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| Rams draft Michael Sam with the 248th pick! |
On Saturday the St. Louis Rams selected Michael Sam with the 248th pick in the 7th round of the NFL draft making him the first openly gay football player to ever be drafted. Congrats to the big homie for getting drafted but on some real talk, the Rams merely pulled a PR move. Did they draft ole boy because they thought that that he could make the team or were they looking to make some noise and become relevant?
They did the latter playboy! They became relevant for the next month and a half. They're gonna sell tickets, Rams gear and a 7th round draft pick's jersey that hasn't even made the freakin' team yet.
Keep in mind playboy there were only 256 players drafted and this cat was No.248. The chances of him making the team are slim to none not because he's gay but because according to most NFL scouts he's undersized and as slow as molasses. There's no guaranteed bread comin' his way and the 248th pick rarely makes a team. So the Rams pulled a wack public relations power move on Saturday with nothin' to lose and if and when they cut him they can say that they drafted the first openly gay football player ever and that's foul! Where I'm from that's a called a hustle!
Would they have drafted him if his name was Rashard Johnson, just some cat with the same skill set as Sam but wasn't a major story that the media was camped out to cover? I'm just sayin'! If his name was Berry Jackson they would have invited him to camp as a free agent like most of the teams said Sam was going to be as they got closer to the draft. Why do you think St. Louis drafted him and not some other team bruh? Because he went to school two hours away and the local area could capitalize on the impact of the draft pick.
What I found most disturbing is that cats in the media are out here trying to equate this situation to that of Jackie Robinson. Now let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! I’m all for inclusion and people being treated equally. As a black man it would be hypocritical for me to think otherwise. So I think that it’s great that the Rams drafted him but only if they thought that he could play and make the freakin' team. However, to suggest that the struggle of the gay and lesbian community in this country is the same as African Americans is outright disrespectful and when you compare him to Jackie that's exactly what you're doing.
Why? Because they weren’t stolen from their native land and enslaved for 300 plus years. Their families haven’t been torn apart by slave owners that sold and treated them like animals. Their women weren’t raped and made to have litters of children to make even more slaves that were sold like puppies for a profit at an auction block. They weren’t lynched, tarred and feathered for trying to secure the right to vote or for something as simple as trying to get an education.
Both of my parents were forced to go to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) in the 1950’s because they weren’t allowed to go to predominantly white schools in the south. The last I checked we don’t have Historically Gay and Lesbian Colleges and Universities in this country. My mother always shares with me the stories of having to eat on milk crates in the kitchens of restaurants when the Greyhound bus she was riding on going back to school would make stops along the way.
The system/law has never been on the side of the people initiating the hate crimes against them like they were during slavery, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement and now with today’s Stand Your Ground laws.
You could be gay in this country and still get an education, work where ever you wanted to, live in whatever neighborhoods you’ve wanted to live and not have a bomb thrown through your window. You could worship God without your church being bombed and your children being killed.
So to even suggest that Michael Sam is to some degree Jackie Robinson is to completely disrespect his legacy and all of the black and white folks that died along the way just so that he could merely get the opportunity to take the field.
Jackie Robinson didn't get picked at the bottom of the draft on some token type situation either. When Jackie came into the league he was the best cat in the league. He led his team to the World Series year one and won the joint in year two. Sam barely got drafted and more than likely won't make it through training camp not because he's gay but because he can't play. My problem isn't with him being drafted. My problem is with the Rams trying to run game on the Gay and Lesbian Community and drafting him just to say that they did. That's wack! If ole boy was in the mix for them for real they would have drafted him sooner rather than later and not when the freakin' janitor at Radio City Music Hall was cleaning up already.
For people to even suggest that what Sam is able to do now is even close to what Jackie did is ridiculous. They must have forgotten about how Jackie was called every name in the book and spit on not only by his own teammates but by the fans in the ball park without the support of law enforcement. Sam won't have to deal with any of that.
When Jackie's team would arrive in town to play a road game he couldn’t stay in the hotel and eat dinner with his teammates! Why? Because blacks weren’t allowed to sleep or eat in all white establishments at that time. If you’re gay in America that isn’t your struggle so it’s not the same.
Jackie didn’t have the option to hide who he was. When he walked in the door they already knew who and what he was. That isn’t Sam's struggle. He’s been able to play the game of football his whole life. And let's keep it real, he's not the first gay player to play in the NFL. He's just the first openly gay player to do it. However, Jackie was THE very first black player to play in the major leagues. Not the first openly black player. The very first playboy and he dealt with all of the foolishness that came with it. So it's not the same bruh!
It’s historic but it isn’t close to being the same. Ask my mother if it’s the same? Ask Emmitt Till’s parents if it’s the same? Ask the families of the three civil rights workers found dead in Mississippi if it’s the same? Ask the parents of the three little girls killed at Sunday School in Birmingham when a bomb came through the window if it’s the same? Ask the King children if it’s the same? Ask the millions that didn’t make it through the Middle Passage if it’s the same? Ask all of the ball players that spent their entire careers in the Negro League if it's the same?
So please don’t be ignorant enough to suggest that what he’s doing is in any way shape or form the same as what Jackie Robinson did because that would be ludicrous. If the struggle isn’t the same then the impact isn’t the same.
Again, I'm all for inclusion because God says that we should treat others as we would have them treat us. All we ever wanted in this country is for everybody to respect the next man or woman for being whoever and whatever they want to be. I think that we’re finally moving in that direction and that’s a great thing but don’t insult the legacy of Jackie Robinson and so many others that went through the war for equality so that Michael Same could get the love and respect that he’s getting to today.
Like Big Momma used to always say, "Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it." Now you can't hide playboy! So you better show up to training camp bumpin' that Tupac "All Eyes On Me" because now you gotta put up or shut up! Stop me when I start lyin'!
Holla At Ya Boy!
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