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The Michael Sam Effect




Like just about every other person here at TST, I spent my Saturday afternoon, sprawled out on the couch watching the Rams play the Packers in just another meaningless preseason scrimmage. The game was going well enough from my point of view. Bradford looked stellar and receivers were managing to make plays, something I have missed seeing for far too long. Of course, being at my girlfriends house, she was forced to watch with me. Finally, about midway through the 2nd quarter, she points at the TV and mumbles,

"Why do they keep showing that guy?"

Lulled to sleep by the laziness of the backups, I rubbed my eyes and focused on who she was pointing at.

"Oh, Michael Sam, he's the openly gay one that everyone was talking about for a while."

She then gave me a rather quizzical look, "He doesn't really seem all that great, is he even going to make the team?"

"To be honest, I don't think he's got a chance at making it. The team is just too good." The words felt weird in my mouth at first. "Too good" I couldn't remember how long it had been since I had even muttered those words about the Rams.

She then looked at me and chuckled, "Good luck with that. Talk about PR suicide."

I laughed and went back to sort of watching the game along with contemplating what she had just said.

I admit it, I was a huge fan of the Sam pick in May during the draft. I thought the fact that certain social boundary had been broken was something I couldn't remember seeing yet in my lifetime. I also thought he could be quite an asset to our defense and our football team as a whole. I felt he could make the team. Then Ethan Westbrooks started lighting it up in camp and the preseason and my thoughts have changed.

Multiple times, guys on TST have brought up how bad sports networks like ESPN and NFL network will make the Rams look if they cut Michael Sam. How the media coverage was already so ridiculous, with the Oprah involvement and all the other news media always wanting to question him and get some sort of scoop to fill their slow off-season schedules. To think of the headlines, "Rams Cut Sam" and the following media circus to go along with it, is just terrifying. But then I thought, what if that impact goes much deeper, and the splash of cutting Sam causes ripples beyond anything anyone could have expected?

My mind then went immediately to the current dome situation. We all know St. Louis and the Rams still seem to be in a stale mate over whether to let the Rams walk from St. Louis or to build them a new stadium. What if, the enveloping media frenzy after a Michael Sam release causes support for a new stadium to plummet? Fan support, community support and even NFL support. Depending on how bad the Rams and Sam part ways, it could be portrayed as much worse that it truly is. After studying journalism for 3 years I've realized that journalists will do whatever it takes to make front page news, especially when news is slow. ESPN would jump all over this story and probably throw out some terrible headline about how awful Sam was treated, and how no one supported him enough, all from the ever elusive "Anonymous Front Office Source". Then what could be worse, what if the nation takes their anger out on Snead, Fisher and Kroenke? People that aren't fans of the Rams and don't understand the talent on the roster would end up making wide ranging assumptions on how St. Louis views the acceptance of gay football players. Kroenke then up and moves the Rams from St. Louis to a big brand new stadium in LA, for a fresher start. But what happens then? Would LA welcome the Rams back or refuse to support the team?

I know this is all rather farfetched and has almost no likelihood of actually happening. But lesser things have caused larger problems. The Rams front office has a big decision to make if they do cut Michael Sam, and they have to prepare for the onslaught of what comes next.