Sports and Society

We are at a point in history when a derogatory stereotype can be shattered.  Michael Sam, a defensive football player from Missouri, has publicly come out as being gay.  This presents a tremendous opportunity to thoroughly debunk a long-held, deeply ingrained stereotype, namely that all football players are raw meat eating, psychotic homophobes.

Several NFL player tweeted that they didn't have a problem with an openly gay football player.  Almost every quote mentioned on ESPN expressing doubts about whether an openly gay player would be accepted in the NFL came from nameless executives.  None of them said they wouldn't want a gay player on their teams; they all said that they didn't THINK a gay player would be accepted by athletes.

I’m not saying Michael Sam would be welcomed by every player in every locker room.  Given what Richie Incognito did to toughen up a fellow player who was straight, heaven knows what would happen if Sam was an inhabitant of the Miami Dolphins locker room.  But the coach of the Green Bay Packers said he’d be accepted there, and presumably other teams (not to foster another cliche, but maybe the San Francisco 49ers) would not have a problem with a gay player on the roster.

Maybe football players are more evolved than society gives them credit for.  Maybe young football players have been exposed to more openly gay performers, friends, and relatives than older NFL executives.  Maybe not 100% of football players are testosterone fueled idiots who instinctively hate gays, women and nerds.  Sure, there will be some haters; and maybe the percentage of football players harboring anti-gay feeling is higher than that of the general public.  But maybe that percentage is a lot smaller than people assume.

The most noteworthy thing about the whole Michael Sam story is that he came out to his teammates several months ago, and every single one of them respected his privacy and kept his secret.  This is at a time where teenage kids tweet every stupid thought that passes through their heads (oops, that’s another stereotype).  And yet an entire team of macho football players respected Michael Sam so much that not a single one disclosed his announcement. 

Attitudes about gays is notoriously generational.  Someone once said that all that has to happen for gay marriage to be voted into law in most states is a good flu epidemic that might thin the herd of elderly voters.  Ellen DeGeneres is hosting the Academy Awards next month; coming out didn’t hurt her career.  We’ve come a long way from the 1930’s when Hollywood studios ran brothels on their lots and required unmarried actors to “prove” they weren't gay with prostitutes once a week.

We shall have to see what happens with Michael Sam and the NFL draft, and if he is drafted how his presence is dealt with.  One thing is already obvious; societal attitudes towards gays have tipped so far that those who do have a problem with a gay football player are treading lightly and remaining anonymous.  Maybe they’re the ones who are now in a closet harboring a secret they dare not reveal.

Meanwhile, in college basketball, Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart was suspended three games for shoving a Texas Tech fan after the fan directed a comment towards Smart as he was getting up after falling into the crowd.  Smart said he thought he heard a racial taunt; evidence seems to indicate that the fan actually called him a “piece of crap.” 

I have two comments on the entire situation.  First, I am not one to condone violence, but if a 54 year old fat white guy says to a young, athletic African-American, “You’re a piece of crap,” shouldn’t he expect a lot more than a shove?  Can you imagine any context when a fat 54 year old white guy could go up to a young, athletic African American man, call him excrement, and violence would NOT ensue?  Either this guy is dumber than a sack of Texas dirt, or he felt that he was protected by Texas Tech and was thus free to hurl insults at the other team.

Second, both Smart and the fan used the same tired excuse in their apologies; both said that the action that they took “wasn't me.”  I am sick of people committing some heinous act, usually on camera so it can’t be denied, and then saying, “That’s not who I am.”  No, that’s EXACTLY who you are.  The Texas Tech fan is someone who loves to sit close to the court and yell insults at the athletes representing the other team (the idea that this is the first time he EVER yelled an insult at a member of the other team defies credibility), and there had been concerns about Smart’s previous incidents of displaying temper.  People, you are what you do.  I just wish someone would be caught punching an opposing player in the back of the head and apologize by saying, “I’m sorry I got caught.”

Sports is a microcosm of society.  Sometimes sports is ahead of the curve (Jackie Robinson) and sometimes it has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21^st century (instant replay in baseball).  Michael Sam proves we've come a long way; the Marcus Smart incident proves we have a long way to go.