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NBC's Luke Russert : NFL Teams Slow to Sign Michael Sam After Release ‘Because He's Gay'
By Curtis Houck | September 4, 2014 | 8:30 AM EDT

Filling in for Alex Wagner on her MSNBC show Wednesday, Luke Russert had a segment on NFL player and defensive end Michael Sam, who was signed earlier in the day to the Dallas Cowboys after being released by the St. Louis Rams on Saturday. Russert opined that the reason there was a delay before Sam was signed by another team was not because of any media “distractions" or that he was not a good enough player, but it was “probably because he’s gay.”

In the first portion of the over five-minute-long segment, Russert cited reports from anonymous NFL general managers to two sports media outlets that teams wanted to sign Sam, but “fear[ed] the media attention” and “the circus coming to town” in additional media. [See video below]

Colbert Throws Penalty Flag on Michael Sam's Gay Kiss for 'Holding!' and 'Unnecessary Tenderness!'
By Randy Hall | May 13, 2014 | 9:07 PM EDT

Even though baseball season has finally arrived, the focus of last weekend's TV sports was the annual draft of college players to join teams in the National Football League. This year's selection was the first of its kind since Michael Sam, an open homosexual who “came out” in February, was among the hundreds of young men hoping to make the leap to professional sports.

After the African-American candidate joined the St. Louis Rams as the 249th pick, Sam's enthusiastic hug and kiss of Vito Cammisano -- his male partner -- became the focus of liberal comedian Stephen Colbert during Monday's version of The Colbert Report, when the host used a football theme by blowing a whistle and tossing a yellow penalty flag in the air for “Holding!” and “Unnecessary Tenderness!”