I hope Michael Sam flames out in the NFL

[imac_21]

I only read the first two pages or so, so please forgive me if this has already been brought up, but here's my problem with the Sam documentary.

At the combine, I believe during his first media session following his coming out, he said the following:

"Well, heck yeah, I just wish you would just say, 'Hey, Michael Sam, how's football going?' I would love to give the answer to that question. But it is what it is. I just wish you guys will see me as Michael Sam the football player, instead of as Michael Sam the gay football player."

He doesn't want to be known as the gay football player. But this documentary he's doing with Oprah seems to contradict that. This isn't TMZ just following him around with a camera against his will. He has agreed to allow the cameras to film him and to have his story told. I assume it isn't the story of "Michael Sam the SEC defensive player of the year who fell to the 7th round of the draft," I assume it's the story of "Michael Sam, the gay football player." If he doesn't want that label, he shouldn't be marketing that side of him.

If he wanted his story told, I'm sure the Rams would have been a good candidate for Hard Knocks with Sam's presence on the team. And I'm sure Hard Knocks producers are smart enough to build around his presence. Instead he went out and negotiated his own TV deal with an outside network. I haven't read anywhere if the TV deal was established before or after the draft, but I assume it was before, and he sat on the information. Why sit on it? Presumably because he and his team feared it would negatively affect his draft stock. So this is a well executed, somewhat covert, plan he has put in place to monetize not "Michael Sam the football player," but "Michael Sam the gay football player." The guy he doesn't want to be viewed as.

I don't want to speak for the other people that have spoken out against Sam's actions in this thread, but had he not made the comment quoted above I would have no problem with anything he's done. However, given the quote from the combine (linked below) combined with the surprise announcement of his TV show immediately following the draft, it seems like a well executed plan to maximize his sexuality-related income.

By asking the media not to focus on it, Oprah now has "first access" to a lot of stuff that may have been revealed leading up to the draft if the media chose to find out who Michael Sam is besides "football player".

Michael Sam wants to be known for play only - NFL.com

 

[BINGO]

I only read the first two pages or so, so please forgive me if this has already been brought up, but here's my problem with the Sam documentary.

At the combine, I believe during his first media session following his coming out, he said the following:

"Well, heck yeah, I just wish you would just say, 'Hey, Michael Sam, how's football going?' I would love to give the answer to that question. But it is what it is. I just wish you guys will see me as Michael Sam the football player, instead of as Michael Sam the gay football player."

He doesn't want to be known as the gay football player. But this documentary he's doing with Oprah seems to contradict that. This isn't TMZ just following him around with a camera against his will. He has agreed to allow the cameras to film him and to have his story told. I assume it isn't the story of "Michael Sam the SEC defensive player of the year who fell to the 7th round of the draft," I assume it's the story of "Michael Sam, the gay football player." If he doesn't want that label, he shouldn't be marketing that side of him.

If he wanted his story told, I'm sure the Rams would have been a good candidate for Hard Knocks with Sam's presence on the team. And I'm sure Hard Knocks producers are smart enough to build around his presence. Instead he went out and negotiated his own TV deal with an outside network. I haven't read anywhere if the TV deal was established before or after the draft, but I assume it was before, and he sat on the information. Why sit on it? Presumably because he and his team feared it would negatively affect his draft stock. So this is a well executed, somewhat covert, plan he has put in place to monetize not "Michael Sam the football player," but "Michael Sam the gay football player." The guy he doesn't want to be viewed as.

I don't want to speak for the other people that have spoken out against Sam's actions in this thread, but had he not made the comment quoted above I would have no problem with anything he's done. However, given the quote from the combine (linked below) combined with the surprise announcement of his TV show immediately following the draft, it seems like a well executed plan to maximize his sexuality-related income.

By asking the media not to focus on it, Oprah now has "first access" to a lot of stuff that may have been revealed leading up to the draft if the media chose to find out who Michael Sam is besides "football player".

Michael Sam wants to be known for play only - NFL.com

Well said!! But I am not going to issue this post a thumbs up - I don't wan to be fine by the NFL or be labeled as a bigot by the LGBTQ community.

