UMASS Men's Basketball team doing equality the right way

November 17th, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

22 year old UMASS shooting guard Derrick Gordon who came out as gay this past offseason has been excelling in his first week of games as an openly gay player. He has defied false stereotypes and opened a door for gay athletes in sports. But perhaps the greatest feat he has accomplished so far has been one shared with the rest of his team; their 2-0 start.  

In any sport, the only thing that should separate players on a team from each other or one team from another is skill and win/loss record.  Sexuality should not play any part in the deciding of who gets to start and who gets to sit, just as it should not and does not affect who gets into the March Madness come spring.

Such is a sentiment that has been repeated more and more often as we as sports fans have observed a cultural shift regarding the acceptance of gays in sports. As Michael Sam, Jason Collins and Robbie Rogers have all come out in the past few years, each and every official related to judging their play or coaching them in some way has said that skill is all that matters.

But it is also hard to ignore the fact that as their respective careers have unfolded, a blatant difference in what is said and what is done has become evident.

When Michael Sam came out before this season’s NFL draft, the league ensured he would be evaluated on his skill and nothing more. He, a reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year was drafted late in the final round of the draft.

When he first came to the Rams facilities soon after the draft, coach Jeff Fisher announced once again that Sam would get the same opportunity to make the team as everyone else. By the end of the preseason, he, a player who recorded 3 sacks and several other hits to the quarterback, was beaten out by a player who had just one sack.

And alas when he actually managed to stay in the league, Sam’s name lay unspoken as he trundled around the Dallas Cowboys practice squad. He was dropped after just a few weeks and has not been anywhere near the NFL since.

Not enough?

Jason Collins, who came out almost a full year before Sam did, had to wait more than a year before the Brooklyn Nets signed him to a measly 10 day contract.

More?

Robbie Rogers nearly had to leave soccer for good because of the atmosphere he faced after coming out.

In all truth, sports have a long way to go before they can be as inclusive as they make themselves seem to be in their statements and raw quotes. We have not reached a point where coming out does not drastically change the way fans and coaches view a player.

But there are outliers that, when they become evident, serve as a breath of fresh air and a beacon of hope as to what the entirety of the sports world could one day become. Derrick Gordon and the UMASS Basketball team are one of those outliers.

Gordon came out back in April saying, "I just didn't want to hide anymore, in any way ... I've been waiting and watching for the last few months, wondering when a Division I player would come out, and finally I just said, 'Why not me?'"

Since then, a UMASS team on the rise has not skipped a beat. They quickly smoothed out some brief problems with the team and moved on as if Gordon were just one of the guys. In truth that is what he is, right?

This summer though, Gordon received praise from activists and fans alike as his story was watched with a keen eye. When it became clear last month that Michael Sam might not actually make it into a regular season game, the attention turned further towards Gordon. It appeared that this 6 foot 3 inch New Jersey native was going to suddenly become the poster child of the gay sports movement.

With new scrutiny, it could have been easy for his team to fall down the same path of over compensation and thereby exaggeration of the one aspect of Gordon that might separate him from the team. But no one caved and the Minutemen simply proceeded as they would going into any season.

"When I see that it tells me they want me to be around and it makes me a lot more comfortable," Gordon told Outsports, a leading blog on gay issues in sports. "The gay thing doesn't even run through their heads. They don't care about it at all."

Derrick Gordon deserves to be treated as an equal. He does not and should not need to be isolated or even thrown onto a pedestal as a supreme role model. In fact he can still be a role model but he must, more importantly be treated as the equal he is.

As of now, the biggest difference between this year’s UMASS Minutemen team and last year’s team is the lack of the seniors who left. But even that has not changed the identity of the club. They are off to a 2-0 start. They are poised to make a charge back into the NCAA tournament and Derrick Gordon is playing well.

No one within the team has mentioned his sexuality; and just as very little has changed with the team, very little has changed with Derrick Gordon. That is a good thing. He still loves basketball and he still loves men. The team accepts him now which is amazing. But equally important is the fact that the team has insisted that he still be defined by his basketball skill.

They have lived by that statement. In doing so, they have gone farther in helping create equality for homosexuals in sports than any other team in any other league.

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Michael Sam has arrived: Michael Sam drafted 249th by Rams...time for the bigots who think he has no place in the leauge to move on

Drafts are no fun unless there is something or someone you are watching, waiting, praying gets drafted. Even then, it takes a pretty important person to get you to sit through 7 hours of tedious draft coverage. But Michael Sam IS important and for 7 hours Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening, millions of people watched a portion of the NFL Draft that they never do with great intensity and vigilance. Why? Because Michael Sam is important. They watched as each new pick passed keeping in mind some key teams that were labeled as possible destinations for this NFL hopeful.

