TheIndustry.biz gives KUDOS to NFL Prospect Michael Sam. Sam is the first kid in his family to attend college. The defensive lineman is projected to be chosen in the early rounds of the NFL draft in May. (Great timing… what NFL team wants to be viewed as homophobic towards a stellar player in today’s climate?) Coaches at the University of Missouri had divided players into small groups at a preseason football practice last year for a team-building exercise. The exercise asked players to talk about themselves, where they grew up, why they chose Missouri and what others might not know about them (sounds like pre damage control, perhaps the coaches had heard something) As Michael Sam, a defensive lineman, began to speak, he balled up a piece of paper in his hands. “I’m gay,” he said. With that, Mr. Sam became the first publicly gay player headed towards the National Football League. “I looked in their eyes, and they just started shaking their heads like, finally, he came out,” Sam stated Sunday in an interview with The New York Times, the first time he had spoken publicly about his sexual orientation. Growing up in Hitchcock, Tex (near Houston) he is the 7th of 8 children to JoAnn and Michael Sam. Three of his siblings have died and two brothers are in prison. Raised mostly by his mother (wow, that’s rare for a black kid) he spent some years with another family and all have been supportive of him being the first at something else, the first NFL prospect to admit that he is gay. Sam states he wanted to come out after an event where he was not aware so many people knew he was gay (how much do you want to bet it was a black event where he was chided by black people name calling).
