We've always known that the university is supposed to be a place where young people can go to reevaluate their prejudices. This Associated Press story, just published by ESPN, has so many good things in it I just had to diary it on a Saturday night. There's another good story connected with this too.
We've already seen that Sam's team has known about him all season, and that it didn't make any difference to them. The University of Missouri community demonstrated that it feels the same way at Missouri's basketball game against Tennessee this afternoon:
Michael Sam received a standing ovation when he appeared on the arena video boards during Missouri's basketball game against Tennessee on Saturday.
The All-America defensive end, who could became the first openly gay player in the NFL, later blew a kiss to the student section and shook hands with fans.
Sam and the football team were honored at halftime for their AT&T Cotton Bowl [win] over Oklahoma State.
Basketball fans. Representative of the student body. Not a hand-picked sympathetic audience.
There's more:
Mason Schara, the student body president who posted Monday on Twitter that he's gay, said the university always will treat Sam as one of its own.
"The majority of us knew and we just didn't think anything of it because that's just who we are here," Schara said. "The fact that there's been such a positive reaction across the nation is what sparked us to be here today."
Okay. A self-selected sympathetic audience, maybe. But the thing is that if this is like the colleges I went to, there weren't a lot of tickets available for anyone who just wanted to go offer support.
In other news, guess who turned up at the University of Missouri campus today? From Jacob Kornhauser, featured columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
The latest story to stem from the announcement happened this afternoon when members of the Westboro Baptist Church showed up on campus at the university to protest against Sam's momentous announcement. - snip - According to the university group's Facebook page, 4,854 students attended the event to drown out the negative messages being professed by Westboro Baptist Church members and show their support for Sam. Since the protesters planned to be near Mizzou Arena at 1:30 p.m.—where Missouri plays its home basketball games—students gathered at 1 p.m. to show their support for their beloved classmate.
And I LOVED his concluding paragraph.
Sam showed beyond a doubt that he's a man comfortable in his own skin and isn't afraid of the opinion of others. Missouri students and alums showed that they adore him for that and are proud to attend or have attended the same university as the man who will likely be the first openly-gay player in NFL history.
Good news all around!