'It was the 権利 thing to do': First 率直に gay player 草案d by the NFL says he has no 悔いるs - and that his sexuality has nothing to do with him 存在 削減(する) from St Louis 押し通すs

  • Michael Sam said he stands by 決定/判定勝ち(する) to come out in Oprah interview
  • Sam said he doesn't connect sexuality to fact he didn't?最終的に?join NFL
  • Practiced with St Louis 押し通すs and Dallas Cowboys - but didn't play?

Michael Sam 解任するd the thought that his sexuality has cost him a 位置/汚点/見つけ出す in the NFL.

'I don't like to think that way,' Sam said in an Oprah Winfrey 網状組織 文書の that 空気/公表するd Saturday night.

'But I do believe I'm a very talented football player and I'm going to continue working hard and try to get that 適切な時期 to play in the league.'

The first 率直に gay player 草案d in the NFL has no 悔いるs.

Interview: Michael Sam spoke about his experience in the NFL draft in an Oprah Winfrey interview

Interview: Michael Sam spoke about his experience in the NFL 草案 in an Oprah Winfrey interview

'I did everything I was supposed to do. I did everything 権利,' Sam said. 'I am proud of how I 扱うd things.'

Sam said coming out was the 権利 thing to do. He would have preferred the news come out after he 知らせるd the team that 草案d him, but he 恐れるd it would be 明らかにする/漏らすd and felt 圧力 to 支配(する)/統制する the 状況/情勢.

'It didn't need to be public,' Sam said. 'Why do gay people have to do it?'

The 生産/産物 was 法案d as the player's first TV 外見 since 存在 削減(する) by the Dallas Cowboys in 中央の-October and played like a personal 'Hard Knocks.'

The 90-minute program was followed by a one-on-one with Winfrey, who asked Sam whether he believed 性の orientation is 傷つけるing his chances, and how long he'd keep trying.

'As long as I can,' Sam replied.

The 文書の 詳細(に述べる)s countless anxious hours during the NFL 草案, which Sam called 'the longest three days of my life.' The New York Jets telephoned his スパイ/執行官s to say they weren't 利益/興味d, and the Cowboys texted to say they were out, too.

'I did everything I was supposed to do': Michael Sam, the first openly gay man drafted by an NFL team, said he is proud of his decision to come out?

'I did everything I was supposed to do': Michael Sam, the first 率直に gay man 草案d by an NFL team, said he is proud of his 決定/判定勝ち(する) to come out?

Sam, who rose to stardom after a difficult childhood in tiny Hitchcock, Texas, asked that the sound on the TV be turned 負かす/撃墜する at one point before the St. Louis 押し通すs took him late in the seventh 一連の会議、交渉/完成する.

'Am I going undrafted?' a 失望させるd Sam asked スパイ/執行官 Cameron Weiss. 'This phone still has not beeped.'

Sam said the 安心させるing 手渡す of his boyfriend, Vito Cammisano, on his shoulder during the wait to get 選ぶd 断言するd the 決定/判定勝ち(する) last February to 明らかにする/漏らす his 性の orientation to the nation.

He 知らせるd Missouri coaches and players before his 上級の season and was the team 最高殊勲選手 and SEC co-防御の player of the year.

'In that moment, I was like "I don't care what happens. I made the 権利 choice to come out,"' Sam said.

Sam broke 負かす/撃墜する in sobs when 押し通すs coach Jeff Fisher telephoned just before the team made him the 249th 選ぶ of the 256-選ぶ 草案. He had been 事業/計画(する)d to be chosen as 早期に as the fourth 一連の会議、交渉/完成する.

Sam kissed and hugged Cammisano and then the two 粉砕するd cake in each other's 直面するs as a 国家の television audience looked on.

'Some say the kiss, the cake, it was all just too much,' Winfrey said in the voiceover prom for the program.

'Some say he wasn't good enough. Others say he should have never come out, one 説 during the introduction to the program that he would be the mother of all distractions.'

Sam called it the '悪名高い kiss.' He said it was spontaneous and 追加するd he'd thought the cameras had been turned off.

'Everyone made a big 取引,協定 out of it,' Sam said. 'It's just a kiss. Did you forget that I was gay? Should I be kissing a woman instead?'

Sam was の中で 21 players waived by the team to reach the 53-player 限界 before the season opener.

Echoing his 発言/述べるs after making the 選ぶ, coach Jeff Fisher said several times it was 純粋に a football 決定/判定勝ち(する). The 押し通すs were 井戸/弁護士席-在庫/株d with pass rushers, and undrafted Ethan Westbrooks grabbed the final 防御の end 位置/汚点/見つけ出す.

'I will tell you this: I was pulling for マイク,' Fisher said then. 'I really was, and I don't say that very often. マイク (機の)カム in here and did everything we asked him to do.'

On Twitter, 概略で an hour after he was 削減(する), Sam thanked the 押し通すs and the city of St. Louis.

He also wrote 'The most worthwhile things in life rarely come 平易な, this is a lesson I've always known. The 旅行 continues.'

Sam spent seven weeks on the Cowboys' practice squad before 存在 解放(する)d and is 現在/一般に a 解放する/自由な スパイ/執行官.?

The comments below have been 穏健なd in 前進する.

The 見解(をとる)s 表明するd in the contents above are those of our 使用者s and do not やむを得ず 反映する the 見解(をとる)s of MailOnline.

We are no longer 受託するing comments on this article.