You do realize the point that Elkington was trying to make there, right? ESPiN has gone wayyyyyy over the top promoting Michael Sam the GAY NFL prospect instead of Michael Sam the football player.
Upvote
0
-
Follow us on Twitter @buckeyeplanet and @bp_recruiting, like us on Facebook! Enjoy a post or article, recommend it to others! BP is only as strong as its community, and we only promote by word of mouth, so share away!
- Thread starter NFBuck
- Start date
You do realize the point that Elkington was trying to make there, right? ESPiN has gone wayyyyyy over the top promoting Michael Sam the GAY NFL prospect instead of Michael Sam the football player.
Taosman
Your Cousin In New Mexxico
ESPiN doesn't just report sporting stories. They make them! (maybe it's because Disney owns them?)
This is why many are watching ESPiN less. I watch then very little these days. They've "lost their way".
Does the ESPiN reporting help Sam in any way? Probably not. He just wants a chance to play football.
And hasn't athlete "coming out" stories become a "cliché"?
Upvote
0
Exactly my point and that has been my point since this thread and subject started. Let the guy play football already and let him sink or swim on the merits of his play, not what he's doing in the bedroom.
Upvote
0
Being gay or straight is not just about what somebody does in the bedroom. It's a part of a person's identity and something that straight people are free to share in any environment they enter. Gay people do not enjoy that sort of privilege in many professional or social environments. That's why this is a story - and it's not about what Michael Sam does in the privacy of his home, but the person he is when he's outside of his home. If you're tired of the story, it's not going to go away by people avoiding talking about it. That preserves the topic as "new" and "different". Instead, it fades into the background by being talked about so much that people have zero reaction to it anymore and acknowledge it as part of who he is when he's outside his home - the same way we do when straight people freely allude to that part of their identity.
FWIW, I think that for those very reasons this is a story that does need to be in the spotlight, and it needs to be covered extensively. That spotlight is part of the professional environment that Michael Sam is in, and that's the way most stories pertaining to the NFL are handled if we're honest. I mean, there is a year-round cable network dedicated to covering the league that only plays games on about 60 days out of the year. Everything about the NFL is oversaturated, so why should this be any different? I do think there's an aspect of the spotlight that is unsavory though, and that is the portion of it that is cast on others in Michael Sam's life. It seems to me there is a "gotcha" element to this story - people waiting for the first (or next) person to fuck up in the way they interact with or speak about Micheal Sam or this story. If we want people to respect Micheal Sam and assume the best of him, then we should also extend that courtesy to the people around him with regard to how they will handle the situation - unless they act otherwise.
FWIW, I think that for those very reasons this is a story that does need to be in the spotlight, and it needs to be covered extensively. That spotlight is part of the professional environment that Michael Sam is in, and that's the way most stories pertaining to the NFL are handled if we're honest. I mean, there is a year-round cable network dedicated to covering the league that only plays games on about 60 days out of the year. Everything about the NFL is oversaturated, so why should this be any different? I do think there's an aspect of the spotlight that is unsavory though, and that is the portion of it that is cast on others in Michael Sam's life. It seems to me there is a "gotcha" element to this story - people waiting for the first (or next) person to fuck up in the way they interact with or speak about Micheal Sam or this story. If we want people to respect Micheal Sam and assume the best of him, then we should also extend that courtesy to the people around him with regard to how they will handle the situation - unless they act otherwise.
Upvote
0
For as much as we, as Buckeye fans, wish ESPiN would just concentrate on the fucking sports they are allegedly there to cover instead of inserting all of the fluff and nonsense, it's interesting to see you take their side on a story such as this - the guy was allegedly a good football player in "America's best conference" - disregarding the fact that virtually all of his special stats came against crap. However, beyond that, the guy was going to be a no-name 4th round camp fodder pick before this announcement and yet, due to ESPiN's incessant reporting on the fact he's gay and not the reasons for his want to be in the NFL, no one really knows who or what Michael Sam is beyond being a gay football player who played at Mizzou and allegedly had the support of his parents (errr not according to his Dad) and his fellow players (well not if you read some of the twitter posts from his ex-teammates) and that assumes that the short-attention span fans in this country can say that if they even know that much.
Pretty pathetic if you ask me. He isn't being held up as an example or a hero, he's been made into a spectacle.
