can’t remember where I read it (I think it was this years CDC report on homosexuality), but despite the machismo and cultural disapproval of homosexuality in the Latino community, more Latino men partake in sex with other men than do white men. Same thing with black culture and black men.
I’d be curious to see an explanation as to why occurrence of homosexuality is inversely proportionate to cultural acceptance of it.
@Sean L: Forbidden fruit, if you’ll pardon the pun? (Also, I wonder how much of it has to do with the divide sometimes drawn between pitching and catching; after all, if pitching isn’t “gay,” then are the statistics right?)
That has to be a part of it; it’s similar to how western gays are warned to be culturally alert when traveling to most Arab countries. Men holding hands might be commonplace but has nothing to do with affectional identity or sexual orientation. Similarly, in cultures where women are expected to remain virgins until marriage and men are allowed to fulfill their needs at their whim, they will often have sex with other men (as long as they don’t play the ‘feminine’ role).
Asian countries are often similar in outlook; the famous quote by the then-Prime Minister of Japan to President Reagan about how “We [Japan] will never have an AIDS problem, as we do not have any homosexuals” comes to mind. Never mind that many men who have sex with other men in Japan are heterosexually married and thus invisible to society at large.