Michael Sam is Gay; What’s the Big Deal?

Michael Sam Talking to the Media

For a second, I thought we were living back in 1984. But with one blink of the eye, I realized we are still in the year 2014. In a progressive society that has seen the legalization of same sex marriages, I’m still scratching my head wondering what is the big deal with a professional football player being gay (Michael Sam in particular).

 Instead of breaking down film, sizing up his physical attributes and debating whether or not Sam will be a “beast” or a “bust” as an NFL player, we are subjected to placing bets on whether he will be drafted by a team because of his sexual orientation. What does who he’s dating have to do with how many plays for a loss he’ll get per season or if he can make an open field tackle? If you want to poll the NFL players and coaches, the proposed question should be “If a gay player would make you a Super Bowl contender, would you want him on your team? Any real player or coach who is about winning should hopefully say yes. Sam will get paid to do what every other player gets paid to do and that’s “make plays.” It doesn’t matter if he is being championed for being brave in “coming out of the closet” before NFL Draft day. If he can’t make the transition to the next level, he won’t be around long. Then he will become just another novelty story, a brief blip in history. That is the real story.