OWN to make reality series about the NFL’s Michael Sam
As team after team passed over University of Missouri defensive end Michael Sam in last week’s NFL draft, conventional wisdom was that teams were afraid that the openly gay Sam would be a “distraction.” (Less conventional wisdom said that it was because of his small size and poor performance at the Scouting Combine.) The argument against the “distraction” theory is that Sam was already out to his Mizzou teammates, and the Tigers were ranked fifth in the country while also winning their division and the Cotton Bowl—so they couldn’t have been all that distracted. The St. Louis Rams obviously believed that enough to draft Sam in the final round, despite already having two of the best defensive ends in the league.