 

[-AC-]

Player on St. Louis Rams says Michael Sam show a potential distraction - ESPN

A player on the St. Louis Rams, speaking on condition of anonymity, says Michael Sam's upcoming reality show on the Oprah Winfrey Network could potentially cause friction within the team.

Clyde, you don't happen to "play" for the Rams do you?

 

[Red_Chaos]

Player on St. Louis Rams says Michael Sam show a potential distraction - ESPN

A player on the St. Louis Rams, speaking on condition of anonymity, says Michael Sam's upcoming reality show on the Oprah Winfrey Network could potentially cause friction within the team.

Clyde, you don't happen to "play" for the Rams do you?

if he does i want that autograph

 

[Excel]

I am going to end up hating Sam, not because he is gay. I won't hate him for who he is either. I'll end up hating him for the same reason I hated Tim Tebow.
Sam isn't just becoming a distraction to his team. He is becoming a distraction to all the sports networks etc. All the overboard coverage of him is distracting from the sports networks covering damn sports, which is why I watch them in the first place. I don't watch ESPN, or NFL network for social commentary. At least Oparah's network is were this kind of thing belongs. Let it be non entertaining over on her network, and I'll feel free not to watch it.
Him being gay is a non issue for me. Him being a hypocrite just makes watching the coverage worse.
On the bright side however when it came around time for him to be drafted, at least they were not talking about JM every ten seconds.

 

[whysies]

I am going to end up hating Sam, not because he is gay. I won't hate him for who he is either. I'll end up hating him for the same reason I hated Tim Tebow.
Sam isn't just becoming a distraction to his team. He is becoming a distraction to all the sports networks etc. All the overboard coverage of him is distracting from the sports networks covering damn sports, which is why I watch them in the first place. I don't watch ESPN, or NFL network for social commentary. At least Oparah's network is were this kind of thing belongs. Let it be non entertaining over on her network, and I'll feel free not to watch it.
Him being gay is a non issue for me. Him being a hypocrite just makes watching the coverage worse.
On the bright side however when it came around time for him to be drafted, at least they were not talking about JM every ten seconds.

If he really is being a hypocrite or just cashing in that's one thing but you can't blame him for all the media coverage.

He can't be in front of the camera and behind the camera at the same time. If you think he's an attention whore or whatever then by all means hate him for being an attention whore. But don't hate him because he's somehow distracting sports networks from covering other stories. That's on the networks themselves, to say he is responsible for what is put on TV makes no sense.

 

[redseat]

I have nothing against being gay, lesbian, straight, what ever but to me Sam is making this out to be a media circus and not about football. Ok, he came out as a gay man playing football, I am completely fine with that but why do we need this "thrown" in our faces?

Sure it take a lot of guts to come out and I commend him for doing so but Look at Collins in the NBA..... He came out.... Did his talk with the media BUT made it about BASKETBALL, which is clearly NOT what Sam is doing! He wants it to be about playing football and he says he's in it because he should have been drafted higher, yada yada but in reality he's doing this SOLEY to put a team on edge (The Rams) about possibly cutting him or not playing him.

 

[germanjohn]

In a way I'm glad the 49ers didn't draft him. Can't imagine the nightmare that will be on the Rams hands if he gets cut.

Won't be a big deal. Look at the woman kicker from the combine. Obviously they're not the same case, but the situations are the same in that you couldn't make a huge uproar if they don't make the League. As a 7th round pick, Sam isn't being looked at as a huge contributor, and the Rams are pretty solid on the DL anyway, so it would be very reasonable why he could be cut before the season. Then the NFL could say he got his shot, he failed, and that's that. End of story. Nobody else picks him up and he fizzles out over time.

 

[gkekoa]

The man could not make it as an NFL player and he was smart enough to see it.


So he decided to increase his celebrity and his bill-fold by declaring to be gay.


It will be funny when the world finds out he's not really gay and it's all an act to make money. That would be a feat and prove America has become all about social experiments and not about substance.

