Report: Michael Sam is going to be on ‘Dancing With the Stars’
|
Version 0 of 1. Michael Sam may be trading his football cleats for dancing shoes. So says a report from TMZ, which claims Sam is slated to start work on the show’s 20th season next month. Filming starts March 16. Sam had a rough go after becoming the first openly gay man ever drafted by an NFL team. A planned reality show on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network was scrapped after it raised the ire of league officials. He was cut by the St. Louis Rams, the team that drafted him, and while he briefly found a home on the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, he was released last season. Since then, Sam’s been a free agent. Cyd Zeigler of Outsports wondered if the league quietly had shut its doors to Sam because of his sexual orientation despite public declarations of support. Zeigler said he questioned NFL players, coaches and executives at the Super Bowl about why Sam’s career had fizzled so unceremoniously when he showed so much promise. Wrote Zeigler: “The answer I got the most, almost unanimously with a hint of ‘but I have my suspicions’: I just don’t know.” “Sam is the only drafted Defensive Player of the Year of any of the big five football conferences — ACC, Big Ten, Big XII, Pac 12 and SEC — in the last 20 years to not make an active roster his rookie season,” Zeigler pointed out in an exhaustive analysis of Sam’s situation earlier this month. In November, there was no doubt in his mind. “Michael Sam is not on an active roster today because he is openly gay,” Zeigler wrote. According to TMZ, there’s still some uncertainty because Sam expressed interest in participating in the first-ever veterans scouting combine, which is scheduled for March 22. Sam hasn’t abandoned football, and it doesn’t seem like he wants to. NBC Sports reported earlier this month that if Sam can’t make it on to a 90-man NFL roster, he’s eyeing the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League as a backup plan. Nothing’s firmly in place, and it looks as though Sam is keeping his options open — though if he does wind up on “Dancing With the Stars,” he’ll be in some pretty great company. Here’s some prior performances from former NFL veterans he can plumb for inspiration:
RELATED: For Michael Sam, a victory even if cut from St. Louis Rams roster What’s next for Michael Sam? Michael Sam to Oprah: Gay NFL players reached out to me in gratitude Michael Sam, Oprah and the danger of thinking reality TV is the answer |