There are two Michael Sams.
One, a star defensive end at the University of Missouri who became the first publicly gay player to be drafted into the NFL. The other, a wheelchair-bound father who's portrayed as the homophobic man who left his family. One is portrayed as the courageous athlete. The other is framed as the angry father who's "a man-and-woman type of guy" who doesn't "want his grandkids raised in that kind of environment."
MORE: Sam cut by Cowboys | NFL players react to Sam's announcement
But the story goes back much further than Michael Sam Jr.'s coming out announcement in February 2014 and Michael Sam Sr.'s subsequent distress. Joel Anderson of BuzzFeed sat down with Michael Sam Sr. and explored the relationship between him and his son, diving into Sam Jr.'s troubled home life in Texas and Sam Sr.'s struggle to be a family man:
"The father-son story of Michael Sr. and Michael Jr. is more than a conflict over whether Michael Sr. loved and supported his son. It’s the tale of man who’s been reduced to a caricature but whose actual life was shaped by the loss of child after child, some to death and some to crime. The rift between Michael Sr. and his youngest son started long before Michael Jr. came out and stems in no small part from those family tragedies."
Read the full story at Buzzfeed.
