Margie Patton
Staff Writer
@MargiePatton
As expected, not everyone in the sports world is embracing the story of Michael Sam, the first openly gay athlete to make the NFL draft. On May 10th, former NFL player Derrick Ward tweeted his disapproval of the televised celebratory kiss Sam shared with his boyfriend.
Ward later tried to clarify that it was the overzealous nature of the kiss and not its same sex component that he found distasteful.
Ward’s backpedaling may have been enough to somewhat save his skin, but the same cannot be said for current Miami Dolphins player Don Jones. Jones’ tweets of “OMG” and “Horrible” in reference to Sam’s draft made it clear how he felt.
The tweets were quickly deleted, but the damage had already been done. Dolphins team owners came down hard and swift on Jones, fining the player and suspending him until he completed “educational training”.
Perhaps the severity of Jones’ punishment was partly due to the team’s already bruised reputation from a bullying scandal last year, but it’s still encouraging to see management send a clear statement that disrespect toward Sam will not be tolerated by the league.
In the aftermath of the punishment decision, Jones released an apology to Sam, stating:
“I want to apologize to Michael Sam for the inappropriate comments that I made last night on social media. I take full responsibility for them and I regret that these tweets took away from his draft moment. I am committed to represent the values of the Miami Dolphins organization and appreciate the opportunity I have been given to do so going forward.”
Officials did not disclose the amount of Jones’ fine, but let’s hope it’s enough for him to look at his bank account and go, “OMG, horrible!”
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