The first openly gay player was drafted into the NFL this weekend.  Depending on who you are, you might find this to be a great and awesome thing, or you may be somewhat like Miami Dolphins player Don Jones, who tweeted “OMG…terrible” when treated to live video of Sam kissing his boyfriend after getting The Call.  Or, you might even be like many people, and not give one hoot about it at all.  The question being asked is “why did it take 249 picks for him to get drafted?”  Naturally, the obvious answer—if you’re liberal—is that The World Is Mean To All Gay People.  For the rest of us who live in the real world, however, there’s more to the situation than that.  The media is asking if he got picked so close to the end because he was gay.  I’m going to stand out on the proverbial limb and say that his being gay is the only reason he got picked at all.

He was a mid-to-late round pick before his announcement.  Why should that stock go up after it?

Mark Sappenfield for the Christian Science Monitor explains, saying what football fans already know: “Despite his pedigree, Sam was a marginal draft prospect.”  Because he was gay?  No.  Because, quite frankly, he’s not that great a player by NFL standards.  One scout told USA Today that Sam just really didn’t have what it takes physically.  So what if he played well in college?  As the scout mentioned, the difference between college and NFL is literally playing against boys, and playing against men.

Scouts look for dominant athletic traits, not just productivity, in prospects. In that area, Sam — undersized for a 4-3 end at 6-2 and 261 pounds — doesn’t exactly stand out, even if the passion with which he plays the game does.

What football fans also know—and gay rights advocates probably do not—is that Sam performed poorly in the scouting combine.  While the Left likes to believe that ‘heart’ gets you through everything, whether they admit it or not brute physical strength matters for things like the NFL.  It matters for things like combat.  While I would never put football on the same level as combat, they do share at least one truth: Your ‘passion’ isn’t going to keep you from failing if you can’t physically do what is expected of you.

Before these scouting appearances, he was projected as a fourth-round pick, notes Nate Silver of ESPN’s FiveThirtyEight blog. Afterward, he was projected for the sixth round. Sixth-round prospects like Sam have a 50-50 chance of getting drafted, Silver found in a data analysis.

There are other valid reasons not to draft Sam.

Sam would likely bring a media circus to training camp, and would that “distraction” be worth it for a lower-tier prospect? After all, no other drafted player got a statement of congratulations from President Obama.

“Every Tom, Dick and Harry in the media is going to show up, from ‘Good Housekeeping’ to the ‘Today’ show,” said a former general manager in the Sports Illustrated story. “A general manager is going to ask, ‘Why are we going to do that to ourselves?'”

In an environment where people are supposed to be part of a cohesive team, Sam is already causing a rift.  He’s a marginal player (by NFL standards), walking in as one of the last picks of the draft, dragging a host of attention with him.  If I were a coach, I would not subject my players to that, nor would I expect them to perform with that much distraction.  It’s almost like the “Ellen factor.”  She was great, had a funny TV show, and then came out as gay.  Suddenly, her show was all about being gay.  Everything became focused on that one thing.  I didn’t care that Ellen came out.  I haven’t cared to hear about anyone coming out.  What I do care about, however, is having to listen to nothing but a running diatribe on their sexuality.  Far too many people have been focused on Michael Sam’s gayness.  How about we focus on whether he can play the game?

Sam’s appearance in the NFL will be no different that Ellen’s TV show, post-outing.  It won’t matter if he performs well (he probably won’t), it won’t matter if he stinks.  All that will matter is that he’s gay.  And quite frankly, I’m tired of the Left forcing their agenda on me everywhere.  Can’t my Sunday football games be left alone?

…and one more thing.  Letter of congratulations from Obama?  Let’s see…gay football player gets congratulations.  Getting beaten and tortured and burned to death gets you ignored.  Nice priorities.