Michael Sam Is A Cowboy (And The Bigots Are Upset)

(This image of Michael Sam in a Cowboys uniform is from dallascowboys.com.)

Last week, the St. Louis Rams cut defensive end Michael Sam from their football team. And when no other team took Sam off the waiver wire or signed him to their practice team, the Dallas Cowboys decided Sam was worth a look. They added him to their 10-man practice squad.

That means he will practice with the Cowboys (but won't suit up on Sundays), and if he does well in those practices, he could replace another defensive end on the 53-man squad that either plays poorly or gets hurt. Even if he spends the entire season on the practice squad, the coaches could be teaching him and giving him the opportunity to make the team in training camp next year.

Michael Sam understands he is being given a real opportunity to make it into the NFL, either this year or in the future, and he is grateful. He said:

 “I’m trying to help the Cowboys any way I can, so I can earn a spot on this team and help our team win games – anything I can. Special teams, left end, right end, wherever. If you want me to hold the ball, I’ll hold the ball – I’ll do it to perfection.”

As A die-hard Cowboys fan, I like this signing by the team. Not because he's the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL (that's something only the bigots and sportswriters care about), but because he might be able to help my favorite team win more games. I also like it because it tells me that owner Jerry Jones and coach Jason Garrett only care about one thing (the same thing true Cowboys fans care about) -- making the Cowboys a better team that will win more games.

Jones and Garrett don't care about a player's race, ethnicity, age, religion, or sexual preference. Sam will either prove himself to be a player good enough to help the team, or he will be sent on down the road -- and that's the way it should be (because that's the way it is with any player drafted or signed by an NFL team). And thankfully, that's the way the other Cowboys players see it too. To a man, they say the only thing they care about is whether Sam can help the team to be better.

But part of the price we pay for living in a free society is having to put up with idiots and bigots, and the signing of Michael Sam has caused some of these idiots and bigots to come forward. A homophobe named Jack Burkman (who claims to head a group called American Decency) is calling for other homophobes to join him in a demonstration outside AT&T Stadium on Sunday to display their bigotry for the world to see.

He says thousands will demonstrate. Personally, I put the over/under at about 12 demonstrators (and I'll take the under). I doubt that many right-wing bigots will want to fight the traffic and then pay a big fee to park (or walk an incredibly long way) just so they can stand outside the stadium and irritate a lot of real Cowboys fans (whose only concern is whether they Cowboys beat the 49ers). Burkman has the right to display his idiocy and bigotry to the world -- but he is only deluding himself if he thinks the team or their fans will care.