I DON’T know what Sam Newman was thinking by having a crack at NFL player Michael Sam on The Footy Show but either way, he got it horribly wrong.

The scenes after Michael got drafted by the St Louis Rams were great.

I really don’t understand why it’s such a big deal for some people, but again the topic of whether gay footballers should come out has come up after the NFL draft.

For those that don’t know, Michael Sam is an openly gay American footballer who came out to his college teammates last season.

He won all sorts of awards at college and was unanimously selected as an All American before going public with his sexuality.

He was seen as one of the top picks leading into the draft but fell all the way to pick No. 249.

Again, I don’t know what Sam was trying to say on The Footy Show, but one point he did make was that nobody straight would have done it.

How often do you see a player kiss his partner after winning an award?

All the time.

It was an emotional time for Michael, his family, partner and friends.

I don’t see why it’s such a big deal.

In this day and age it’s ridiculous how we even still talk about it, to be honest.

There’s no doubt there would be gay footballers in the AFL right now.

I don’t know of any, but the numbers say there has to be.

There’s every chance I would have played alongside one at some point, as well.

Again, I don’t see why that is a big deal?

It doesn’t affect me.

People say it will cause conflict at footy clubs but I can’t see how.

Just because someone is gay, it doesn’t mean they’re attracted to every single man they see.

Hopefully Michael Sam paves the way for more players to feel comfortable and accepted.

It’s going to be something that future generations look back on and go what were they thinking?

This article was originally published in The Border Mail and can be accessed in its original form here.