MICHAEL SAM

When I'm on the field, I really don't focus on fans. I just focus on my responsibility, which is the guy right across from me.

My family was very notorious in the town that we lived in. Everyone would say, 'There goes those damn Sams.' I didn't want to paint that ill picture of me. I knew the good in my family. They didn't know our background and the adversity we had to endure. I wanted to succeed and be a beacon of hope in my family.

There will always be haters. Small heroes can change society every day. It just takes time.

I didn't even dream of going to college. College was not in my definition. If somebody told me I was going to play for the Missouri Tigers in 2009, I would laugh at them.

I knew from a young age that I was attracted to guys. I didn't know if it was a phase... I didn't want to say, 'Hey, I might be gay. I might be bi.' I just didn't know... I wanted to find who I was and make sure I knew what was comfortable. So I didn't tell anyone growing up.

I'll say this: I want to become a distraction! And what I mean is by making big plays and doing good stuff on the field. Although nobody would print that, because that's not a story. Gotta keep bringing up the locker-room situation because he's gay.

Mizzou was my real family. I loved it. Football was a sense of home. A home I never had.

If I want to kiss my boyfriend, I'm gonna kiss him. If they want to film it, that's their problem. Don't be mad at me for sharing a huge moment in my life with someone I love.

I'm not afraid to tell the world who I am. I'm Michael Sam: I'm a college graduate. I'm African American, and I'm gay. I'm comfortable in my skin.

To see hundreds of people come out in the cold at the University of Missouri to block a few so-called Christians who came to protest against me shows you how love conquers hate.

I sing because it takes, for a brief second, it takes a little from my past, and just in that moment, I'm just happy and I'm glad to be who I am. That's the reason why.

I am an openly proud gay man.

To be a great NFL player, you have to know what your opponent is doing, not just opposite your position but what they're doing all over the field. All the contingencies.

I can't think, 'Ah, that team should call me up.' The only thing I can do is stay in shape and wait. You can only control what you can control.

I needed football - it was just something to do, an excuse to not be at home.

A straight person doesn't have to go in the media and tell them that they're straight, and I don't think a gay person should do that, neither. But that's the society we have to live in.

I'm unemployed, and I don't believe I'm out of the NFL because I'm gay, but if it was a reason, it can hurt their livelihood, and you don't want to take that chance.

I'm not afraid of who I am. I'm not afraid to tell the world who I am. I'm Michael Sam, I'm a college graduate, I'm African-American and I'm gay.

Was it a risky move? Yes, but at that moment, the reason why I came out is I thought it wasn't going to be a big deal. Maybe I was naive. Maybe I thought it was 2014, and people will understand that there's gay NFL players. There's gay athletes everywhere. But I was clearly wrong. It was a huge deal.

Thank God he wasn't the St. Louis Rams' coach. I have a lot of respect for Coach Dungy and like everyone in America, everyone is entitled to their own opinions.

Great things happen when you have the courage to be yourself

I wish you guys would just say, 'Michael Sam, how's the football going? How's training going?' But it is what it is. And I just wish you guys would see me as Michael Sam the football player instead of Michael Sam the gay football player.

But I will never say anything about who they are, what teams they are on. I'm just saying there's some famous people, and I'm not the only one.

I just want to make sure I could tell my story the way I want to tell it. I just want to own my truth.

The most worthwhile things in life rarely come easy, this is a lesson I've always known. The journey continues.