Reviews

What Do People Think About Michael Sam's Coming Out?

2/10/2014

Give me an S. Give me an A. Loyal fans at Missouri revised the famous M in tribute.

One of the most thoughtful of readers who connect to this page, Brian Savin, calls himself a “contrarian.” He has a point of view about Michael Sam, the college linebacker who has announced he is gay.

In the previous posting about the Mets, Brian wrote this:

In this day and age being gay gets you lead articles in the NYT, WSJ and a story covered in the first 60 seconds of every morning TV news show???? This is 2014 (albeit with a little 1964 Ed Sullivan thrown in yesterday). And they claim this Defensive Player of the Year is "projected" to be drafted in mid-third round?????!! You know what I think? (I'll tell you anyway.) I think this kid has latched onto the greatest sports agent who ever lived. He just somehow, some way moved the kid up to high second round, or maybe even first, and several million dollars. I'd like to hire this guy to be my agent for my retirement portfolio. Good hunting, Mr. Sam.

GV replies: I don’t think any athlete would welcome this kind of publicity strictly for its own sake. Any athlete knows there are players in his or her locker room who are prejudiced for religious or other reasons.

Just look at the front page of the NYT on Sunday, about gay men being whipped in northern Nigeria. We’ve got some psychological hand-choppers in various religions right here in the U.S. I know some.

Thank goodness for Pope Francis asking, "Who am I to judge?" The funny thing is watching his cardinals trying to walk back the Pope's comments.

It sounds as if Sam has been surrounded by support in his college career. It may be a smart business/life decision to get this out before the meat-market workouts by the NFL, coming soon. It’s out. No whispers. Will this make money for Michael Sam – or get him shunted to a lower draft round because he did not “test out well?”

Let me ask this: with all the big men, regulars or backups, getting injured this NBA season, has Jason Collins, one of the most positive professionals, gotten a call since coming out last year? Good luck to Michael Sam.

Your thoughts?

Mike from Whitestone

2/10/2014 07:36:39 am

GV, I heard some of all sides of this on a sports radio station on the FM dial (just below 100) in NY this morning. Some talkies say its time for this to happen, I argue, time for what?
One caller said that achapter of locker room humor will have to be deleted.
Another; Sam will be hounded by lobbyists in the gay community to be their front man and speak against injustices.
Will a team want to draft him and all that media following that will cover his every breath.
Somehow, his predicted draft spot in a mock draft dropped 70 spots. I didn't hear the logic to that.
Amazing.
There were comparisons to the locker room culture in baseball and football and he stands a better chance in football.
And yes, Jason Collins was mentioned with the talkie's argument being; regardless of orientation, what market is there for a 35 year old limited dimensional back-up center?
I am not saying I agree or disagree with the above, but it certainly put another elephant in the room. Time to talk, and yes, play ball.

Ed Martin

2/10/2014 10:40:11 am

I have a hunch how folks respond mirrors their feelings on civil rights in general. Today, on the golf course two men expressed generally negative feelings, "why is this new?". "why does he need to make this statement, to get publicity. Etc. One said "I don't care if he is gay, but why make a big deal of it? I mentioned gay friends of mine who lived almost their whole lives in the closet and felt they were denying who they were, so I think more and more folks want to say, "this is who I am and I want to be who I am.". No argument to me, but no response, either. I saw Jerry Smith play tight end for the Redskins and he was a terrific as was Dave Kopay a defensive back. It's kind of like the military, the don't ask don't tell mentality is still around. I know you recall, "uppity blacks and women."

Charlie Accetta

2/10/2014 10:41:54 am

GV - I think the Redskins' Jerry Smith experience is the one that sticks out for me in viewing the Michael Sam extravaganza. You've been in plenty of locker rooms. Granted, it was a different time. Not that different, though. Smith didn't come out while a player. He probably retired a little before his time, for his own reasons, whether physical or psychological. He probably wouldn't have come out at all but for the HIV-positive diagnosis. He was smart. I do not think that a middling player, to say nothing about his being a rookie, should place himself in this position if he's hoping to enjoy an extended career in the NFL. Teams don't want to deal with the media circus, and they certainly don't want to deal with the innuendo attached to cutting this guy from the team. He made a mistake, in my opinion. If the NFL is actively trying to corner the LGB demographic, they couldn't have asked for a worse scenario.

George Vecsey

2/10/2014 11:43:45 am

My guess is that pro athletes of the past came along with no framework for being around gays. It was the unknown. In most clubhouses, a player who was timid or shy or mannered, or whatever, could be labelled gay. I think it's accurate to say football is the worst, because of the physical intimidation and closeness in the sport. The younger generation -- now 20's, 30's maybe even 40's -- has been around people who were out. The mystery is gone. The culture of an NFL locker room is a last bastion. This is a step. GV

Charlie Accetta

2/10/2014 12:31:37 pm

I don't know. It's easy as an individual to say that it doesn't matter. It's easy to say that we can change the world, one mind at a time. I've heard some people refer to Sam as the Gay Jackie Robinson. That's not at all accurate. While the baseball establishment, even after WWII, wasn't ready or willing to integrate, Jackie had Branch Rickey and the Dodger front office easing his way as best they could. Michael Sam is out on a limb, a football orphan ... the definition of alone.

John McDermott

2/10/2014 01:53:58 pm

I got to know Dave Kopay in the late '70's when I had to photograph him for a magazine article. He kept a photo of Vince Lombardi in his bed room with his photos of friends and family. I thought that was revealing at the time. He loved Lombardi and implied that Lombardi knew he was gay and didn't care. As far as Sam goes, I think that NFL teams will be interested in one thing only: "Can this guy make our team better?". I know MLS is not the NFL, but maybe, hopefully, the experience of Robbie Rogers may be instructive. While the trade that brought him to the Galaxy in exchange for Mike Magee might have been a bad move for the LA team, given that Magee went on to become the league MVP, at least Rogers' homosexuality seems not to be an issue. His performance on the field on the other hand...

