Alouettes sign DE Sam

[jerrym]

I suspect that the Als will have Sam play his first game in Montreal and announce it well in advance in order to maximize any attendance benefits.

[jerrym]

Although there have some reports of friction about Sam's quick notoriety and his earlier departure from the Montreal training camp noted above, Montreal's new QB Anthony Boone, who was signed this week reported that Sam's teammates speak highly of him.

Boone said he's been welcomed by his Montreal teammates so far. One of those teammates, Michael Sam, has drawn a lot of international media attention for being the CFL's first openly-gay player, although he hasn't played in a game yet. (That may change this month.) Boone said he hasn't had a chance to speak to Sam much yet, but his teammates speak highly of him, and none of them are concerned about Sam being a distraction. They see him as just another teammate.
"Everyone in the locker room seems to have a good rapport with him," Boone said. "Ultimately, at the end of the day, the only thing people care about is winning."

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cf...195246325.html

[jerrym]

According to the Montreal Gazette, Sam will play either this week or next. Since the team has hyped him so much, I suspect it's more likely he will play his first game at home this week.

We know this much with some certainty: If the much-anticipated Canadian Football League debut of Michael Sam doesn’t occur this Friday night at Ottawa, the rookie rush-end should finally hit the field at home next week, against Edmonton.
And it might all be tied to the status of defensive-back Jerald Brown.
“This is the closest Michael’s been. We’re practising Michael more now,” Alouettes head coach Tom Higgins said following Wednesday’s workout at Stade Hébert — one in which the 6-foot-2, 260-pound Sam participated in first-team drills more than at any point this season.
“I’m not going to talk about who’s on and who’s off because, right now, we’re not really 100 per cent sure,” Higgins continued. “I’m not even sure who the 46-man roster will be. How we line up we never talk about. Let Ottawa guess. We won’t let them know if we have any different wrinkles.

http://montrealgazette.com/sports/fo...-close-at-hand

[jerrym]

Michael Sam became the first openly gay pro football player to take part in a CFL regular season game for the Montreal Alouettes in Ottawa on Friday night.
Wearing No. 94, Sam entered the game on defence against the Redblacks with five minutes left in the first quarter. He would go on to appear in several plays, but did not register a tackle or sack.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montre...game-1.3183929

[argonaut11xx]

He looked slower than i had anticipated, one of the commentators referred to him as chunky.

Might be Trouble in Alouette land....

He is getting preferential treatment, and the locker room isnt impressed. Make sense now why he is always listed on the roster.

http://www.torontosun.com/2015/08/08...aises-eyebrows

[argonaut11xx]

He is toast....

http://www.tsn.ca/alouettes-de-sam-s...tball-1.345739

Dont think this guy will every play football again, mental toughness is as important as physical toughness.

He seemed out of shape, both mentally and physically.

Too bad cause he looked like he was made for the CFL during his college years.

AND....the plot thickens...bad attitude...fake injury...wow

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/montreal-690...oblem-1.345625

[jerrym]

In being the first openly gay player in football, Sam faced a kind of pressure few of us can comprehend. Having just watched the movie Amy about Amy Winehouse, the great jazz singer, whose career spiralled downhill to her death fuelled by alcohol, drugs and the classic build 'em up, tear 'em down coverage, gives me some sense of what this can be like.

[jerrym]

Wrong thread.

[gilthethrill]

I was surprised when Montreal released DE Brian Britkowski at the end of camp. He looked real good last season when he played. I think Sam replaced him despite having a poor camp.

[Argo]

Adios to Mr. Sam. I doubt that playing football will be part of his future now that the NFL and CFL are no longer options. (IIRC, he's now on Montreal's suspended list, but realistically, who can envisage his return to the Als / CFL ?)

[AngeloV]

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if he kept his personal life personal. I really think, if he didn't come out, he would have been drafted higher in the NFL and made a roster. His pre-season last year surely didn't warrant getting cut. I really believe the NFL had someone draft him in the last round, and wouldn't be surprised if the Rams secretly received something from the league for doing so. Would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if he had waited, had success in the NFL and then came out.