They watched with intensity as each representative from teams like the Jets, Patriots, Ravens, Cardinals and eventually the Rams made their picks. But each time, the name Michael Sam was not called and the questions began to float around. How could this young man, a SEC Defensive Player of the Year, fall to the 7th round without being drafted?  Was the reason homophobia or was it a judgment of Michael Sam's skill as a football player? Analysts trounced the calls of homophobia and yet he still remained undrafted. But then Rams coach Jeff Fischer went to the podium soliciting rumbling cheers and a sense that finally the wait was over. 

And then he made his announcement that with the 249th pick in the 2014 NFL draft, the St Louis Rams would select Michael Sam. The wait was over. Football had drafted a gay man. Michael Sam had arrived.

His first action as the perfect blend of activist and prospect: being himself.

Before Sam could say anything, before his agents could talk to media, before the Rams coaches could make any statements, ESPN showed Sam lovingly kissing his boyfriend on live TV as he was delivered the news of his being drafted. Those few seconds of genuine love between two men showcases via one of the biggest cultural platforms in the world right now that no matter who it involves, love is love. Within seconds of his being drafted, the football world had been forced to make the decisions to either shun Michael Sam for who he is or accept that. They chose acceptance. Michael Sam had arrived.

But as we talk about the magnitude of this moment, as we look back on the 3 months that have passed since Michael Sam publicly came out to ESPN you cannot bypass a quote made by Sam above any other.

During February's NFL combine, Michael Sam conducted himself very well in the face of reporters who were pressing him for deeply personal information. He said, "I wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player rather than Michael Sam the gay football player."  

So that is what we shall do. Michael Sam has arrived, but he is here to play football.

Over the next few months, Michael Sam will go to the Rams training camp and will get all the support he needs. All in all, St Louis really is a great destination for him not only because it is close to his home for the past 4 years in Mizzo but because it is a forward thinking team staff where people will respect him for what he is and what he wants to be. But that also means they will not cut him any breaks. During training camp, Michael Sam will be given the same chance to make the team or get cut as any other player. 

However do not let his 7th round draft status fool you. Michael Sam is the kind of player who could have and maybe should have been snagged in the 4th round or higher and fell because of other team's beliefs that they were incapable of dealing with the media attention because of bringing him in. In St Louis though, he fits their mold and unless something catastrophic happens to dismantle Jeff Fischer's mantra of breeding clubhouse camaraderie and success, Michael Sam could be the kind of guy who soon becomes a staple on the team one way or another. 

As of now, probably the best fit on the roster for Sam would be as a 4th down pass rusher you can rely on to snag a sack when necessary. Or he could serve as a special teams linebacker charged with the job of getting to a kicker or punter before he got the ball down field. Also, Michael Sam has the benefit of playing a kind of game the Rams coach Jeff Fischer absolutely loves. 

Michael is a big man with a vital balance of brute force and strategy that he uses to get through an offence line. His reach stretches a whopping 42 inches from shoulder to fingertip and he uses every bit of that to haul down fleeing quarterbacks. His tackling form is impeccable and though he gives up at least 10 pounds and a few inches to most other DL's in this year's draft class, he employs nearly scientific swings of momentum and muscular power to slam his targets into the turf with brutal ferocity. 

Unlike most other linebackers his size, Michael Sam is a purely pass rushing player who, unfortunately did not see his skills properly assessed at the speed oriented NFL Combine. That's why his 5.22 grade must be taken like a grain of salt. 

The Rams were smart enough to understand that and showed right off the bat that they liked Sam quite a bit. Do not get me wrong, this was a calculated move by the Rams made knowing what they would have to do and say as a result of Michael's sexuality but at the same time, they genuinely understand that the premier tackling skills of Michael Sam can help them win. 

In the wake of the pick, Jeff Fischer put all of those thoughts into words assuring that there would be no problems in the clubhouse and that Michael would be treated like any other player on the team. 

"We were very fortunate to have the supplemental choices. We felt you use those for players that you want to give an opportunity to that you want to draft. I haven't said a whole lot to anybody over the last week or so but after doing the studies, he's a good football player. And we got a good football player right after him. I'm excited about our draft, excited about the production and excited about possibly adding him to our defensive front.

I don't have any concern whatsoever. I think you've known me long enough. We drafted a good football player. I'm excited to get him on the practice field and get him going. Yeah, there's going to be a little extra attention for a couple days but Michael is the co-SEC defensive player of the year, so that's important to us. We're looking forward to this opportunity. We have a young, we have a very mature team and we're certainly not going to let any distraction affect this football team." 