John McDermott

2/10/2014 01:58:01 pm

But...can I just say that I do wish Frank Bruni would write about something else once in a while.

George Vecsey

2/11/2014 12:22:20 am

John, Bruni is a voice, and that is one of his strengths, as is DC politics for Dowd, Middle East for Friedman, economics for Krugman. (I am speaking for myself here, not the paper where I used to work.)
Bruni has some good points about locker rooms. There was always the illusion that nobody gay could possibly be a manly man and play that sport. But younger athletes have come through a more complicated world -- including music and tv sitcoms but also their school locker rooms and dorms. I would bet there will be some raunchy jokes...and then they will see if the new guy can play. Best scenario. GV

Gene Palumbo

2/12/2014 07:55:18 pm

George has a column in today’s (Tuesday, Feb. 12) Times: “Jeter’s retirement announcement hits the right note.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/13/sports/baseball/jeters-retirement-announcement-hits-the-right-note.html

Gene Palumbo

2/12/2014 08:05:13 pm

Sorry, got the date wrong. It's Wednesday, Feb. 13. But the link is right.

Brian Savin

2/13/2014 12:08:00 pm

Interesting, GV. Nigeria and the NFL draft have nothing in common. This blog segment has marinated enough.
Best
Brian

George Vecsey

2/14/2014 12:55:21 am

Brian, the juxtaposition was clear -- front-page NYT articles, a day apart, plus the African whippers and hand-choppers are encouraged by our home-grown religious would-be whippers and erstwhile hand-choppers over here, who say, we can't do this in the US but you can over there.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jul/24/evangelical-christians-homophobia-africa

my point is, things aren't so good over here that it is a wily business decision to come out before the draft. It may be pro-active, or logical, but not guaranteed to help a player in the draft, etc. GV

Hansen Alexander

2/18/2014 11:53:04 am

George, you got it right. Sam's announcement is a step, and a big one. Interestingly the generation of players now has grown up in a world where their fellow students have been "coming out" since high school and can clearly deal with it in the locker room; the exit polls in the 2012 presidential election showed a huge majority in support of gays in everything among first time voters, so this really confirms the acceptance. You've made the point, in many contexts, such as religion and politics, that if a guy can play the game he will be accepted. That's obiously the case.

George Vecsey

2/19/2014 03:19:55 am

Hansen, great to hear from you. It's a reasonable question, the timing by his lawyer.
The part I worry about is that scouts are now saying he wasn't on their A List to begin with.
I read an ESPN survey that over half the 50 players who responded said they heard homophobic comments last season, in an NFL locker. Coaches use it...it's a device. will take some cracking, but I don't see it coming from the leadership in the NFL.
GV

Hansen Alexander

2/19/2014 12:26:04 pm

George, he was all set to announce that he was gay BEFORE the season, but decided to wait until the season ended. Which he did. Although the original announcement was to be made in a graduate student newspaper, your former employer, along with SI, was a beneficiary. Made sense to do it now. Would have been more awkward this week at the Combine. As one who graded college players for the first time this year, I don't think Sam's orientation status will affect where he's drafted. Initially CBSsports and some others dropped him down a bit for fear of the reaction, but as a classic "tweener" between defensive end build and linebacker, he's most likely best suited as a third down rusher anyway. I've thought he would go anywhere from the 3rd to the 5th round and I don't think that will change. Whoever drafts him will rally around him and protect him, as the players at Missouri did.

George Vecsey

2/20/2014 12:52:59 am

a fair chance, that's all.
you know this stuff...
GV

Hansen Alexander

2/20/2014 09:24:15 am

I don't know where my head was when I wrote the above, yesterday, George, because where I think Sam should be drafted is irrelevant. Your point was that his gayness has driven down his draft stock, and I should have been focused on that, to be specific, he's been knocked out of the 2nd round and into the third. Nevertheless, I believe it is not so much that he is gay in the larger picture, but that there seems to be a tacit understanding among 32 franchises to take the opportunity, such as with Manti Te'o last year regarding his phantom girlfriend, to use any excuse to jump on the opportunity to deflate a player's value. The conservative teams who are opposed to taking chances can feel good about their narrow mindedness and the more open teams can jump on a bargain.

George Vecsey

2/20/2014 10:25:43 am

Hansen, as you know, I don't follow NFL as closely as some other leagues, so I can't really address where Sam should be rated. You always hear about athletes who have a good combine or a bad one. But we also hear stories about college players being asked by coaches and personnel types if they like girls. Very subtle. That sounds like big-time sports. I am sure MLB and NBA execs have looked the other way about talented players. Not sure pro football, the world of the manly men, and the high-testosterone commercials, can let it go. GV

Hansen Alexander

2/21/2014 08:13:57 am

George, there may be players who won't want to let their manhood go, in their youthful eyes, but Commissioner Goodell is, after all, an attorney, and very tuned into the fact that anti homo phobic behavior, comments, etc, can get you sued these days and the NFL is more interested right now in marketing to more consumers who may not be even interested in the game than it is in upholding values of a previous century. The major civil rights cases, and later statutory laws, were based on the impact of segregation in the market place as a bad influence, and the gay issue is a marketplace argument, too. Stereotypes aside of gays not being interested in football, the NFL does not want to insult ANY possible customers. Or to quote my late father, "times change and times don't much care if certain people agree with the changes or not."

George Vecsey

2/22/2014 03:59:03 am

your father was right...thanks...GV

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