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"After Michael Sam got drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of Saturday's NFL Draft \u2014 making him league's first openly gay draftee in its 94-year history \u2014 congratulations and adulations poured in from all corners of the Internet. Rams brass insisted they simply \"drafted a good football player,\" with no mind toward his sexual orientation. U.S. President Barack Obama released a statement commending Sam's trailblazing status. \nAn important, feel-good moment, to be sure. But now the draft is over, and the real test begins \u2014 for Sam, for the NFL and for an American society that's still not entirely in tune with the progress gay rights have made over the past several years. \nSee also: It's not Johnny Manziel, it's you: When online schadenfreude goes too far\nWhen Sam revealed he is gay in early February, public reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Fans, the Missouri football program where he became a star, and current and former NFL players alike all posted upbeat messages online. But a gay NFL player is one thing in theory. \nIn actual practice \u2014 sharing a locker room with deeply religious teammates, scrapping in training camp for a final roster spot \u2014 will Sam be received so warmly? \nThis is, after all, the world's most macho and violent mainstream-sports league. It's a league where homophobic epithets are thrown around casually in the heat of battle, where the phrase \"no homo\" is used as a joke by both fans and players. It's a league where, on media day before the 2013 Super Bowl, San Francisco cornerback Chris Culliver said the 49ers \"don\u2019t got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do.\" It's a league from which punter, Internet hero and activist Chris Kluwe said he was essentially black-balled for being an outspoken proponent of gay rights. \n\"There are guys in locker rooms that maturity-wise cannot handle it, or deal with the thought of that,\" an anonymous NFL assistant coach told Sports Illustrated after Sam came out in February. \"There's nothing more sensitive than the heartbeat of the locker room. If you knowingly bring someone in there with that sexual orientation, how are the other guys going to deal with it? It's going to be a big distraction. That's the reality. It shouldn't be, but it will be.\"\nAdded an anonymous personnel executive: \"\"It's one thing to have Chris Kluwe or Brendon Ayanbadejo, advocates for gay rights, on your team. It's another to have a current confirmed player.\"\n\nThank you to the St. Louis Rams and the whole city of St. Louis. I'm using every once of this to achieve greatness!! pic.twitter.com/QESdOJVzsw\n\u2014 Michael Sam (@MikeSamFootball) May 10, 2014\n\nSam came out to his Missouri teammates before the 2013 football season, and that went well. Missouri had a stellar season, and Sam was named the fearsome Southeastern Conference's best defensive player. But being an established top dog and coming out to a group of guys you've known for years is one thing; making history under the professional spotlight's harsh glare in a world where any perceived weakness is something to be mercilessly exploited by opponents is another. \nSure, Jason Collins became the first openly gay male athlete in any major American pro sport this year. He's still playing for the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA playoffs. But that's the NBA; the NFL \u2014 even setting aside its macho culture built around controlled violence \u2014 is a different beast. \nTolerance and openness are historically not what the NFL has been known for. We're talking about a league that in 2014 still has a franchise called the Redskins. We're talking about a league battling damaging accusations that it for years obfuscated research about the longterm effects a career's worth of bone-crushing hits inflict upon the human brain. We're talking about a league that outspoken Seattle Seahawks star Richard Sherman says would not have banned a racist owner like Donald Sterling for life. \nSo the coming months will be a test for the NFL, a test of whether proclamations of equality and openness are as easily rendered in real life as they are in rhetoric. But the coming months will be a major test for Sam himself, too \u2014 and for reasons having nothing to do with his being gay. \n\nSam, you see, is no surefire NFL star \u2014 or even starter. He won the prestigious SEC defensive player of the year award, but major questions cloud his pro future. He's too small to play defensive end in the pros, and maybe too slow to switch to linebacker, scouts say. But, for better or worse, those issues will be minor given their greater context. \nSam's struggle to make the Rams' final roster is sports. But Sam's struggle to make the NFL and gay-rights history? That's sports writ large \u2014 sports as a mirror for American society. \nFans, the NFL, the Rams, Sam and his fellow players have, for the most part, said all the right things since February. They've talked a big game. But talk is cheap in sports, and now it's time to back that up in real life. \nThat, as the old cliche goes, is why they play the games. \nBONUS: 50 Stunning Sports Photos From 2013\n\n\n\n50 Amazing Sports Photos From 2013\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n1. Jamaica's Usain Bolt wins the 100-meter final at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow on Aug. 11 as lightning strikes in the sky above Luzhniki Stadium.