It finally happened: we now have an openly gay athlete playing for one of the major team sports (those being hockey, football, and basketball).
We have had athletes who came out after retiring and we have openly gay athletes in other sports such as tennis, swimming, diving, and figure skating. In the UK there are a few openly gay soccer and rugby players. Here in North America, however, we have been slower getting to a point where having an openly gay player on a major sports team is accepted, and where a player who is gay can feel comfortable and safe coming out.
With Michael Sam’s draft into the St. Louis Rams we have reached that point. And it’s about time.
The Rams selected Sam with the eighth last pick of the NFL draft, late in the seventh round, number 249 overall. I am no sports commentator, and will leave that up to those who are to explain, but my understanding is that Sam was low on the list and not up amongst the star athletes. Regardless, he was drafted and is now an NFL player.
Predictably, there have been a variety of reactions and responses to his selection as well as toward his reaction upon being selected. Both ESPN and the NFL Network showed Sam grabbing his partner, Vito Cammisano, a former college swimmer, and kissing him after hearing the news over the telephone. This, it seems, garnered more negative reaction than the fact Sam is openly gay and has been since playing college football.
Several players, including Maurice Price of the Calgary Stampeders, tweeted anti-gay statements. Price has since had his Tweet removed and been fined by the Canadian Football League (CFL) for ‘repugnant’ and ‘inappropriate’ statements.
Sam’s record indicates that playing at NFL level might be a challenge. He has been drafted as a pass-rusher and defensive end despite being a bit small – at 6’2" and 255 lbs – and he is apparently not as nimble and fast as the position usually requires. During his college career he accumulated 123 tackles, including 36 for loss, 21 sacks, six forced fumbles, and two intercepted passes.
While at the University of Missouri he played for the Tigers and ‘redshirted’ for the first year. In US college athletics, the term refers to a delay or suspension of an athlete’s participation so that he can extend his period of eligibility. A student’s athletic eligibility is normally four seasons – the number of years it takes to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree – but some college athletes are permitted to redshirt for up to two years, thereby spreading that four year eligibility over five or six years.
While a redshirt, a student athlete attends classes, practices with the team, and dresses for play during a game, but cannot compete in those games.
This is not necessarily as punitive as it may seem. The purpose of redshirting a student athlete is to assist the athlete to better balance academic requirements with athletic ones, gain some experience practicing with a team and to adapt to it before competing, or to gain time to increase size and strength during a period when physical maturity is still an ongoing process. It is actually seen as beneficial to both the athlete with professional aspirations and to the team itself.
Despite a general perception within the ranks of American football that he is too slow and too small, Sam was named the Southeastern Conference’s Defensive Player of the Week two weeks in a row, Co-Defensive Player of the Year, and named as a semi-finalist for several football awards.
Being drafted by a professional football team does not necessarily mean he will make the team. He will still need to prove himself during training camp and, like any player, if he can’t make it through that effectively, Coach Jeff Fisher will have to cut him. With all the attention surrounding Sam, having to cut him would become political.
Some pundits have pointed out, however, that the St. Louis Rams are a good fit for Sam. The Rams are headquartered on Sam’s home turf, Local fans and media are already aware of him and the stories around him being gay are, by and large, just part of the fabric of who he is – as it should be.
Coach Fisher is also known to be a strongly hands-on coach, capable of building a tight-knit group of players and highly experienced dealing with media. This should allow Sam to focus on football and build rapport with his teammates. Fisher has already shown his mettle when it comes to the media scrutiny around America’s ‘First Openly Gay Professional Football Player’, stating the Rams simply "drafted a good football player" and giving Sam the opportunity to prove himself on the field which, at the end of the day, is what counts.
Sam’s orientation may still pose an issue behind the scenes. For years, whenever the topic of an openly gay player arose, so too did the whole question of gays in the locker room. How would other players feel about walking around naked and showering in front of a homosexual teammate?
It is a ridiculous question. It suggests that we gay men can’t control ourselves when presented with another naked man in a communal environment; that all the straight hunks will get ogled or propositioned. The issue of gay men in the locker room is more a heterosexual issue than it is a homosexual one.
As gay men we know when it is appropriate to become sexual with someone and when it is not. Heterosexuals seem to think all we think about is sex. Sam, or any other gay athlete, is not about to jeopardize his career because he got the hots for some stud football player.
As a now high profile player who is also gay, Sam must be aware he is in a unique situation. He has already stated he is a football player, not The Gay Football Player, despite the media casting him as such. He will, hopefully, avoid situations his heterosexual peers so often embroil themselves in and focus on being the best player he can be. He simply cannot afford, fairly or not, to have even a whiff of scandal attach itself to him.
Football players are Alpha Males and fans, generally, see such allegations as reinforcing their Alpha-ness; thus they tend to forgive relatively easily. I suspect that same attitude would not apply to a gay player. Sam would most likely be aware of this and act accordingly.
This discussion around his sexuality and how he may or may not express it does not exist for heterosexual players, and speaks to the climate within, not just professional sports, but North American culture in general. I am as guilty of that as other writers, having just discussed it. The truth of the matter is he will be judged by different criteria. It’s not right. It’s not fair.
He has his work cut out for him and he’s going to need all the support he can get from all his communities: his teammates, team owners, the gay community, the black community, and the fans. The man is a pioneer, albeit a reluctant one (as most are), and for that he is to be respected.
