Homosexuality in Sports...A Distraction?

Jason Collins Picture Courtesy of Yahoo Sports

Everybody these days continue to be scared of the elephant of the room. 1 problem against that idea!... The elephant isn't scared of the size of the room and doesn't plan on shrinking any time soon. The elephant name is Homosexuality or what others like to call "Gay". In the past 2 years, homosexuality has become a stage in athletics. It has created large eye popping situation for people around the world that live on both sides of this support fence.

In April of 2013, Jason Collins, did not become the beginning of homosexuality in sports. He became an icon on a enormous stage for this 3 letter word.."Gay" in sports. Jason is the twin brother of Jarron, who became an NBA player in 2001 and has been in the league ever since. He became the first actively open gay player in the NBA which happened in 2014 when he joined the Brooklyn Nets and worked through 2 10 day contracts to get a roster spot for the rest of the season. Collins not only signed with Brooklyn but sold a large number of jerseys on the way.

Michael Sam Picture Courtesy of CBS Sports

The Brooklyn Nets jumped in popularity and brought a large majority crowd of homosexual supporters. He became the face until Michael Sam. Michael Sam in February of 2014 made the announcement after a outstanding college senior season when he won Co-Defensive player of the year for the SEC. After the combine, he entered the conversation of a player that would drop in stock. Usually the Defensive POY for the SEC goes in the 1st round of the draft and this didn't seem like the case for him. He became the face of a player just wanting to play football but had the stage to state his case as an open Gay player in the NFL.

During the 2014 NFL Draft, Sam became the talk of the town. People wanted to hear his story but the story would not help his draft stock. He was drafted late in the 7th round to the St. Louis Rams that had some of the best defensive lineman in the league. He would perform during preseason but be cut by the St. Louis Rams. This would come even though, Sam would sale a large number of jersey, ranking him 6th in the NFL.

Now...Does this draw the world distraction? These 2 guys are the biggest 2 on the stage of athletes with homosexuality. The thing about their career is, it's not staying on a steady pace. The idea of having a player around a male dominate locker room who is homosexual seems to be the topic. There are so many teams that are passing on both players and they seem to not have a place in athletics with the feeling that the distraction will become bigger than the game itself. It has been noted for both players that they will be judged on their game alone and the decision for their career will rest solely on that.

There has since been other players in different worlds that have come out and helped the cause for homosexuality in sports such as Brittney Griner and Chip Sarafin. Will this trend of announcing your homosexuality in sports continue? Is it important to know that athletes are homosexual? Will homosexual players get a fair share with their career? Is the word distraction correct for homosexuality in sports? Should homosexuality be allowed to be promoted through sport? Is the world of sports ready for homosexuality?