\n\n\nImage: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n2. LeBron James moments before leading the Miami Heat to a win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals on June 3. \n\n\nImage: Chris Trotman/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n3. Pro lacrosse player Stephen Berger of the New York Lizards gets encouragement from young fans before a May 31 game. \n\n\nImage: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n4. Gabriel Gonzaga employs a guillotine choke submission against Ben Rothwell in their heavyweight MMA fight on Jan. 19 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. \n\n\nImage: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n5. Uruguay takes on Italy for 3rd place at the FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil on June 30. \n\n\nImage: Handout/Shaun Botterill/FIFA via Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n6. Jarrett Jack of the Golden State Warriors celebrates a basket as fans go wild during a Feb. 22 game against the San Antonio Spurs. \n\n\nImage: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n7. Major League Baseball rookies George Kottaras of the Kansas City Royals and Robbie Ross of the Texas Rangers compete in a cow milking contest on June 1. \n\n\nImage: Rick Yeatts/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n8. Sergy Nazin of Russia competes in the world diving championships as Barcelona's iconic Sagrada Fam\u00EDlia cathedral looms in the background on July 28. \n\n\nImage: Al Bello/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n9. Baseball fans display the full range of human emotion while trying to catch an Aug. 28 foul ball at Fenway Park. \n\n\nImage: Jim Davis/The Boston Globe via Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n10. Halima Hachlaf of Morocco lies on the track after competing in the women's 800-meter semifinals IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow on Aug. 16. \n\n\nImage: Christian Petersen/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n11. Boats zip between Alcatraz Island and the San Francisco skyline during the fifth race of the America's Cup Finals on Sept. 10. \n\n\nImage: Jamie Squire/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n12. Yekaterina Rudenko of Kazakhstan competes at the International Swimming Federation championships in Barcelona on July 31.\n\n\nImage: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n13. The United States takes on Costa Rica in a World Cup qualifying match amid driving snow on March 22 in Commerce City, Colo. \n\n\nImage: Dustin Bradford/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n14. Novak Djokovic celebrates after winning the Australian Open over Andy Murray on Jan. 27.\n\n\nImage: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n15. Notre Dame running back Cam McDaniel hilariously maintains perfect composure while getting tackled after losing his helmet on Oct. 19. \n\n\nImage: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n16. A prosthetic leg stands alone by the pool during the International Paralympic Committee's world swimming championship on Aug. 15. \n\n\nImage: Charles Laberge/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n17. David Luiz of Brazil is ecstatic after a teammate's goal during the Confederations Cup on June 15. \n\n\nImage: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n18. Japanese officials react after Tokyo is awarded the 2020 Olympics at an announcement ceremony in Buenos Aires. \n\n\nImage: Ian Walton/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n19. Danny Garcia lands a bloody punch on Zab Judah during their championship boxing match on April 27. \n\n\nImage: Elsa/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n20. Zafar Gohar of Pakistan and Ben Duckett of England face off in an international under-19 cricket match on Aug. 19. \n\n\nImage: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n21. An alligator guards the 14th fairway at an April 25 golf tournament in Avondale, La. \r\n\n\n\nImage: Chris Graythen/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n22. A Boston police officer at Fenway Park loses himself in the moment, celebrating a Red Sox home run in a come-from-behind win during the MLB playoffs on Oct. 13. \n\n\nImage: Al Bello/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n23. Butler