As that long statement is analyzed, the last sentence stands out especially when you put it into the broader context of the entire Michael Sam story. Long before he told the world he was gay, Michael Sam told his teammates, the large majority of whom were still teenagers, those same words and they dealt with it with professionalism and maturity. When he trusted them, those kids at Mizzo kept his secret and refrained from the kind of hazing or general bulling that can demolish even the strongest of teams. If they could do it, surely millionaires who are much older than them can do the same. 

They better because Michael Sam is important. They better because Michael Sam is testing them, their league and their integrity as compassionate beings. The world is changing and even if the few bigoted men who are a part of the NFL experience right now do not agree with those changes, Michael Sam will now stand alongside them in that experience. No longer is there room for these people to run. Michael Sam has arrived. 

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Michael Sam addresses media at NFL combine: Wants to be known for his football abilities not his sexual orientation

Judging by common opinion, when Michael Sam appeared before a sea of reporters early Saturday morning at the NFL Scouting Combine, he presented as the normal, excited young NFL prospect that he is. 

The only nod to his sexuality that has dominated so many headlines since mid-February was small "Stand With Sam" patch on his combine gear. In a brief opening statement in which he referenced the patch, Sam said "I hope all you guys stand with Sam ... please do," Sam said. "I went to a basketball game against Tennessee, a very kind lady gave it to me. I gave her a hug, I got a lot of support out there." 

Since Sam's personality has begun to be documented by the media, he has shown himself to be a calm, positive man who has embraced the support and ignored the criticism sent his way since the announcement. Not once in his speaking with the media Saturday did he say anything negative or even questioning about, the league, its personnel or any comments made in regards to him or his sexual orientation. 

Instead he verbalized his wish that he be treated as if there is nothing different between him and the other prospects. To him, his name this week is simply DL 42, his combine jersey tag. He is thinking this way because just like all those other prospects, he is simply yet another man vying for a spot in the most prestigious Football League in the world. His being gay should have nothing to do with that. And yet he knows how much of a big deal this is. He is the first after all. 

"Heck yeah, I wish you guys would tell me, 'Michael Sam, how's football going?'" Sam said. "I would love for you to ask me that question, but it is what it is. And I just wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam, the football player, instead of Michael Sam, the gay football player."  

Additionally, Sam has also said on multiple occasions that he would be content with any team drafting them so long as they knew about his being gay. Having a team know about him before drafting him was something Sam said was key in his decision to come out. 

He repeated that when a reporter asked him what his reaction would be to a team like the Dolphins drafting him given their recent pattern of bullying. 

"If [the] Miami Dolphins drafted me, I would be excited to be a part of that organization," Sam said. "I'm not afraid about going into that environment. I know how to handle myself, I know how to communicate with my teammates, I know how to communicate with coaches ... and whoever I need to communicate with."

As for dealing with anyone who has a problem with him, Sam knows how to deal with them too. After he came out, he shared a story about how in high school a man used a racial slur to insult Sam. Sam immediately proceeded to respond angrily to the comment and reported the man to the school. 

As he moves into the NFL, his comfort with knowing how to build a relationship with coaches and other higher officials is something that makes you feel happy for him as he tackles this barrier against homosexual athletes head on. 

But he has not been drafted yet. Sam knows that, we all know that and so, how he performs in this upcoming NFL combine will be critical. But more so, he has already shown to the world his talents and judging by those alone deserves heavy consideration for a spot on any one of an NFL team's draft card. 

"I am not a GM, I do not have control over my draft status," Sam said. "All I can control is preparing myself to get the best scores out there ... I'm a pass rusher, if you put me in a situation to get the quarterback, I'm going to get the quarterback. Whoever the coaches, the GMs, this league is a passing league, I like to believe in myself as a good pass rusher." 

Michael Sam is a renowned SEC athlete who will go into this draft and hopefully next season looking to be the first gay man in the history of professional sports to log actual game time. 

In many progressive parts of the United States, he is already a hero and someone many hope to rally around and cheer on for years to come. 

**For more on Michael Sam click the Michael Sam tag below this article

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Thoughts on the Ray Rice arrest: Proof that the NFL has bigger problems than a gay man in their lockeroom

Close to 9 months after Aaron Hernandez's name first surfaced in connection with the murder of Odin Lloyd, the list of NFL players who have been arrested in the past few years continues to grow. The most recent addition to that list involved a knockout punch, a TMZ video, a fiancé and a struggling running back who plays for the Baltimore Ravens.  

