Sam the Ram
The St. Louis Rams made history today by drafting Michael Sam in the 7th and final round of the NFL amateur draft. Sam, who played his college ball near the Gateway City at the University of Missouri, becomes the first openly-gay NFL player.
I don't want to say that the people who run NFL teams still have a problem with gay athletes, and I'm thrilled that he was chosen by my favorite team and their head coach Jeff Fisher (whose words for the moment were perfect), but the collegiate star almost went undrafted, and that's an almost preposterous circumstance. Sam was a unanimous All-American this past season, the co-defensive player of the year in the Southeastern Conference, the premier power conference he led in both sacks and tackles for a loss. He put that impressive senior season together while being "out" the entire time to his coaches and teammates.
Yet all we heard since his public declaration that he was gay three months ago was that he was undersized for his position on the defensive line for the NFL and under-athletic to move to a linebacker position. A league that can't shut up about how important the intangibles and a player's heart are to his success-- the league that did everything in its public relations power to make a star out of Tim Tebow-- soon after Sam's announcement found major "physical" faults with the defensive player that had the most impressive collegiate resume among this year's draft-eligibles. Few would go on record publicly, but plenty of "anonymous" team executives warned the sporting public that Sam's situation might cause a distraction to his new team-- this from a league that endures almost daily headlines involving player arrests and incidences of domestic violence, a league we know for a fact was, last year, discreetly asking its draft-eligibles about their private romantic lives.
In the draft, Sam finished only eight spots away from being "Mr. Irrelevant" as the last player selected, and many of us had become convinced that he wouldn't be selected at all. (Over the previous six NFL drafts, incidentally, the lowest that an SEC defensive player of the year has been drafted was the first round, 17th overall selection.) The most humorous moment of the three-day draft festivity for me this year up to that point was in the sixth round today when the New England Patriots chose a defensive end (same position as Sam) that played for the college of Concordia-St. Paul, an institution of higher education in Minnesota with fewer than 3,000 students enrolled and the following opponents on their 2013 football schedule-- Minot State, Bemidji State, St. Cloud State, MSU Moorhead, Minnesota State, Upper Iowa, Sioux Falls, Wayne State, Augustana (S.D.), Southwest Minnesota State, and Winona State. I guess the SEC's best defensive player was considered more of a gamble than this guy.
Sam joins an already-formidable "front seven" of pass-rushers on the Rams' defense. Congrats to him, Jeff Fisher, and the entire team for making history today. One has to shake his or her head at the individual decisions made by the other clubs to pass on him, but again as a Rams fan, this is a cherry on top of a big bowl of ice cream with Sam's historic selection. What a steal as the 249th pick! Gay marriage comes to Missouri! Michael Sam wedded to the Rams!
posted by CM @ 8:38 PM
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