coach Brad Stevens endures a moment of agony after a ref's whistle during the NCAA Tournament on March 23. \n\n\nImage: Andy Lyons/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n24. The Saints logo lines up perfectly behind quarterback Drew Brees at the Superdome in New Orleans on Sept. 8. \n\n\nImage: Chris Graythen/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n25. Maria Sharapova plays a backhand during the Australian Open quarterfinals on Jan. 22. \n\n\nImage: Julian Finney/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n26. A man watches the Brazilian national soccer team from a favela bar in Rio de Janeiro on June 9. \n\n\nImage: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n27. Jehue Gordon of Trinidad and Tobago just beats American Michael Tinsley in the world 400-meter hurdles championship in Moscow on Aug. 15. \n\n\nImage: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n28. Boston Marathon bombing victim Jeff Bauman greets the crowd before the Boston Bruins' NHL playoff game on May 4. \n\n\nImage: Brian Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n29. Fred Jackson after scoring a touchdown for the Buffalo Bills on Dec. 1.  \n\n\nImage: Rick Stewart/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n30. Man versus bull at the National Rodeo Finals on Australia's Gold Coast on June 16. \n\n\nImage: Matt Roberts/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n31. Parrish Cox of the 49ers is a lonely man amid the Ravens' victory celebration following Super Bowl XLVII on Feb. 3. \r\n\n\n\nImage: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n32. Alabama's Bryant-Denny Stadium during a college football game on Sept. 21. \n\n\nImage: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n33. Carmelo Anthony sails into the crowd while chasing a loose ball for the New York Knicks during a May 1 playoff game. \n\n\nImage: Al Bello/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n34. Ryan Mathews runs from defenders during an NFL game on Nov. 17. \n\n\nImage:  Streeter Lecka/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n35. A Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader performs during a game on Sept. 15.  \n\n\nImage: Patrick Smith/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n36. Double amputee Chris Moon runs in the 135-mile Badwater ultra-marathon race on July 15 in Death Valley National Park, Calif. \n\n\nImage: David McNew/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n37. Kite-boarders compete on San Francisco Bay on June 7. \n\n\nImage: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n38. Arizona's Kevin Parrom sells a foul during the Pac-12 tournament on March 14. \n\n\nImage: Jeff Gross/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n39. Legendary NFL linebacker Ray Lewis after one of the final playoff games of his career on Jan. 6. \n\n\nImage: Patrick Smith/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n40. A young fan welcomes his heroes onto the ice before an NHL game in Raleigh, N.C., on Jan. 22. \n\n\nImage: Grant Halverson/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n41. Sunlight casts shadows during an April 21 IndyCar race on the streets of Long Beach, Calif. \n\n\nImage: Robert Laberge/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n42. Two hockey players duke it out during an NHL game. \n\n\nImage: Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n43. Peter Mel rides a wave during the Maverick's Invitational surf competition on Jan. 20 in Half Moon Bay. \n\n\nImage: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n44. Pitcher Erik Bedard of the Houston Astros casts a long shadow on May 29. \n\n\nImage: Doug Pensinger/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n45. Andrei Kirilenko of the Brooklyn Nets is framed by the rim while reaching for the ball on Nov. 1. \n\n\nImage: Al Bello/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n46. Greg Owen hits a shot on Feb. 7 at the Monterey Peninsula Country Club in Pebble Beach, Calif. \n\n\nImage: Jeff Gross/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n47. A rainbow appears over Camden Yards during a game between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees on June 28. \n\n\nImage: Patrick Smith/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n48. The field of the 138th running of the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on May 28. \n\n\nImage: Patrick Smith/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n49. Russ Smith of the Louisville Cardinals tumbles into his own team's bench during a game at Madison Square Garden on March 16. \n\n\nImage: Elsa/Getty Images\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n50. WBO welterweight champion Timothy Bradley, Jr., preens after defeating Juan Manual Marquez on Oct. 12. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/05/11/michael-sam-drafted-now-what/>