Michael Alan Sam, Jr. is an American football defensive end. Born in Galveston, Texas, Michael Sam attended the University of Missouri, where he played college football for the Missouri Tigers football team for four years. During his college career, Sam accumulated 123 tackles, including 36 for loss, 21 sacks, six forced fumbles and two intercepted passes.
In February 2014 in an interview with Chris Connelly on ESPN‘s Outside the Lines, Michael Sam announced his orientation becoming one of the first openly gay college football players. If Michael Sam is drafted in the 2014 NFL Draft or signed by an NFL team as an undrafted free agent, he will then become the first active openly gay player in the NFL history.
Consistently one of the highest-rated local programs in Dallas-Fort Worth, Dale Hansen’s Sports Special, with sportscaster Dale Hansen broadcasts are known for Hansen’s epic commentary.
Huffington Post reported that the two-minute segment, titled “Hansen Unplugged: Celebrating Our Differences,” opens with a joke about Sam’s “shocking” circumstance — that he’s the “best defensive player in football’s best conference.” He addresses his comments to Sam’s critics and haters. Hansen said, “You love another man? Well, now you’ve gone too far!”
“I’m not always comfortable when a man tells me he’s gay; I don’t understand his world,” Dale Hansen then adds later. “But I do understand that he’s part of mine.” Dale Hansen said in an email to The Huffington Post, “Some people don’t seem to believe this — I honestly didn’t think it was going to be that big a deal.” The commentary made big waves on social media. “I write only what I believe — and I simply believe what I wrote. Seems like common sense to me — nothing more or less,” reported Hansen.
For more information about employment opportunities with the NFL, readers can click here.
Image Credit: www.huffingtonpost.com