For those who do not have not heard, that above intro may be a little confusing so I will state the focus of this article plainly. Earlier this week, Ray Rice was arrested by Atlantic City police and pegged with an alleged assault of his fiancée. Within just a few hours of that arrest, that pesky web page called TMZ had dug up a security film that showed Rice dragged his limp companion out of an elevator. The film also showed, a security guard approaching and detaining Rice. 

So now what. 

Rice will likely be charged with assault and if so will also be handed close to a year or even more of jail time. Once he comes back the NFL might also impose some justice of their own by either fining or suspending Rice for even longer. But what we also know is that Ray Rice who finished this season aged just 27 will return to the NFL and will, like far too many NFL criminals earn many more millions in contract money once he does so. 

This has become a pattern in the NFL and frankly, this particular fan is beginning to fell disgusted at what has happened. Within the house I live in, it has been strongly instilled in me that someone who makes as much money as these players do should show they deserve it by not only playing with a drive built around selflessness and complete devotion but more importantly living as moral citizens off the field. While definition on what the latter part of that really may differ (one example of this was whether or not David Ortiz' This is Our City speech was justified), what there is no argument on is that being a moral citizen at the very minimum means abiding by straightforward laws such as "don't kill anyone" or "don't punch anyone". 

Is that too hard. 

Apparently yes. 

Between the Aaron Hernandez case last year, Ray Lewis roughly 10 years before that, OJ Simpson even earlier and then Deon Sanders around the same time, football players cannot seem to keep their hands to themselves and are going around killing each-other at a rate much higher than most other people making 10 million dollars a year.  

But this is a story that has already been told. We have already been read the stats on how often these players get arrested. So to make sure that this arrest, this attack frankly is not something that fades away and becomes something someone Ray Lewis might someday erase from his past, I want to use this as a jumping off point not only to call out the actions of Ray Lewis but also to expose the true absurdity of the beliefs harbored by many within the NFL.  

When Michael Sam came out as being gay earlier this month, the shock-waves of his announcement spread quickly. While Jason Collins was the first active player to come out as gay last summer, the timing of Sam's announcement put the NFL in an interesting position. In this league where there had already been little whispers of players not being drafted because of their sexual orientation that had filtered through the headlines, the thought of such a promising player coming through the draft was interesting. But it was what happened next, what happened in the ensuing media storm invoked by hundreds of reporters looking to get the top story turned up countless supportive and a few aggravating quotes. 

In this case it was those that aggravated the reader that drew the strongest reactions. 

"The question you will ask yourself, knowing your team, is, ‘How will drafting him affect your locker room?'" an unidentified GM said to the MMQB's Peter King "And I am sorry to say where we are at this point in time, I think it’s going to affect most locker rooms. A lot of guys will be uncomfortable. Ten years from now, fine. But today, I think being openly gay is a factor in the locker room.”

On this blog alone, I took serious offence to that quote and ripped it apart in my post on the subject. 

Additionally, just a few days before Michael Sam came out, Saints linebacker, Johnathan Vilma said to the Huffington Post said that he  "think[s] that he [a gay football player] would not be accepted as much as we think he would be accepted. I don't want people to just naturally assume, like, 'Oh, we're all homophobic.' That's really not the case. Imagine if he's the guy next to me and, you know, I get dressed, naked, taking a shower, the whole nine, and it just so happens he looks at me. How am I supposed to respond?" 

Well for one a quote like that makes it seem like a gay man working in the professional setting that an NFL lockeroom is, lacks the personal restraint of anyone else and that is simply not true. But also when you expand the subject of that quote out into the whole idea of locker room security and comfort, one who has followed the league at any point in its existence has watched the violent patterns of many of players. 

While I guarantee you that Michael Sam would never cause a problem in a lockerroom because of anything regarding his sexual orientation, guys like Richie Incognito and all those participate in hazing of rookies will and already have caused problems. More so, I personally would like to ask Johnathan Vilma, how would you feel if you were showering next Ray Lewis and he stabbed you, how would you feel if you were showering next to Ray Rice and he knocked you out cold? 

Most people would rather deal with the nonexistent chance of Michael Sam looking at them than someone turning around and physically harming them.  

The conclusion most people would draw from that is that the NFL has bigger problems than having a gay man in their locker room. The alleged Ray Rice assault is proof of that. 

All and all, it is time for the NFL to tackle this thing head on (no pun intended). They need to suspended Ray Rice for a period of time and derails his career to an honest extent that his actions warrant and as for Michael Sam, the NFL's players coaches and GM's just need to give it up. There will be a gay man in the NFL before long and even if it is not Michael Sam it will be someone else. 

