By Brad Hubbard | @bradhubbard
Marcus Smart and Michael Sam are two names you’ve been hearing a lot about over the last few days. Sam, the SEC Defensive Player of the year, announced he was gay and, a few hours before that, Smart was suspended three games for shoving a fan.
Sam’s story is historic any way you cut it. He will, in all likely hood, be the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team and make, NFL roster and play in an NFL game.
Smart’s suspension is not historic but it is important. Because of the incident, Smart could see his draft stock drop because of the dreaded “character” issue.
Smart can take solace in the fact that Sam took the media spotlight away from him.
If Sam’s announcement had not happened when it did then the major sports stories for the week would have been Smart’s shove of a fan and the Winter Olympics.
Make no mistake, Smart’s actions and following suspension is big news in the sports world but Sam’s news is on another level.
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