Template:Did you know nominations/Michael Sam

Michael Sam

 * ... that if chosen in the 2014 NFL Draft, college football All-American Michael Sam (pictured) will become the first openly gay NFL player?
 * Reviewed: First QPQ of two from Template:Did you know nominations/Klayman v. Obama
 * Comment: Since he came out this weekend, there's been a flurry of editing. This is the pre-expansion version. I'm not sure based on a cursory glance at the article history if anyone else deserves credit for this, but I brought it past the 5x finish line.

5x expanded. Nominated by Muboshgu (talk) at 14:50, 10 February 2014 (UTC).


 * Symbol question.svg 5x expansion is timely enough, article is plenty long, with no NPOV or verifiability concerns. Plagiarism not an issue.  Image is free, in the article, and sufficiently viewable at 100x100. QPQ satisfied. For the hook, I would suggest linking to College Football All-America Team instead of the two separate links per WP:SPECIFICLINK.  Also "could" is more accurate than "would", as somebody else could conceivably come out in the meantime.  Length not an issue, so expanding to "National Football League (NFL)" would be helpful for non-NFL fans. Also, the article and hook need to be clear that he could be the first publicly out active NFL player.  Other non-active have come out publicly, and some might be open but just not public about it. Finally, consider moving "if chosen in the 2014 NFL Draft" to the end of the sentence.—Bagumba (talk) 23:00, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
 * You sure seem to be picking up all my recent DYK noms. All of your points are solid ones. He likely will be the first openly gay NFL player, but WP:CRYSTAL applies. I'm taking the NFL draft part out, since if he indeed falls through the entire draft (which I personally doubt since I imagine that the 49ers would go for him, if for no other reason than San Francisco), he can still sign as an undrafted free agent, and that is too much info for a DYK hook. I think the phrase "openly gay" implies that he'd be the first whose status was public. Someone who is out to their friends but has them keep it a secret isn't really "openly" out. We can revise that, though, if need be. Here's a revised hook: – Muboshgu (talk) 23:49, 13 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Although the press with Sam seems to use the "publicly" and "openly" interchangeably, I think we should use "public" to avoid the ambiguity. Glenn Burke in the 70s made no secret he was gay, but the press stayed away from publicly reporting it, and nobody says he was the first to be (publicly) out of the big 4 North American sports. Ideally some LGBT expert can verify one way or another, but I think we can't go wrong by using "public".  At best, "open" might be the same, but at worst it could be inaccurate. We don't want a Grantland-like fiasco here, right?—Bagumba (talk) 00:55, 14 February 2014 (UTC)
 * I don't want to be anything associated with Bill Simmons (gave up reading him at least 10 years ago, when it was clear he was no longer the everyman he started out. Though I like Jonah Keri... I digress). How's ALT2? – Muboshgu (talk) 15:00, 14 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Couple of things outstanding: 1) first active National Football League player (others came out after retiring) 2) 'acknowledge" sounds like he was interrogated. I'd suggest "to have publicly come out as gay"—Bagumba (talk) 19:54, 14 February 2014 (UTC)
 * No arguments. ALT2 should be good then. – Muboshgu (talk) 19:56, 14 February 2014 (UTC)


 * ALT1 ... that college football All-American Michael Sam (pictured) could become the first openly gay player in the National Football League?
 * ALT2 ... that college football All-American Michael Sam (pictured) could become the first active National Football League player to have publicly come out as gay?
 * Symbol confirmed.svg ALT2 with picture good to go (review details above).—Bagumba (talk) 20:15, 14 February 2014 (UTC)