/r/NFL reacts to the drafting of first openly-gay player. Slapfights and downvotes erupt all over the thread. (np.reddit.com)
SubredditDrama
189 ups - 73 downs = 116 votes
162 comments submitted at 06:23:43 on May 11, 2014 by Calls_it_Lost_Wages
/r/NFL reacts to the drafting of first openly-gay player. Slapfights and downvotes erupt all over the thread. (np.reddit.com)
SubredditDrama
189 ups - 73 downs = 116 votes
162 comments submitted at 06:23:43 on May 11, 2014 by Calls_it_Lost_Wages
There's a lot of scrambling over each other to announce how little they care and how apathetic they are about his sexuality; it's actually louder than the people admitting they do care.
I have no horses in this race, but I really don't get what the big deal is. Michael Sam is gay and a football player. I know that HuffPo was going nuts with this the other night. So what? We ought to be evaluating Sam based on his ability to play football, not on his sexual orientation.
He's the first openly gay player to be drafted into the nfl. He's breaking down barriers and making it easier for other people who come after him. This is a very big deal.
I don't think Michael Sam wants to make it a big deal though. From what I've heard in interviews, he seems to just want to be treated like everyone else, and evaluated on his own merit as an athlete. I think the best thing we can do to encourage others to be open about their sexuality is to not make a huge deal about it, and treat and judge them like we do every other athlete. That's why I don't like all the hype and focus on Sam's sexuality, as opposed to his athleticism.
Yeah, that's what every gay person says. I know, because I'm gay. We all wish for a world in which nobody gives two shits about our sexuality. But we know that we're largely defined because of it, and almost always as some sort of token minority or rallying point, at very best (evidence of total depravity, at worst).
That's the really cool part about being gay. Doesn't matter if you want a private life. Even the people that approve of you or tolerate you need to contextualize your sexuality for their own reasons. It's like a constant low-grade (or high-grade, if you're actually breaking down barriers like Sam) unconsentual exhibitionism. Everyone is always looking. Everyone cares. Even when they say they don't, they do.
Being visibly gay is still largely taboo, and people are going to gawp.
> This is a very big deal.
Indeed. Especially since the sports-watching crowd tends on average to be a bit more conservative than the rest.
Meh
Ah the empathy of heterosexuals, how I admire their ability to break out of their selfish mindsets and appreciate things that may not be relevant to them. So inspiring, so admirable.
People don't give a shit about every single milestone gays go through. The selfish ones are those that think we have some obligation to give a shit.
No, expecting you to care that a minority's situation has improved is not selfish. You not caring about it is self-centered. You feeling the need to make sure everyone knows how much you don't care is childish.
>"I have no horses in this race, but I really don't get what the big deal is. Jackie Robinson is black and a baseball player. I know that the NYT was going nuts with this the other night. So what? We ought to be evaluating Jackie based on his ability to play baseball, not his skin color."
-The Iron Phallus, 1947
Fortunately, Jackie Robinson was a darn good player, and comparing the plight of LGBTs in 2014 to African-Americans in the '40s is a bit disingenuous.
Jackie Robinson was a very good baseball player. Michael Sam is not a good football player.
Also, you cannot compare the attitudes towards black people in the 40s and 50s to the attitudes towards gay people now. They're entirely different
He was great in college, chosen as the SEC defensive player of the year. The only things NFL teams are hesitant about are his size (225 lbs) and his 40 time was a bit low at 4.91 seconds. He is definitely better than a 7th round pick, probably 3rd or 4th would have been more appropriate.
Sam weighed in at 261. His 40 time was horrible for his position, and he is undersized for a 4-3 defensive end. He has a good first step, but he can't turn the corner against quicker tackles and his closing burst isn't very good. Overall, he graded out as a 6th or 7th rounder for a reason.
To be fair, though, all those attributes are ones that he had when he was DPOY in the SEC, a conference not light on defensive talent. It reminds me of a quote about economists: "someone who sees something in practice and wonders if it would work in theory."
They gameplanned more for Kony Ealy than they did for Sam, so Sam would clean up a lot of plays that Ealy would blow up. Other small thing, he beat up on inferior talent, he won't have that advantage against NFL tackles. Maybe he will be good, I don't know, but he was in a good situation and generally was a good effort player. Otherwise, I don't see too much he has going for him.
No, for 225, a 4.91 is fucking horrible. There are players who are 225 and can run 4.4s That's way better than Sam. He is the size of a RB (One of the weakest but fastest players).
Well he's been recorded as running a 4.68 while working out for other teams. Seems like it was just a bad combine.
Still really shitty
Plus most of his sacks came against pretty bad teams. He only had two sacks or something against SEC teams iirc.
That's incorrect. Of his 11.5 sacks in 2013, 7.5 of them were against SEC teams.
>I have no horses in this race, but I really don't get what the big deal is. Barack Obama is black and a president. I know that the democrats were going nuts with this the other night. So what? We ought to be evaluating Obama based on his ability to lead the country, not his skin color.
Better?
Actually, uh, no.
Because you can break barriers for the sake of breaking barriers in pro sports. If you sign the gay guy who sucks, and he proceeds to suck, then the worst thing that happens is you lose some football games.
If you break barriers for the sake of breaking barriers when determining the leader of your country, the stakes are way, way higher.
So the bit you quoted is actually spot-on accurate
The entire problem with the quote is that it completely misses the gravity of electing a black president in a country where they didn't even have equal rights until very recently. Obama was born before the civil rights act was passed.
Sure, he's judged on merit primarily, but to act like the fact he is black isn't a big deal is very disingenuous.
But it's a really dangerous precedent to start glorifying leaders based on the color of their skin.
We need to ac like his melanin count isn't a big deal, because otherwise it could start to bring the whole "You're racist because you don't like Obama" aspect into it
He's not glorified for just being black, that "glorification" is for being a testament to social progress in America (which, if anything glorifies voters) and for him being able to overcome the racism that still lingers in our country.
It's still dangerous. He's probably the person we should pay the least attention to their skin color
Michael Sam is a pretty damn good football player. He was expected to go in the 3rd or 4th rounds initially, but he didn't do very well at the combine.
I agree he's a little small for a DE and a little slow for a LB, and he's not top 5 or even top 10 in either of those categories. But he's definitely in the top 25 of this years DE's.
> He was expected to go in the 3rd or 4th rounds initially, but he didn't do very well at the combine.
3rd round would have been really pushing it. He wouldn't have gone higher than top of the 4th even with a good combine, and after that he dropped down to 5th or later.
> Michael Sam is a pretty damn good football player.
I mean compared to every football player in the US? Yeah.
For the NFL? No
How do we know though? It's not like the kid has actually played in the nfl....
Tom Brady was a sixth round pick
that's my favorite modern sports story, it's like a fairy tale for little boys
Tom Brady is the go-to story, yes, doesn't mean Michael Sam will be bad. Yeah, I'm not holding my breath, but still, there's no proof he'll suck. Richard Sherman was a fifth rounder, Donald Driver was a seventh rounder,Terell Davis was a sixth rounder, Shannon Sharpe was a seventh rounder all these guys were told there games won't transition well... It's not easy, and it probably won't happen, but that doesn't mean it's simply dismissible.
He's pretty much a one trick pony. He has a very good first step off the ball, but he is very slow and can not cover downfield
The first thing that my brother responded to me (a rather disinterested party in NFL related topics) when this happened was: "OMG another 98 Jersey! YESS"
Granted, he's a die-hard football fan, and he's really up-to-date on everything. But yeah, its a pretty big fucking deal, especially since sports tends to front-run public acceptance of things by a couple years.