[Argo]

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if he kept his personal life personal. I really think, if he didn't come out, he would have been drafted higher in the NFL and made a roster. His pre-season last year surely didn't warrant getting cut. I really believe the NFL had someone draft him in the last round, and wouldn't be surprised if the Rams secretly received something from the league for doing so. Would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if he had waited, had success in the NFL and then came out.

Yes, timing is usually important. The formal announcement approach may not even be necessary since everyone who matters would know anyway.
The sexual preference of the individual - vanishingly unimportant; meanwhile the world has numerous existential problems that needed to be solved yesterday.

[Will]

It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if he kept his personal life personal. I really think, if he didn't come out, he would have been drafted higher in the NFL and made a roster. His pre-season last year surely didn't warrant getting cut. I really believe the NFL had someone draft him in the last round, and wouldn't be surprised if the Rams secretly received something from the league for doing so. Would have been very interesting to see what would have happened if he had waited, had success in the NFL and then came out.

Who knows, though, if he had remained "in the closet" whether he'd still suffer from the same sort of mental health issues.

[ArgoRavi]

I wish Sam had signed with Montreal last fall when he was first reportedly considering doing so, learned the Canadian game for the rest of the season and then dedicated his entire off-season to being ready for the Alouettes' training camp this past spring. Only then IMO would we have had a fair chance to evaluate whether he could be successful in this league or not. His signing with the Als a day before rookie camp and not being in good enough shape for Canadian football really put him behind the eight ball and he was never able to recover.

[AngeloV]

Who knows, though, if he had remained "in the closet" whether he'd still suffer from the same sort of mental health issues.

I don't disagree. I just think he would have been in the NFL if he waited, and avoided the media circus that has followed him ever since. As I said, his NFL pre season play certainly was good enough to make a roster, and I think he also would have been drafted higher had he waited.

[Gill The Thrill]

He was considered too small to play Linebacker in the NFL and probably made his announcement to possibly garner some public sentiment so that people could promote him being drafted in the NFL. Willie Pless was not drafted into the NFL back in the 80's because he was considered too small, but he was a much better player than Sam ever was coming out of the NCAA and was way quicker.

If he didn't want his personal situation to be a big deal, he should've just concentrated on being a football player and not trying to become a celebrity because of it. Dancing with the Stars was not the best preparation for any football training camp. ESPN did not help his situation that's for sure, they should just stick to covering sports instead of trying to persuade their audience that a player's personal life should not matter, yet stick a camera in his face and following him on draft day, so much for him being just one of the guys. Quite frankly, I think he agreed to come to Montreal only because of the guaranteed spot and 100k salary which would indicate that he was given preferential treatment compared to other players in camp.

If a guy is good enough to play, most coaches will overlook whatever you do in your personal life provided you're not breaking the law, even more so in football as we've seen over the years.

[QBall]

His career is done. I don't think any other team in the future is going to want to buy a ticket to that circus.

[T-Bone]

Yes, timing is usually important. The formal announcement approach may not even be necessary since everyone who matters would know anyway.
The sexual preference of the individual - vanishingly unimportant; meanwhile the world has numerous existential problems that needed to be solved yesterday.

It should be unimportant, I think that is the ultimate goal. For something to be unimportant though it has to be "normal." We are still far from that on a global scale. Gay rights is the civil rights movement of this generation. Same-sex marriage was only legalized nationally in the US on June 26 of this year. There is still a lot of work to be done and what Micheal Sam did by coming out was brave. I also think announcing his mental heath for the reason he is leaving was also brave. It's been saddening to see some of the comments from people. I just read this article about the situation and think it sums things up very well: Michael Sam's sad CFL story paints dark picture

[Gill The Thrill]

He wasn't good enough. Plain and simple. Dice it and slice it any way you want, to please whomever, but in the end, he was not a good enough football player...case closed. If he were just another guy, we'd all agree he just wasn't good enough.

[mchesher03]

all I will say is I hope he gets his life together, he's young and has plenty of time to figure it out.

he should steer clear of pro football though - he is not about to cash any NFL paycheques let alone any CFL paycheques.