Where does the gay guy end and the football player begin? ESPiN seems to want to make that line so indistinguishable as to give itself a set piece type story if/when he gets cut and/or doesn't do much, to include, I'm sure, the screeching from such idiots as Rick Rielly and Jamele whateverhername is insinuating or outright accusing the team that does eventually cut him of homophobia, hatred and/or racism all wrapped into one.
ESPiN isn't doing this for anyone's sake or to further advance gay rights or whatever, they are doing this for views, eye-balls, but to make a future controversy out of nothing simply because there is no separating his coming out and being gay from his skills on the football field. It's a fucking travesty and I have to say I'm disappointed to see people falling for their shit.
Pretty pathetic if you ask me. He isn't being held up as an example or a hero, he's been made into a spectacle.
Where does the gay guy end and the football player begin? ESPiN seems to want to make that line so indistinguishable as to give itself a set piece type story if/when he gets cut and/or doesn't do much, to include, I'm sure, the screeching from such idiots as Rick Rielly and Jamele whateverhername is insinuating or outright accusing the team that does eventually cut him of homophobia, hatred and/or racism all wrapped into one.
ESPiN isn't doing this for anyone's sake or to further advance gay rights or whatever, they are doing this for views, eye-balls, but to make a future controversy out of nothing simply because there is no separating his coming out and being gay from his skills on the football field. It's a fucking travesty and I have to say I'm disappointed to see people falling for their shit.
Upvote
0
Taosman
Your Cousin In New Mexxico
I have become suspicious of any NFL draft eligible kid's story this time of year. Does a certain ND linebacker's dying girlfriend come to mind? Yea. Kind of like that. It's great that gay people can "come out". But, by now it should be pretty common place, even in sports. I'm not gay and in the closet so I really can't identify with the issues of being gay. I'd like to see more acceptance of a persons race, religious beliefs and lifestyle choices.
Why don't we start right here on Buckeyeplanet? Surely we're compassionate enough in this community to do that small thing.
Why don't we start right here on Buckeyeplanet? Surely we're compassionate enough in this community to do that small thing.
Upvote
0
OH10
*
ESPN covered the story as it happened at a time when news was relatively slow. They hammered the whole "Mt. Rushmore" non-sensical debate into the ground more than the Michael Sam story. And the "Mt. Rushmore" debate is a made-up story.
I think he knew when or if he (or any other gay player came out), it would be a bit of a spectacle. And he took on that responsibility so that the next time it will be treated more normal.
I know people hate the analogy (because they view race as an immutable characterstic and homosexuality incorrectly as a choice), but Jackie Robinson is and always will be the first black player in the Major Leagues. That is never going to change. It's a part of his legacy - the biggest part. And every black player that came after him was able to be seen more as a baseball player than a black man because of it.
ESPN does not deserve the benefit of the doubt about any story. If Tom Brady saved an entire airplane of people from a terrorist, they'd beat it into the ground to garner ratings. Doesn't mean it wouldn't still be a legitimate story.
Upvote
0
I'm not sure where you got that I'm "taking sides" with ESPN. Not once did I mention ESPN in my post. I don't watch or read enough of their content to be angry at them much anymore. Who's really falling for their shit - somebody who tunes out or somebody who pays enough attention to what they're selling to form a steady stream of specific complaints?
Where does the gay guy end and the football player begin? There is no beginning or end, no line to distinguish either clear or unclear. He doesn't cease to be gay when he's on the football field, and he doesn't cease to be a football player when he goes home. All the same I don't cease to be straight when I leave home and enter a professional environment. The extent to which people understand there to be a line for one group of people and already accept that there isn't one for another group of people is one of the main reasons why it's important for this to be a story at the moment - regardless of who's doing the reporting or the business reasons behind the coverage.
Upvote
0
Well, that's part of the danger here, and part of the "gotcha" aspect... Part of the reason Robinson was "selected" (and make no doubt, he was selected for this by Branch Rickey) was that there was pretty much no doubt that he could handle the "Baseball Player" aspect of the situation (among many other things). It will be unfortunate from a certain perspective if Sam ends up failing for a reason which has nothing to do with his orientation, that's something, quite honestly the vast majority of the population can't do, which is be an NFL football player. I don't know what level of intolerance Michael Sam will encounter on his journey here, but, in Robinson's case, whatever it was, Robinson had the talent and tools to prove them "wrong" on the field, my concern is that Michael Sam may not.
Upvote
0
