Thoughts On The Michael Sam (+Jason Collins) Media Coverage

When NBA center Jason Collins came out of the closet, the media was respectively all over it. Here we have the first openly gay player in the NBA. Sure, he may not exactly be the one of best players out there, but for a minute there, he deserved a big bear hug. Coming out is hard to do. With the most recent NFL draft, Michael Sam became the first openly gay player in the NFL. This has made some headlines as well. Being "the first" is always a big deal in sports. Don't hate.
With both news-making stories, I saw complaints about how the media has been making "too big a deal" about these stories. Perhaps they even add that Tim Tebow's on-the-field evident Christianity has been gypped of deserving media coverage. This is particularly funny because Tim Tebow gets plenty of media coverage. You wanna know who gets too much media coverage? LeBron James. But why isn't anyone complaining about that?
Yes, Michael Sam and Jason Collins have gotten a lot of media love. But to all the haters out there: What do you want? Do you want the media to stop portraying these men as heroes? Sure, I believe in a future world where it's shocking to come across a homophobe, but this is not the case in 2014. I think that there will eventually be a 2nd, 3rd, et cetera  number of homosexuals in the sports world and with each one, it will be a less and less of a newsworthy story. This is because players like Michael Sam and Jason Collins started the ball rolling. They have helped the future of security for homosexual pro-level athletes. Because they spoke out, now other players can.
The fact that they are gay men is not a big deal. I have gay friends. They don't make the news. However, a 10-year old stat from the Suicide Prevention Resource Center said 30-40% of LGBT youth have attempted suicide at least once. I bet that number's smaller these days, since the world is becoming a place where people aren't afraid of what others think about their sexual identity. Men like Jason Collins and Michael Sam are helping continually lower that number. They do this with their exemplifying lifestyle that contradicts their gender/sexuality stereotypes.
THIS is the BIG NEWS they offer: Anything can happen. You shouldn't have to be afraid of being yourself, no matter what environment you're in.
Pro sports leagues ought to be inviting to homosexual players, but until 2014, this was just a belief and not a proven fact. Everyone complaining about the media "glorifying" these guys should actually just soak in the history while it lasts. Although... part of me hopes it doesn't last too long...
In an attempt to find personal peace and comfort by coming out, Michael Sam ironically might get caught in the camera-eye, feeling anxious under the media microscope following every single thing he does. When he gets his first touchdown, we're all gonna hear about it. But I don't think he wants the excess attention. He wants to be treated like everybody else on the field. He doesn't wanna be called "faggot" by his teammates. So perhaps the media could tone down the Michael Sam coverage and accept him as an ordinary guy in the NFL, although I'm glad they recognized he made history this week. I hope everything from here-on-out is just football as usual.