Congratulations to Michael Sam for telling it like it is. Too bad he had to. I never thought I would be required to stand up and tell my potential future employer, "Hi! I'm heterosexual. Is that OK with you?" I have no idea why a professional ball players' sexual orientation is pertinent to the job. Fair or unfair, with no ENDA in sight; Michael Sam will have to answer some absolute, out of bounds questions if he wants an NFL career.
Apologists for this nosiness say these are "important considerations". They need to manage the "distractions".
Yeah, right.
I commend Michael Sam for meeting the whisper campaign straight on (pun intended). There is no doubt the scouting reports on Michael Sam included his sexual orientation prior to his come out announcement. His calculation of dealing in the open as opposed to secret is a gamble I hope works out for him. NFL teams have downgraded Sam's draftability according to their level of homophobia. The only way to make gayness a non-issue is to show how it's done. Michael Sam must show not only good ball handling skills, but also good Public Relations skills and the combine will be his audition.
With that in mind, if you were Michael Sam's publicist, agent and supporter, how would you prepare him for the obnoxious questions he'll be subjected to at the Combine?
My questions and suggested answers are "as is". When I prepare for a sensitive meeting, I usually brainstorm with co-workers about questions I'm likely to field and what I should say. Michael Sam undoubtedly has already done this, but I'm in the mood for a different kind of diary. These suggestions are out here to be refined and improved or discarded (sometimes the fantasy is better than reality). I admit, I pounded this out to get the ball kicking.
If you were on Michael Sam's PR team what questions would you anticipate and how would you suggest he answer them?