NFL Has The Rooney Rule Already. Is The Michael Sam Rule Next?

If acquired in the spring draft, Michael Sam
will be the first NFL player to be openly gay.

There was a time in American history that a black man had a difficult time getting an opportunity at an NFL head coaching job, even though hundreds of black men had long since dominated on the football field.  During the era of affirmative action, it became clear that our efforts to balance the scale may have some impact over education and scholarship opportunities, but there is nothing in the world that can force a person to hire any person that they are not comfortable with hiring. Sorry Michael Sam.

Society has established anti-discrimination laws in so many areas of our world because we need them.  Legislative equality doesn't really work as well as we would hope, but it does acknowledge the truth that no person declares while brushing their teeth in the morning.  We are all racist.

We are all racist, or sexist, or homeless-ist, or handicapped people with disabillities-ist, and age-ist as well.  Many of us are a combination of them all and can hardly stand to be in the presence of anyone that doesn't conform to our world view.  We are all well conditioned by-products of the world that created us, even those of us who fight the right to stereotype.

My white friends who were raised in the mostly black and hispanic neighborhoods of my youth had to notice, as we all took the same history class, that history mostly depicted white man as Abraham Lincoln or George Washington and mostly depicted blacks as slaves or entertainers. Asians and Hispanics and every other race also get characterized by stereotypes that play out (often negatively) in how we deal (or don't deal) with one another.  If our hearts were inclined towards seeing the best in humanity, our stereotypes would be just that.  Unfortunately, our victimizer or victim way of life can easily uncover evidence of man's inhumanity towards man, especially our ism's.

Title 9, which seeks to insure equality in college athletics for women, is our acceptance that we have mistreated women. This law will be a token of our shame for as long as we need it.  Affirmative action, in its many forms and fashions is a similar admission of shame.  In the NFL, this shame is called the Rooney rule.

According to the Rooney rule, black candidates have to get an interview for open  head coaching positions before they are filled.  Undoubtedly, this has given one black coach or another an opportunity to secure a position that they may not have secured otherwise.  Undoubtedly, the Rooney rule has also made each black coaching candidate think twice about the real opportunity of a token interview.

Michael Sam should get a job without a difficult challenge.  He is a natural leader, a naturally hard working athlete who's reputation for making plays is a significant part of his value to NFL teams.  Michael Sam had to realize that he was taking a chance when he decided not to go back into a closet just for the sake of more money.   In fact, if he is given a fair shake, he could be the Ellen of the NFL; that gay guy who is the best of the outed world that gains a mega-following as a result.  Sam could, and just might spearhead a revolution in sports that allows for others to follow as he gets branded as the poster child for social change.  Michael Sam might  have already changed the gay pro sports world as we know it because of his daring move.

As long as he gets a REAL chance to make an NFL opening day roster.

After the Tim Tebow media circus, will Sam become the gay equivalent?  Will the potential for a media circus either scare teams from taking a chance or scare them from keeping it alive when the circus comes to their town?  Michael Sam could easily be the unfortunate victim of gayism, or homophobia since gayism is not yet a word, but it is one of our other ism's.

Before the NBA came up with a reasonable option for women's basketball, they continued to linger on the edge of that first discrimination suit from that one woman who played way too good to be denied a chance at the league.  Ann Meyers got a look and so did Brittany Griner.  Cheryl Miller probably could have tested the limits with the mad game that she possessed, but she probably knew the reality of a legitimate chance. Who is to determine what is a legitimate chance, and how do we force a team to take that chance with their franchise at stake?  Michael Sam is facing a similar hurdle in the long run, and only his excellence on the field will make this a moot point.

There is something about Michael Sam that tells me he expects such excellence from himself, or he would have never gone down the road that only pioneers (insert excellence) travel.