Thursday, February 13, 2014

Video: Dale Hansen Unplugged - Celebrating our differences

I know some of you are sick of the Michael Sam story, but this video is too awesome not to share.

6 comments:

  1. Yeah. A great video. Hopely Michael Sam can get drafted by the right team and take the discussion re: homosexuality into the league.

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  2. Sorry -- Stopped listening about a minute after he indicated that 'The top rated defenseman in college football is only projected to be a 3rd or 5th round draft pick -- that is shocking'......The reporter is obviously trying to imply a connection between Sams' announcement of being gay, and his projected draft position. That strategy forms the basis of a great argument, but on the other hand, most revisionist history pretty much does the same thing. Rating experts like Mel Kiper and others have had him at 3rd, 4th, or 5th round long before he proclaimed his sexual orientation. Again the reporter uses a lot of great cliches to build an argument, but he obviously knows nothing about college football and it's relation to the pros. "#1 defensive player in the NCAA" does not necessarily translate to "#1 defensive pick in the NFL draft". If college was essentially the minor league for playing on Sundays, Heisman winners Charlie Ward and Tim Tebow would be NFL legends today. Now, when Sams gets drafted in late round 4 or whatever, every ignorant local TV sports show guy will scream sexual-orientation discrimination, and we will have yet another manufactured victim of our everybody-is-a-victim society. Think I'm wrong about the media's romance with the victim mentality? Answer this -- Would this reporter have gone on this dripping-with-emotion rant if he had found out that the "#1 defensive player in college football" -- who was straight -- was projected "shockingly" as a "3rd to 5th round NFL draft pick"?..........Yeah. I didn't think so either.

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately, your comment is way off base. First of all, you missed the point if you think that his "lack of football knowledge" prevents him from having a quality opinion. Secondly, he didn't say that Sam is the best defensive football player in the SEC; he said that Sam was the best defensive player in college football's best conference, which is true because he was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year.

      But let's go back to that "lack of college football knowledge" thing, and I'm going to poke a big ol' hole in your entire argument.

      FACT: The SEC Defensive Player of the Year Award has been handed out 11 times, going back to 2003. Jarvis Jones, Morris Claiborne, Patrick Peterson, Rolando McClain, Eric Berry, Glenn Dorsey, Patrick Willis, and David Pollack were all drafted in the first round, Demeco Ryans was drafted in round #2, and Chad Lavalais was drafted in round #5. So out of 10 players to have won the award and gone through the draft, 8 of them were 1st rounders, 1 of them was a 2nd rounder, and 1 was a 5th rounder.

      Could it indeed be "shocking" that 80% of SEC DPOY's and 7 straight have gone in the 1st round, but now the next one is projected to go in rounds 3-5? I would certainly suggest that it could be a valid conclusion, depending on how "shocked" one could be by a sports development such as this. I mean, I would be more shocked if the sun failed to rise or if Justin Bieber wrote a good song, but...

      This isn't revisionist history. It's not a lack of football knowledge. It's a pretty straight forward and honest opinion piece, backed by both anecdotal and statistical evidence. Perhaps you should bone up on your football knowledge before you attack his.

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    2. His statement that "every body is a victim" is so true though. In today's society, if people fail, they blame it on someone else. Just work harder for goodness sakes. It's not because you are gay. It's because your just not as good as the past SEC defensive POY's

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    3. No. In the beginning of the commentary, he is just stating that the fact that the SEC Defensive POY is only a 3rd to 5th round pick is shocking, and then comparing that shock, to the shock that many are displaying around Michael Sam coming out. There was no implication that his draft projection is related to his coming out. Mr. Hansen is just saying that he is more shocked by Sam's draft projection than by his coming out. That's it.

      Now, he does then start to paint the picture of an unwelcoming NFL. If you had continued to listen, you would have heard him talk about comments made by NFL executives indicating a discomfort with gay players. Hes' not just guessing at possible discrimination, but instead quoting actual comments. It gives me the sense that Sam's draft stock may be hurt by his coming out. And Hansen does a pretty good job putting that NFL discomfort in the context of serious problems.

      It should also be noted that Sam's draft projection was calculated prior to his coming out, so it likely wasn't influenced by his being gay. But, now that he has come out, it will be interesting to see what kind of effect it has...

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  3. From everything I have heard, Sam was indeed projected to be a 3rd - 5th rounder, mostly because of his size and one dimensional game.

    Who knows how this 'new news' will impact his draft position. Heck some owner might want to make a statement and pick him earlier just as well as he might go undrafted.


    Lets all just 'stay classy' and let each of us have an opinion shall we! Disagree or agree, let freedom reign!

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