Last week I posed a question, following the news of two college athletes who came out. I wondered if jocks can be a driving force to end homophobia. The post was well received and continues to be retweeted heavily. These two jocks at small and community colleges represent a massive way to influence younger fans and their hometowns as well as everyone at their colleges.
Following this story, Scott Cooper also a college athlete came out suggesting that there are far more gay and lesbian jocks out there, whose teammates know, even if their disclosure isn’t fully public.
Yesterday, Michael Sam, a defensive lineman expected to be a NFL draft pick came out as gay pushing the issue of jocks and homophobia to a whole new level. While it was rumored that there are active playing pro football players who would come out last year, it never materialized, making Sam’s announcement precedent setting.
Already some backlash has begun which only illustrates how irrational homophobia in pro sports is.
“I don’t think football is ready for [an openly gay player] just yet,” said an NFL player personnel assistant. “In the coming decade or two, it’s going to be acceptable, but at this point in time it’s still a man’s-man game. To call somebody a [gay slur] is still so commonplace. It’d chemically imbalance an NFL locker room and meeting room.”
In other words, an NFL locker room is different than other football locker rooms. Even though Michael Sam was out to his team, the NFL is different and homophobic comments keep the NFL balanced.
Consider the excuse offered by the personnel assistant:
In the coming decade or two, it’s going to be acceptable, but at this point in time it’s still a man’s-man game.
Does this mean that at some point, football will not be a man’s-man game, or is the implication that that it will take a decade or two for the NFL to recognize that even gays can play a man’s-man game? Will gays of a decade from now be different than gays today?
There are two stories in the Michael Sam announcement. First, the awesome story that Sam becomes the first openly gay player when entering the NFL We don’t know what will happen in the draft, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if the NFL really is stuck back in the 50’s and Sam will be overlooked. But he made history yesterday, and there is no turning that back.
The other story sitting just out of sight, is that there are already gay and bi players in the NFL. Could be one or it could be dozens, but they are there. What will they do because of Sam’s announcement as well as with the whatever the NFL puts forward like the above garbage regarding homophobia, locker rooms and chemical balance? Will they continue to live and play football in the closet and acquiesce to the homophobia? Time will tell.