Saturday, May 10, 2014

Have to Play Fair Again...

I was about 20 minutes from writing one of my most vitriolic posts ever.

I had resigned myself to a fate that I was certain of about three months ago, even though many draft boards had Michael Sam between rounds 3 and 5.

When I got to my computer after finishing my day's work at about 3:30 PM PDT, there were about 15 picks to go, the supplementals at the end of the NFL Draft, and Michael Sam of Missouri, the first openly-gay NFL Draft prospect, was still undrafted.

And then, as I was batting back some of the comment-homophobes on ESPN's comments on the article thereto (and, of course, they would never admit to it), I popped over to the NFL Draft ticker on FOX.

Michael Sam has been drafted, with a supplemental 7th-round pick to the St. Louis Rams, #249 overall, seven picks from Mr. Irrelevant.

(Boy, would that have been interesting...)

I think the FOX Sports brief comment (one is done on every player drafted) on their draft ticker once Sam was drafted says everything that needs to be said:

"No big deal. The NFL's first openly gay player has found a home! Actually, it is a big deal. A very awesome deal. Congratulations, Mr. Sam! Now get to work."

EDIT TO ADD 4:18 PM PDT 5/10: John McClain of the Houston Chronicle, a man with 35 years covering the NFL, said this in two tweets today:

Tweet 1: "I can honestly say in my 35 years of covering the draft, I've just witnessed a landmark moment. Congrats to Michael Sam."

Tweet 2: "Jeff Fisher is ideal coach for Michael Sam. Fisher is all business, no nonsense. He'll keep normalcy while others try to make it a circus."

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