It is time for these players to just deal with that an focus more on the fact that the player next to them may have killed, punched or otherwise harmed another human being. 

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What Michael Sam has done is brave beyond words...but it should not have had to have been

So what guys, Michael Sam is gay. But that does not matter, this is football that we are talking about, not an episode of the Bachelor. Being gay has never been something that has raised a question regarding performance in sports and with Michael Sam there will be no difference. 

That is what I wish I could say. But I cannot. 

This is a big deal, this is historic and this is an opportunity for the NFL and one of its teams to make a statement that it has moved beyond a culture of discriminating against someone for anything more than their skill set. As we look back this is a concept that has reigned strong as every single barrier to someone's reaching their dream fell and is not one simply confined to barriers regarding homosexuality. 

On a mid-August Washington DC afternoon, a man named Martin Luther King took to a little wooden podium bent on conveying one concise message. On that day that was one whose air was cleansed by King's words of liberation we were given words that will forever go down as ones to be applied not only to civil rights fights but to every instance of human oppression for years to come. 

Contained within his description of the most famous dream in American history, King said that he dreamed that one day his children "would be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

In the few days since Sam announced that he is gay we have seen an outpouring of support from the NFL's players and coaches. 

“Should I really care?” an unidentified NFL GM said. “Is it going to be that big a deal? Aren’t we beyond this?”

“It’s not a shocking thing to me, and it won’t be to our organization,” another GM said. “You’ll have old-school guys on your team saying, ‘Are you kidding, putting this guy on our team?’ And you’ll have other guys say, ‘Who cares? I knew two gay guys who came out in college.’ ”

Fact is, thought it sounds harsh and cutting to an outsider people not caring, not freaking out like this is some kind of heroic story to be compared to someone overcoming a broken leg or terrible illness remains a kind of acceptance and recognition of what Sam's sexual orientation is: something that we shouldn't even be talking about as a news story. It is just who he is.   

But there is talk about it being "weird" or "abnormal", a flip side to the acceptance of those first two GM's quoted here. 

“We talked about it this week,” a third GM said. “First of all, we don’t think he’s a very good player. The reality is he’s an overrated football player in our estimation. Second: He’s going to have expectations about where he should be drafted, and I think he’ll be disappointed. He’s not going to get drafted where he thinks he should. The question you will ask yourself, knowing your team, is, ‘How will drafting him affect your locker room?’ And I am sorry to say where we are at this point in time, I think it’s going to affect most locker rooms. A lot of guys will be uncomfortable. Ten years from now, fine. But today, I think being openly gay is a factor in the locker room.” 

What that GM does not see is the "SEC Defensive Player of the Year" recognition next to Michael Sam's name. What that GM does not see is the historic season Sam put up in 2013 leading the SEC in sacks and tackles for loss. The statistics alone would and should go far enough to label him a well suited winner of that Defensive Player of the Year Recognition.

And to the, players not being comfortable with having a gay guy in their locker room, part of that GM's quote, I have two things to say. Number one: that is not Michael Sam nor that GM's problem, that is the problem of the teammate of Sam's who has a problem with it. Number two: he said that in 10 years it may not be a problem. Well "it" has already been proven as not a problem by the fact that never in all the years of professional sports have we seen an instance of a player who has eventually come out as gay cause any sort of problem within a lockeroom. 

Additionally, might I point out the highly inappropriate comments and struggles regarding Richie Incognito and Johnathan Martin earlier this season and how much of a locker room disturbance that DID cause. I don't know about you but I think examples like that prove that we have bigger problems in sports than something so childish as a player showering next to one teammate but not another.

But as we have been shown already in this article, no matter how inclusive this society has become in some rights, no matter how much of the nation is currently included under the swath of where same sex marriage is legal, there remains ignorant people who are stuck in a kind of discriminatory belief that should have died with the Jim Crow laws of the 1960's.

“Unfortunately,” a scout said “this is a lot more okay in society than it is in lots of locker rooms. Some locker rooms are still stuck in the ’50s.” 

For Michael Sam, what he has done is an act included in a realm beyond that which the term brave presides over. He is a hero and to the gay community a man who if drafted will have to blaze a path through a proverbial forest of oppression as thick and rooted in time as one of the redwood forests of the American southwest. 

But none of this should have to be this way. 

Loving someone has nothing to do with football and it never has. Yet as Michael Sam comes out, people act like it does. 

Finally I close things out with one final message. 

Newsflash, Tom Brady likes women. Oh...you knew that? Well then, I rest my case. Being gay is not a disease, not something that can tear a locker room apart and while it may be treated like it is, it is no more of a news story than that regarding the sexual orientation of Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Vince Wilfork.

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