Every great story needs a villain, and the Michael Sam tale indeed has a few. The worst? Probably Jack Burkman, who you remember as the guy pushing a bill that would possibly ban openly gay players from the NFL. He’s a powerful right wing D.C. lobbyist who received a lot of publicity right after Sam came out. Today, ESPN and their reporter Josina Anderson, joins Burkman on the Michael Sam story bad guys list.
Rams Coach Jeff Fisher ripped Josina for her shoddy “reporting.”
And it was quite awesome (via St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
I’m extremely disappointed in her (Josina Anderson). I think it’s unethical,” Fisher continued. “I think it’s very, very unprofessional. Not only the piece itself, the content. The manner in which she did it.
Obviously she came in, in all likelihood to see if there was gonna be a roster move at the 75 cutdown as it relates to Mike Sam. That didn’t happen. But she needed to do something, and it’s my understanding that she manufactured this story.
And a teammate of Michael Sam, Chris Long tweeted this:
“Dear ESPN, Everyone but you is over it.”
Yeah, pretty much.
What about actual football? Sam’s actual chances of making the team? Pretty good. He’s got three sacks in three games. Learn more and watch the video below:
Paul M. Banks owns and operates The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports, Yahoo! and the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He’s been a guest on news talk shows all across the world and been featured in hundreds of media outlets including NFL Network, Fox Sports 1 and ESPN2. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)