 

[germanjohn]

The man could not make it as an NFL player and he was smart enough to see it.


So he decided to increase his celebrity and his bill-fold by declaring to be gay.


It will be funny when the world finds out he's not really gay and it's all an act to make money. That would be a feat and prove America has become all about social experiments and not about substance.

I dunno meng. He did kiss another dude on TV. I don't think it's social manipulation. But then again, if kissing a dude once in front of a camera got me a chance to land a contract with an NFL team, I'd probably do it.

 

[whysies]

You guys seem really upset that Sam might make some money off this. I'm just curious, how much money has he made by deciding to come out to the public?

Also, I'm assuming that whatever he will be making by capitalizing on this strategic decision will outweigh all the negative press, hate mail, homophobic slurs, etc. that he will endure, yes?

 

[CalamityX11]

I think the majority are upset over his contradiction.... saying he doesn't want to be known as an openly gay football player but looks like now he is exploiting or cashing in due to his sexual orientation than football itself...

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Unfortunately we are in the times that being the first to come out in such a position is such a big deal... The question I want answered is if this documentary was really sam's choice... Not saying he didn't have the final decision, but who would say no after being harassed and shown the money??

We all know the media can do that...

He might want to be seen one way, but I think he is smart enough to realize he wont be, and because of it he will always be open for ridicule more than any other football player...

I just really want to know if he wanted to become this media whore, if he just became it because it was forced upon him...

 

[AU_Fever]

I think the majority are upset over his contradiction.... saying he doesn't want to be known as an openly gay football player but looks like now he is exploiting or cashing in due to his sexual orientation than football itself...

You absolutely correct. I hope he still succeeds in the NFL, but he acts like he doesn't want all these attention and then agrees on a documentary makes him a hypocrite.

 

[CalamityX11]

while yes its true, if someone is throwing cash at you and throwing up the "making progress" speech/sell, then yes you can see why a person would accept or "give in"

however I would say it would speak volumes to his words and commitment had he decline this deal and reinforced the idea of Michael Sam the football player.

Honestly Michael Sam the football player should be no different than Michael Sam the gay football player. It shouldn't be perceived as two identities. Accept him for who he is and what he can bring to the football field. He's the same person on and off the field(at least he should be).

We on the outside will perceive it as a media attention/distraction etc.... his camp will view it as an opportunity to educate and debunk myths of the LGBT community if there were any... etc....

 

[MilkSpiller22]

You absolutely correct. I hope he still succeeds in the NFL, but he acts like he doesn't want all these attention and then agrees on a documentary makes him a hypocrite.

Again, not sure how much of a contradiction it is if it wasn't really up to him... He was a 7th round pick, why would he ever turn down big bucks... especially with the media hounding him...


its not even the contradiction that we have a problem with, it is the media coverage on this... It would just be nice to know if this was what he WANTED or not... But we will never find that out...

 

[CalamityX11]

Again, not sure how much of a contradiction it is if it wasn't really up to him... He was a 7th round pick, why would he ever turn down big bucks... especially with the media hounding him...


its not even the contradiction that we have a problem with, it is the media coverage on this... It would just be nice to know if this was what he WANTED or not... But we will never find that out...

He's going to have a say whether to veto or approve cameramen following him... a network here n there can pitch all these offers/ideas but they can't follow through on them without his consent.

he may not initially asked for this, but he's condoning to it which contradicts his earlier words/statement from beforehand.

 

[RoboticDreams]

He's going to have a say whether to veto or approve cameramen following him... a network here n there can pitch all these offers/ideas but they can't follow through on them without his consent.

he may not initially asked for this, but he's condoning to it which contradicts his earlier words/statement from beforehand.

My understanding is that the Rams aren't gonna allow Oprah's film crew on their facility. He's gonna have to do the doc on his own time.

 

[Jack_John_Mark]

I hope he finds himself a nice young man and reproduces......oh wait

 

[RoboticDreams]

I hope he finds himself a nice young man and reproduces......oh wait

That's not important, you haven't heard?