Josina Anderson & Michael Sam

You realize this thread and every Michael Sam-related thing that led to it wouldn't exist if the media "treated gay people like everyone else," right?

 

You say that like it's a bad thing.

 

My opinion is that the instinct that there might be something here when a player tells you "This guy doesn't shower" isn't wrong. I feel like there's a very good chance that after some asking around, you discover that there's nothing there for various reasons. That doesn't mean inquiring further is wrong, but it should be done behind the scenes and ahead of time before a one-liner goes in on-air and goes viral.

 

I just find it funny that anyone remotely familiar with the media would suggest such a thing is even possible.

 

Deadspin: Because Jackie Robinson.

http://deadspin.com/espn-was-dumb-but-michael-sams-showering-habits-do-mat-1627600462?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

 

Maybe the shower issue is just that "distraction" Fisher talked about.

 

Where is the story about uncomfortable showers in WNBA lockerrooms? #sarcasm

 

ESPN The Mag had a Michael Sam shower story in The Body Issue by David Fleming that
may have even been more cringeworthy. Probably did not get the pub because
Chris Long did not call ESPN on it and it was the start of summer and no one was
paying attention.

"IT WAS HOT and impossibly muggy in St. Louis on June 3 when the Rams opened their organized team activities. So it must have happened at some point that afternoon. On the far left side of the locker room, in front of his stall, Michael Sam wrapped himself in a towel, grabbed some shampoo and walked across the room that during OTAs can reach nearly twice its normal capacity. Then he arrived at a pattern of tiny gray-and-blue linoleum tile, thereby breaking the ultimate taboo in men's team sports: an openly gay man showering with his NFL teammates.

The barrier that Sam strolled through in June was long considered an unbreakable cultural obstacle to acceptance for gay players, even in a society in which, according to Gallup, 78 percent of people under 30 support same-sex marriage. There's just something sacred about the ritual of the team shower, we were told -- the outside world would never understand. Sam wasn't the first, of course: Jason Collins showered with his Nets teammates after coming out last year. But this was unprecedented in an NFL locker room, our culture's ultimate temple of masculinity."

And now we learn from Josina Anderson that Fleming's premise is way off. Sam is not showering with teammates.

 

Another passage from Fleming article:

"One former Tennessee Titan was so poorly endowed that every time he stepped into the shower, teammates would ask him, "Have you pissed on your balls today?"

 

Josina Anderson released a statement:

http://frontrow.espn.go.com/2014/08/josina-anderson-michael-sam-coverage/

Edit: That link should work.