Sam should feel right at home in Montreal
After the Republic of Ireland last Friday became the first nation to legalize gay marriage through a popular vote, a Dublin social worker named Maeve O’Sullivan put the triumph into perspective.
“We are making history, but that is not what it is about,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s about supporting people and being inclusive. It is accepting people on the most basic level.” Precisely. Ireland, known until recently for Guinness, poets and repressive Catholicism, has now became a world leader in simple tolerance and common sense. Step by step, the old bonds are breaking.
The events in Ireland are relevant because the announcement made by the Montreal Alouettes on the day of the Irish vote is also global.
By signing the openly gay Michael Sam to a two-year contract, the Als have made a statement that will echo around the world — and they have reached back through the decades to form a symbolic bond with baseball’s Montreal Royals, where Jackie Robinson once broke the colour barrier.
If the Alouettes have sometimes signed a player (Chad Johnson comes to mind) because GM Jim Popp can’t resist making a splash, this time Popp displayed the right kind of courage. Sam isn’t simply an openly gay athlete and a good one — he’s also a courageous trailblazer in a world that has been homophobic and misogynist since players wore leather helmets and wouldn’t take the field against a black man.
If this is finally going to happen, after much-hyped moves by the St. Louis Rams and the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League led nowhere, Montreal is the place where it should happen. Not only is this a famously tolerant, live-and-let-live city (as long as we’re not talking the great French-English divide), it is also the city that played host to the greatest act of integration in sports history, when Robinson took the field for the Royals.
Robinson had to face the ugliest hatred everywhere, including at times in his own clubhouse.
That was never the case in Montreal. This city accepted Robinson and his wife as what they were — just people. With our vibrant, twokilometre strip of the Gay Village in the East End, Sam should feel right at home in this city.
If there are likely to be some individuals in the Alouettes locker-room who will have trouble accepting an openly gay teammate, it’s up to the coaches, management and team leaders to set the tone and to show how Sam is to be treated.
I’m confident they will. The Als have always had classy team leaders: Anthony Calvillo, Scott Flory, Bryan Chiu, Ben Cahoon, Tracy Ham, Anwar Stewart, Chip Cox — they all set a standard for behaviour on and off the field that few teams can match. Most of those players have moved on, but they set an enduring tone that will be put to the test as Sam is worked into the lineup.
This will be one of the few times when the U.S. media actually pays attention to what happens in the Canadian Football League. The first couple of games will be a circus and the scrutiny will be intense. The Als can’t have a Khalif Mitchell going off the deep end on Twitter or anywhere else.
That means education. Athletes who have spent their entire lives figuring out how to win games can be astonishingly ignorant of the world outside their milieu. Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jonathan Bernier is still trying to figure out who Nelson Mandela plays for. In a situation like this, it’s up to the club to step in and make sure everyone is prepared.
As for Michael Sam himself, he has amply demonstrated that he is prepared. Off the field, he has said and done the right things at every step. On the field, he should be the perfect fit for the CFL, especially on a team that already has the league’s best defence. He will help the Alouettes turn up the heat on quarterbacks across the league.
Given that a team in the NFL could have given Sam a genuine opportunity, we’re fortunate to be part of this. It’s a great moment in the history of sports in this city, and I would expect fans at Percival Molson to show that this can be a special place to play.
I still remember interviewing Rachel Robinson, Jackie’s widow, during the lead-up to the 50th anniversary commemoration of the day he broke the colour barrier in the major leagues, a year after shattering the minor-league barrier with the Royals. Meeting her was like shaking hands with history.
What Sam is about to do may not be on a par with Robinson’s heroism (surely he won’t be subjected to anything like the same level of abuse), but it’s up there. That’s why, having made this commitment, it won’t do for Popp to go back on it.
Sam can’t be one of those high-profile off-season signings who don’t last through the first week of camp. It’s one thing to say he has to show he can compete like anyone else, but if Popp doesn’t intend to keep Sam on the roster, he shouldn’t have signed him.
This is too important, the occasion too momentous. It’s the right time and Montreal is the right city. Having taken a huge stride in the right direction, Popp and the Alouettes need to back it up by showing the world this is not mere window dressing.
The Als will get a 6-foot-2, 260-pound wrecking ball of a pass rusher. The world will get to turn another page in the history book. It’s about accepting people at the most basic level — as human beings, not as walking labels.