Being Gay in Professional Sports
It's time for the new NFL season to kickoff, which literally means for some of us, another year of fantasy football! Coming into the season what seems like the talk of the NFL is the emergence of a Rookie Defensive Lineman, Michael Sam. Sam is the first openly gay NFL player who captivated/disgusted America by kissing his boyfriend on national television. Prior to Sam, Jason Collins, a NBA player, became the first professional athlete to come out as being gay. As our culture shifts in having gay athletes in professional sports, here is my take on it.
Let's start with Michael Sam.
Recently, Tony Dungy made some comments that sparked some
outrage from people. Dungy said that he would not draft Michael Sam because of
the unwanted media attention he might bring to the team. Knowing his stance
against gay marriage, people were quick to call him out for his comments. In response, Dungy clarified
his comments about the matter. Although this did calm some people, others just
used it to call him a hypocrite;
saying that he gave Michael Vick a chance to play, but not Michael
Sam. How I look at it, Dungy's comments were not malicious
towards Sam, he simply said he would not draft him because of the media
attention he bring. If you look at it, it's kind of the same reason why teams
are hesitant in bringing in Tim Tebow. It's because of the media attention he
brings. If I were in charge of drafting players, I would not exclude Michael Sam
from being drafted. I would evaluate if he can help my team win. If he can,
great, I'm all down for drafting him. Drafting a player should be about merits;
whether his gay, straight, religious or not.
In recent years, Jason Collins became the first open gay professional athlete, which cause a hail storm of media attention. There wasn't one news station or magazine that did not talk about Collins. He was by far the most talked about person in America at that time. He wasn't popular because of his play on the court, but rather what his sexual orientation was. Just because he opens up about his sexual preference, he gets special attention?
Athletes who are straight don't come out and receive special treatment just because their straight. I like how former Atlanta Falcons player, Asante Samuel said a year ago, "Straight people are not announcing they're straight, so why does everybody have to announce their sexuality or whatever?" he later goes on to say, "Who says you had to announce what you are and that has to be talked about because you're playing a sport? Talk about the sport, how good you do in the sport." Whether you support gay athletes or not, shouldn't it be about the skill of the player, rather than their sexuality?
I hope that in the future as more gay athlete's open up, we will be able to focus on their skills rather than their sexual orientation.
As always, comments are welcomed!
