Michael Sams, quite a story. SEC is the first conference with a openly gay player. Interesting that he came out to his teammates and it stopped with them. Not a single one of them violated his confidence and called TMZ or tweeted it or anything. I find that amazing myself. There is a big story on him in today's Chronicle it's a good read. Unfortunately you have to be a digital subscriber to the Chronicle to read it. But in a nutshell his story is one of a dysfunctional family with brothers in prison, brother shot, didn't play football till the HS coaches noticed he was the biggest kid in middle school and made him a mascot for the HS football team to get him interested. Was a 2 star recruit who wanted to go to A&M or Texas but got no interest from them. Ends up an All American. They were talking about him yesterday on my sports drive time show and one of the hosts said that he ranking on several draft websites dropped as soon as the story hit the wires. How stupid. I hope NFL GM's look at how the kid plays and not whether or not he likes men or women when drafting. If his Missouri teammates are a cross section of today's athletes then they don't really care about his being gay, just that he be a good teammate and player.
For me, the biggest aspect of the story is that he was a 2-star athlete who became an All-American. The gay issue? In today's world, it's - or should be - a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. We'll see soon enough.
Sam <t>Well I hope the young man does well if he makes it to the NFL. I'm not quite sure how this goes over in the locker room but I don't really care who he has sex with. I don't agree with that lifestyle but he's free to do what wants.</t>
http://www.cbssports.com/general/writer/gregg-doyel/24449523/constant-media-attention-could-derail-sams-career-just-like-tebows So this writer surmises as I have that Tebow's exile from the NFL has as much to do with his over the top media attention as it does with his accuracy in the June passing drills.....
The only connection I can see is that Tebow was not a good passer and they say Sam's is small for a DE and slow for OLB. So it's their physical limitations that will dominate their fate, but the media will obsess about them because they get page views or attention for their columns/shows.
I will say this..... they are both noted and awarded for their winning attitude and ability to help their team to a victory. But if Sam does get that media attention to the extent that this writer suggests then whatever physical limitations he has will be his achilles heel..... a reason that will be given as his bench ticket.... a reason that he will not play in the NFL.
In college their limitations were not a problem, Tebow and Sams were terrific college players, but the NFL is unforgiving when it comes to physical limitations. Leadership that's great, but if you aren't an NFL level QB in terms of passing then leadership doesn't count for much. How many great HS players who are terrific kids, just like these two guys, but when they arrived on campus at Fla or Notre Dame or Ohio State just couldn't make the leap to the next level. I'm sure sometimes those kids think they weren't given the chance, that their hype doomed them from the start. But bottom line is that many HS stars just don't cut it in college for lots of different reasons, and many College stars don't make it in the NFL for simple reason is that they whatever flaws they had in their game whether is was their arm if they are a QB, or their speed if they are a skill position player or their height or you name it. Tebow was a media circus not just because he was a great college player but also because he wore his christian faith on his sleeve. Michael Sams will likely be a media circus because of his being openly gay. He's most likely a great team mate and a leader, but if he can't rush the passer as a DE or cover a back or TE as an OLB he's not going to make it.
I wll always go back to the fact that as a starting Qb in the NFL Tebow took a bunch of losers and turned them in to winners. The previous starting Qb with the same rag tag players had a horrible record as the starter. However Tebow did it.... pretty or not..... he did it. And it set a winning table up for a guy who indeed does have all the tools.... and can impress in June passing drills.... Peyton Manning. But I doubt Manning even thinks of going to Denver if Orton had remained at Qb and the Broncos record that year was something like 5-11.....
That Denver team won based on an incredibly tough defense. Much like the that old Ravens Team with Trent Dilfer at QB, he was not a good QB but they had an epic defense and won the Super Bowl.
That "incredibly tough" defense bumbled their way to a 1-4 record with Orton and were 8-5 with Tebow. I guess they were on the field standing next to Tebow when he engineered some of those scintillating comebacks that basically made Tebowing a common phrase. I know they were indeed on the field in the second playoff game when Tom Brady and the Pats virtually scored at will in the first half of that game in Foxboro.
Long ago I made a long post blowing hole after hole in your attack on that Denver defense. To keep it short this time, that wasn't the same defense. The next year, they had several key players returning from injuries and they drafted very well. The bottom line is, that was a much better defense the next season. The NFL has a long history of guys with great, or even HOF, careers who didn't have the tale of the tape on their side. The difference is, they turned out and Sunday and dominated. That is what Tebow never did. Even when they won, they seemingly won in spite of him. Good kid, not an NFL QB. As for Sam, while I am quite happy there's an 'out' player in the NFL now, he's going to have to earn his chops in the trenches just like everyone else. It's a cruel and unforgiving league. Either you do it, or you go do something else.
Ummm.... it was all in the same year. 1-4 with Orton..... 8-5 with Tebow. Tebow's wins included 2 OT wins in which he was very much the catalyst and captain of the Ws plus another 2 or 3 comeback Ws in regulation in which he led game winning drives plus he threw the game winning OT stike vs. Pittsburgh in the playoff game. I watched every regular season game that he started on First Row Sports..... did you? The kid was certainly known in sports circles for what he did at Florida but he became a nationally known iconic figure....emulated on Saturday Night Live etc..... for what he did at Denver which was win in dramatic fashion.
I think so too George.... but it's a relevant thought that the writer of the article has to consider that Sams may have the same sort of media distractions as Tebow that eventually will work to keep him off the field. I will always defend the facts of Tebow's experience at Denver though because it was damn fun to watch and was not near the disaster that his detractors will forever remember incorrectly because of what happened in NY.
The Jets gave up a 4th and 6th round draft choice for Tebow. Now why after this first round draft choice led his team to the playoffs, was that the best offer? Maybe it had to do with talent. Maybe it's because he couldn't beat out Sanchez who couldn't beat out a rookie this year.