Photography courtesy of UPI/Bill Greenblatt
If the Dallas Cowboys are truly “America’s Team,” then the franchise should draft former Missouri defensive end Michael Sam.
Sam sent the sports world into a frenzy during an ESPN Outside the Lines interview on Sunday, in which he announced to the world that he is gay. Considered to be a lock to be selected in a middle round of May’s NFL draft, Sam is destined to be the league's first openly gay athlete.
I doubt that it will be that difficult. The nation—not just the sports world—has been preparing for this moment for years.
While college is certainly not the pros, Sam “came out” back in August to his coaches and teammates. According to Sam and coach Gary Pinkel, he was accepted and not shunned. While the secret was known to many, no one leaked it to the media. Sam said he had dated another male athlete at the university who was not a football player.
But the story never broke. Once Missouri got rolling—on the way to an incredibly unexpected season of success—teammates were probably more consumed with a possible SEC championship than Sam's sexual orientation.
According to Pinkel, Sam told him, "I do not want to have any distractions for our football team. We've got to concentrate on football, and I'll [come out] at another time."
Sam could have waited until after the NFL draft and the scouting combine later this month in Indianapolis to come out. Instead, he chose not to, knowing he could be among the most scrutinized players during the process. Dozens of players will be drafted before him—but he will be the No. 1 topic in Indianapolis. He seems to welcome the challenge. “I'm not afraid to tell the world who I am. I'm Michael Sam: I'm a college graduate. I'm African-American, and I'm gay," he told Outside The Lines.
That’s good enough for me. It also appears to be good enough for most Americans.
An ESPN SportsNation poll asked, “How soon will college and professional male athletes coming out as gay become a regular occurrence in North America? Forty-three percent of respondents answered “Within a few years”; 25 percent said “Within a year or two”; and 32 percent said “Not within the next few years.”
I’m surprised that less than a third of the respondents think it will take a number of years for male athletes to stop hiding sexual preference in college or pro sports. Before Sam’s announcement, I think the numbers would have been dramatically different. But the young man forced American sports fans to ask themselves, “Does it matter?”
Most of America answered “no.” Sam is a native of Texas. It makes sense for America’s Team to take him. I doubt it will happen, though. Texas is the land of Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Rick Perry, a pair who stand against gay marriage and homosexuality.
But Sam has no doubt he is doing the right thing. I have no doubt he is more than ready to be a true trailblazer.
Commentary by Alvin Reid
