Michael Sam leaves CFL's Alouettes

[TexasTowelie]

MONTREAL (AP) — Michael Sam is stepping away from pro football.

Sam, the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL, has told the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes that he is leaving the team.

"The last 12 months have been very difficult for me, to the point where I became concerned with my mental health," Sam tweeted Friday. "Because of this I am going to step away from the game at this time."

The Alouettes confirmed in a release that Sam has left the club for "personal reasons" and that he has been added to the team's suspended list.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/sports/article/Michael-Sam-leaves-CFL-s-Alouettes-6445525.php

[applegrove]

1. Vibes to him for his health.

[KamaAina]

2. Could the Alouettes' locker room be as nasty as the Dolphins'?

[DinahMoeHum]

3. He's not the first collegiate star to wash out in the pros. . .

. . .and he will not be the last.

Then again, considering that a few NFL stars (ie. Chris Borland) have left football at their prime due to physical and mental health concerns inherent in the game, Michael Sam should consider himself lucky.

[KamaAina]

4. But he is the first gay one.

Locker room culture being what it is, on both sides of the border...

[DinahMoeHum]

5. Unfortunately, that attitude is not gonna change. . .

. . .until a bonafide Tom Brady/Peyton Manning-caliber player comes out when he is at his NFL superstar peak, ie. after he wins the Super Bowl MVP

[KamaAina]

6. Hmmm... the Niners have as many holes on D as a block of Swiss cheese

thanks to all these retirements and arrests and shit

and, believe it or not , there is a gay Niners bar in the Castro, Uncle Bert's. 'Nuf ced.

[TexasTowelie]

7. That was a close call!

If the analogous part of the metaphor in the opening line of your reply was replaced with the predicate about the bar in Castro I would have voted to hide your post.

[mythology]

8. If he isn't mentally in a place to play football in Canada,

he's probably not in one to play in the U.S.

What made Jackie Robinson the right player to break the MLB color barrier wasn't just that he was a great player, it was that he was mentally resilient enough to deal with an unbelievable amount of hate.

I think very few people are really cut out to be the first at something like that. I don't think I would be.

Besides, the problems with the Forty-Niners are more to do with ownership and the general manager than the players on the field.