We saw a familiar face at the top of the pile this morning on Reddit. Ol' Dale is going viral as we speak. His opine on Michael Sam was impressive and draws on the irony of how the public accepts the blatant felonic wrongdoings of others in the NFL but cannot accept a gay man. Here is the link from Reddit:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olc5C4SXAYM&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Like Sturm says, unfortunately his place in the draft will be interpreted largely by those without proper understanding of the valuation of an NFL player. This will be the story that dominates the draft, no matter what.
We don't see it like Dale does necessarily. Yes, this is a huge story. The first active player to come out as gay within the wide world of sports in the USA, is a big deal. However, we don't see Sam as being patronized or abused for it. We don't think Sam is not being accepted in the NFL, its just a big deal since he is the first. People are confused about this, should we celebrate? Should we get pissed? Should we even be talking about it? His team mates in college apparently knew, and it was no big deal. How this never came out until Sam wanted it to, and the way he wanted it to, is impressive. The horse beaten story about his father is sad, and has given the media another thing to latch on to and drag this story out. While he apparently has little support within his family about this, the media and his peers around him have shown nothing but support from what we can tell.
Writing on sensitive topics like this is difficult. But lets be honest, you and I were becoming tiresome of that unfortunate picture of Jonny Weir on our homepage. So carry on, and let us know what you think.
Thanks for your comments Wasteland. I have a new respect for Dale Hansen after that rant. Excellent work on his part. Stay hard, Dale!
ReplyDeleteI like Dale, I like his takes on the hypocrisies in sports. But it seems to me the people who are going ga-ga over what he said are the same people who get upset when you equate homosexuality with aberrant behavior or criminal activity. Which is kinda what Dale did. You can't have it both ways.
ReplyDeleteIMO, Sam very wisely launched a pre-emptive strike. If all of his teammates knew he was gay, then the NFL scouts knew it. Now, if his draft position drops or he goes undrafted, it makes the NFL look bad. And the NFL doesn't want to appear homophobic. So any team that drafts him is going to have to keep him. If he ever gets released, it will be a crap storm of the highest order.
By all appearances he is a good football player. So somebody draft him and let's get on with it.
Dale Hansen is an American sportscaster, currently the weeknight sports anchor during the 6 pm and 10 pm newscasts on ABC's Dallas affiliate WFAA. I use to saw his show in these timings.
ReplyDeleteThank you for shariing
ReplyDelete