Fifty years ago the Beatles had American parents in an uproar over their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles’ long hair had mainstream America fearing the worse, but today their mop-tops are considered tame. Fifty years later All-American football player Michael Sam makes headlines because he tells the world he is gay. Fifty years from now I’m sure Sam’s announcement would not even be news in a local “B” newspaper.
Everything in life is relative. What once seemed so radical and ground breaking eventually becomes common place. In today’s digital news age new becomes old very, very quickly.
Michael Sam’s announcement on an ESPN television show has the sports world buzzing, but only because he plays football. The “coming out” of gay athletes is old hat in other sports and the Olympics has dozens of openly gay competitors and has had so for years.
The NFL is the most macho of all professional sports and an openly gay football player today is unique. Certainly there have been gay players competing today and have so in the past. Teammates probably already know who some of them are without anyone having to make an announcement. Michael Sam is obviously one of the more courageous individuals who decided to let the NFL and anyone else who was interested know he doesn’t plan on hiding who he is.
Having worked in television and broadcasting for over thirty years I have worked with a number of gay individuals. It’s not news in my profession and perhaps that’s why the story about Michael Sam didn’t rock my world. Of course I wasn’t thrown by the Beatles hair style either in 1964 when I was nine.
Filed under: Koshinski's Korner
Tagged with: Beatles, Michael Sam, NFL
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