American “football”- or, as the rest of the civilised world calls it, gridiron- is not something with which I ordinarily concern myself. I have no clue how it’s played, I just know that it’s a sort of sanitised version of rugby, played with body armour, forward passing, and tea breaks held every few minutes on the pitch.

So when I saw on the TV yesterday in the gym that apparently one Michael Sam had been cut from the active player roster of some team known as the Rams, my first reaction was, “oh well, on with my next set of deadlifts”.

Yet judging by the reaction in the mainstream media to the news that a relatively mediocre player, who was found to be a bit lacking when compared to his peers in terms of athletic performance, was cut from the team, apparently this is now TEH MOST IMPORTANTEST NEWS EVAR OMFG!!!11!

(My apologies for that. I imagine that when I try to type like my sister does when she’s trying to be sarcastic, I come across as a bit of an idiot. I suspect it’s a generational thing.)

Why? Because he’s the first openly gay player in the NFL.

If this was any other player, there would be no controversy whatsoever. Stuff happens, plans don’t work out, and sometimes you’re just not the right man for the job no matter how hard you work. Everything I’ve seen and read about Michael Sam indicates that he’s a hard-working, honest young man who puts his head down and gets the job done. These are admirable qualities in any man under the age of 21 and they are to be encouraged.

But because the man is gay, and doesn’t hide it, this is major news and the media are all over it in order to find any possible sign of homophobic discrimination.

They probably won’t find any. It’s far more likely that Michael Sam just didn’t meet the needs of the team. As with any job application or interview process, if he wasn’t the right fit for the team, he didn’t deserve the job. End of story.

And that would have been the end of it, too, if it weren’t for the fact that what screenwriter Adam Carolla calls the “gay mafia” insists on stifling any and all possible criticism of the homosexual lifestyle.

Here’s a tip for the sodomites: if you want to be accepted as equals in society, stop being offended whenever something doesn’t go your way.

As for Michael Sam- I wish him well. He seems like a decent guy. He also didn’t make the cut in the brutally competitive world of professional sports. Tough nuts. It happens. Take it on the chin and move on. And to his credit, that is apparently his attitude too.

And as for the rest of us, who aren’t part of the gay mafia- time to turn around, get back to what we were doing, and ponder more important questions- like, say, how to make sure that Roger Federer wins his 18th major at the US Open this year…