It’s getting hot in here. See what I did with the title and first sentence? Still don’t get it? I’m talking about the new star in St. Louis of course. Michael Sam became an instant low level icon at the beginning of this year with his announcement of being homosexual. The reigning SEC defensive player of the year could potentially be the first openly gay football player drafted into the NFL. Shortly after the announcement he had a less than lackluster NFL combine. His stock began to dip which raised bigger questions. Had Michael ruined his chances by not only having a lame combine but also intentional or not raising distractions with his announcement?
Personally I could care less about the guy’s sexual orientation but it did create a media storm. Ultimately he was drafted in the seventh round of the draft by the St. Louis Rams. He made history by not only being the first defensive player of the year from the SEC in nearly six years not taken in the 1st round, but also being the first openly gay athlete in one of the most “manly” macho and violent sports. A 7th round pick would normally come in to an organization trying to work as hard as possible to make the team and stay under the radar with fears of being cut.
News broke that Mr. Sam has looked into deals with Oprah to document the early part of his NFL experience via reality TV. That’s not exactly staying under the radar. Tim Tebow is no longer in the league partly because of performance, but also do to the distractions that came with him negative or not they were distractions. Mr. Sam has done things differently than the average NFL rookie so far, hopefully for his football careers sake that’s a good thing.
Mike has a lot going on. I’m not mad him getting his cheese, but he better make sure he makes this team or it could blow up in his face. If he gets cut it will make him harder to be resigned in the NFL with all of the extra attention and the show following him.