Michael Sam - NFL's first openly gay prospect

[cardsfansince82]

Manziel gets more coverage than anyone, and no one ever suggested not drafting him. And calling him a distraction actually has some merit with his on and off field antics.

The "distraction" of Michael Sam is entirely perpetuated by the media and guys like Dungy. There's really no valid reason to continue to discuss his sexuality like it has any impact on his team.

But the fact that it is continually perpetuated, and will be for some time most likely, by the media and Dungy makes it an issue that every coach and organization has to consider--in today's world at least. As I said, I wish Dungy would want to take that on, and he could/should have handled that better, whatever his opinion or beliefs. I think it demonstrates poor leadership.

I think you are overestimating how much national talking heads impact the day to day of the locker room. The local beat reporters are not going to be bringing this up constantly or the players will cut them off. This is a story for ESPN to show a video clip of him going through drills from across the field and then the Stephen A Bayless's of the world get to pontificate and speculate about it like their opinion matters.

Riley Cooper openly insulted like 80% of the league last year and it was brought up by national media constantly. Somehow he stayed with the same team and had his best season ever, and just signed a five year extension. That was a situation where his teammates' opinions actually were relevant and somehow they all managed to survive. If that locker room didn't implode, Michael Sam dating men on his own time isn't going to do it either.

[MrSaigon]

I think we mostly agree. I don't think there will be (hardly, at least) an impact in the locker room aside from talking to media, but I also think that's impact enough for consideration, and will have impact on the team unfortunately stemming from Sam's orientation, of which you said there wouldn't be any. That's stuff a coach and everyone else has to be aware of and has to be prepared for. How many Dungy questions do you think there will be when camp opens? Should the coach or org not worry about this stuff at all? Every tweet becomes a headline and every headline becomes a question put to a player. I don't think it's going to affect the football or make anyone perform more poorly, but it's an impact and could lead to issues.

And I think even after the local guys beat the horse dead, press from other markets (whether at home or away) are going to be throwing out these questions for some time. That's going to be part of the story for every team playing the Rams for a bit. Maybe I'm wrong there, but it seems quite likely to me. But Collins and the Nets would be a pretty good counter-argument to my thoughts here. But I also feel that story was never quite as big for whatever reason.

[Socnorb11]

It would be nice if Dungy could recognize the opportunities in the challenge of dealing with all the microphones every week. If I was a teammate I might get tired of answering the same question every city I went to and to every visiting press corps in addition to a local media that will probably tire of it slowly. Maybe/hopefully I'm wrong--but I bet it will get annoying, but I doubt it will become a meaningful distraction for more than a few teammates/coaches if that. But I'd also be grateful for the opportunity to think and speak on a critical issue and participate in what I think of as a nice social progression. Of course Dungy may feel differently, in which case he should probably just say nothing or mumble around it, which wouldn't be too difficult.

I do think people are being a bit too sensitive as well. The worst intent is still often assumed whenever talking about gay people. Even asking if someone is gay is offensive to some people. Does it matter? Of course not, at least most often. But it's a point of interest, like where is that band from or who is JLo dating.

And if Dungy's quote and the reaction is any indication, I think part of the principle of what he said is correct. Though again, I think 'distraction' is too heavy a word for it, and the annoyingness of it all wouldn't have kept me from drafting anyone I wanted. People keep pointing at Dungy/Vick, and there's a lot of validity to that. If the flashes of ESPN I catch are any indication, the 'distraction' of Manziel is going to be far worse.

I think all of this is spot on. Dungy is a hypocrite (which I've already noted)....... but I think people are just LOOKING for a reason pounce. None of you cared that not one NFL GM wanted to draft Sam (again, if you think he dropped to the 7th round because he can't play football, that's just silly). Every team in football judged Sam for things not related to football. As soon as a Christian says something even remotely sideways about him though.......... you all want to light up his Twitter page.

Tony Dungy never said that he shouldn't be drafted because he's gay, He said it would be a distraction. Anyone who disputes that is being intentionally naive. Of course there will be distractions. We had a thread here that was 15 pages long before Dungy said anything at all about Sam. It's a talking point. As MrSaigon points out, folks like Dungy should use the attention as a way to lead our society to progress. Maybe he still will. First he has to stop being a hypocrite.

[MrCrowesGarden]

Michael Sam on Tony Dungy: Thank God he wasn't the St. Louis Rams coach

[thrill]

Dungy is one of those Promise Keepers ass holes.

I'm coming out of the closet. I was at Promise Keepers circa mid-90s at Arrowhead Stadium. It was worse than you can imagine.

My dad was at Soldiers Field. He didn't go back. Said it was creepy.


Anyway, it's society's job to enforce norms and strangle out dissenting voices. At this point in our history, homophobia is not acceptable which, I think, is objectively great. There are all kinds of sociological and anthropological reasons that being gay moves in and out of acceptability but I hope we're at a point where people can just be themselves without fear of exclusion or worse. The voices are loud and angry now for and against homosexual integration/civil rights but that's just because we're shifting and soon, hopefully, the shift will be over. ESPN and other media outlets should be more responsible about how they represent debate over social and political issues (not making it appear as a one to one conversation when it actually isn't, see: John Oliver's climate change visual metaphor) because misrepresenting public sentiment slows down progress. NBC Sports should fire Dungy. They won't, but they should. It's only a distraction for people who's values need to evolve. I don't expect everyone to approve of homosexuality, but I do expect everyone to have empathy and fight for everyone's right to equality. So basically, shut up and get over your bias and fears. Do what's right.

[Socnorb11]

NBC should fire Dungy??? For what??

I think that's a gross overreaction that just adds fuel to the fire the clearly exists. Should 31 NFL GM's be fined or suspended, because they didn't draft Sams??

[Schlich]

Not drafting a guy isn't the same thing as being publicly homophobic. Donald Sterling would have been a much more apt comparison.

[Socnorb11]

Not drafting a guy isn't the same thing as being publicly homophobic. Donald Sterling would have been a much more apt comparison.

Dungy didn't say or imply that he's homophobic. He said he didn't want the distractions that come with Sams being the first openly gay NFL player, which is the same reason 31 GM's didn't draft him.

None of you guys were prepared to light up Charles Barkley's twitter account when he went on and on, ridiculoing fat women. It's always a good time here when it's time to make fun of Kelly Clarkson. Where is the outrage then?

You're all just as hypocritical as Dungy is.

[Jocephus]

people rarely admit they are homophobic.

and i dont get the fat women/people comparison you are trying to make.

[Schlich]

It's cool that you're privy to all of the GMs' internal proceedings.