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Michael Sam Back With Montreal Team, 'Fully Committed'

Michael Sam Back With Montreal Team, 'Fully Committed'

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The out footballer, back after a personal leave, also says the Supreme Court's marriage equality decision is 'freaking awesome.'

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Michael Sam is ready to get back in the game.

The out pro footballer has returned to the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes after taking a leave two weeks ago to go home to Dallas for personal reasons, Yahoo Sports reports.

Sam addressed his teammates in the locker room Sunday night, with no coaches present, "telling them he was sorry for leaving the group, he needed some time to take care of his personal life, and now he is back and fully committed," the site reports. "When he finished speaking, he got a rousing ovation."

Sam was a bit testy with reporters Monday, especially after being pressed repeatedly about his reasons for the leave, according to Yahoo Sports. "For personal matters like I said before," he told the media, more than once.

He did, however, show his "affable and charismatic side" at times, Yahoo Sports notes, signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans. And when a reporter asked him about the U.S. Supreme Court's decision for nationwide marriage equality, he "called it 'freaking awesome' and said he was proud and happy to be an American," the site reports.

"I'm just happy I can get married and it can be legal," he said, but he has no immediate plans to marry. "My focus is on football," he said. "That can wait." In January he became engaged to Vito Cammisano, but recent reports hint that the engagement may have ended.

Sam, a defensive end, will initially be on the Alouettes' scout team, the equivalent of a practice squad, while he tries to earn a spot on the regular roster. The University of Missouri grad became the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team when the St. Louis Rams picked him in 2014. But he was cut by the Rams and then the Dallas Cowboys, and he signed with the Alouettes in May.

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Trudy Ring

Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.
Trudy Ring is The Advocate’s senior politics editor and copy chief. She has been a reporter and editor for daily newspapers and LGBTQ+ weeklies/monthlies, trade magazines, and reference books. She is a political junkie who thinks even the wonkiest details are fascinating, and she always loves to see political candidates who are groundbreaking in some way. She enjoys writing about other topics as well, including religion (she’s interested in what people believe and why), literature, theater, and film. Trudy is a proud “old movie weirdo” and loves the Hollywood films of the 1930s and ’40s above all others. Other interests include classic rock music (Bruce Springsteen rules!) and history. Oh, and she was a Jeopardy! contestant back in 1998 and won two games. Not up there with Amy Schneider, but Trudy still takes pride in this achievement.