Balzer: Rams Drafted DE Michael Sam In 2014 To Avoid Hard Knocks

[RamBill]

Rams Drafted DE Michael Sam In 2014 To Avoid Hard Knocks
By 3k

http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2016/3...s-rams-michael-sam-2014-nfl-draft-hard-knocks

Per Howard Balzer, longtime St. Louis-based NFL reporter, the St. Louis Rams drafted Michael Sam per an agreement with the league to get out of being the team for HBO's Hard Knocks series that year:

Howard Balzer ‎@HBalzer721
Sources say NFL agreed not to have Rams on Hard Knocks in 2014 if they drafted Michael Sam.

There's a strange irony here given that we learned today that the 2016 Los Angeles Rams will be the focus of this season of Hard Knocks.

The implication here is that the 2014 St. Louis Rams didn't want the attention that Hard Knocks brings.

Did they not want it for some reason because they were trying to move the franchise? I'm not sure how a season of Hard Knocks in 2014 would ultimately have impacted the team moving this offseason. Perhaps the hope was to delay it until the move took place to take advantage of the media surge.

Did they not want it because it impacts the team's ability to prepare for the season? Plenty of teams that have been on Hard Knocks have had winning seasons...so nah.

Did they not want it because then-franchise QB Sam Bradford's overwhelming personality would dwarf the ability of the show to feature the backend of the 90-man roster with players trying to survive roster cuts? No.

The Rams drafted Michael Sam with the 249th overall pick, the 34th pick in the seventh round, in the 2014 NFL Draft. He was released in the roster cuts to get down to the 53-man roster ahead of the 2014 season.

Sam is currently under contract with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

 

[BuiltRamTough]

Funny how a bitter STL media head reveals this info today...

 

[12intheBox]

If that's true then I'm disappointed and a bit ashamed.

But I don't think it's true.

 

[BuiltRamTough]

If that's true then I'm disappointed and a bit ashamed.

But I don't think it's true.

It's not.

It's probably the same source who told Bazler that Carson is going to win.

Who is that source? His own mind? Probably.

 

[Merlin]

Idiotic.

Silver was in the room with them when Fish asked everyone "should we do this?" and they discussed making history. Balzer needs to stow his bitterness.

 

[-X-]

The fuck outta here.

 

[Selassie I]

What a crock of shit that is.

 

[Rambitious1]

Rams Drafted DE Michael Sam In 2014 To Avoid Hard Knocks
By 3k

http://www.turfshowtimes.com/2016/3...s-rams-michael-sam-2014-nfl-draft-hard-knocks

Per Howard Balzer, longtime St. Louis-based NFL reporter, the St. Louis Rams drafted Michael Sam per an agreement with the league to get out of being the team for HBO's Hard Knocks series that year:

Howard Balzer ‎@HBalzer721
Sources say NFL agreed not to have Rams on Hard Knocks in 2014 if they drafted Michael Sam.

There's a strange irony here given that we learned today that the 2016 Los Angeles Rams will be the focus of this season of Hard Knocks.

The implication here is that the 2014 St. Louis Rams didn't want the attention that Hard Knocks brings.

Did they not want it for some reason because they were trying to move the franchise? I'm not sure how a season of Hard Knocks in 2014 would ultimately have impacted the team moving this offseason. Perhaps the hope was to delay it until the move took place to take advantage of the media surge.

Did they not want it because it impacts the team's ability to prepare for the season? Plenty of teams that have been on Hard Knocks have had winning seasons...so nah.

Did they not want it because then-franchise QB Sam Bradford's overwhelming personality would dwarf the ability of the show to feature the backend of the 90-man roster with players trying to survive roster cuts? No.

The Rams drafted Michael Sam with the 249th overall pick, the 34th pick in the seventh round, in the 2014 NFL Draft. He was released in the roster cuts to get down to the 53-man roster ahead of the 2014 season.

Sam is currently under contract with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

Wow.....all I have to ask Howard is.............

 

[StealYoGurley]

Michael sam responded. Here we go. Media circus commence.

 

[dieterbrock]

I don't believe this is true, but in the event it is, it looks much worse on the NFL then the Rams so.....

 

[OldSchool]

Oh 3k wrote this. That's all that needs to be said, this clowns agenda is very evident. The paper rolled up in the bathroom is too high class for his material.

 

[LesBaker]

Michael sam responded. Here we go. Media circus commence.

What did he say?

 

[-X-]

What did he say?

View: https://twitter.com/MichaelSamNFL/status/712742510108344320

 

[Orchid]

We (this site) is being a bit naive to thing the Rams/NFL would not have a quid pro quo. You scratch my back I'll scratch..... Ram's do not want to do Hard Knocks at the time( plenty of stories in local and national media saying they did not want to do Hard Knocks this or any year that they were eligible) and NFL wants to be seen as open and inclusive on gay issues. Not inconceivable that either would approach other.

To those of you who think he is just not true because Fisher said lets make history proves that there was not tit for tat think again and are underestimating the ability of the NFL to spin things to their benefit. If you are going to do something like this you need deniability/the appearance of credibility.

Blazer is not a fly by not bait seeking internet troll. Dudes has credentials and sources. In terms of the Carson selection he was right that the committee did select Carson. The 32 owners did not.

Howard Balzer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Howard Balzer is in his 39th year covering professional football as a writer, editor and broadcaster. His connection with pro football began in 1976 with College and Pro Football Newsweekly, and since then he has been a featured columnist for The Sporting News, Pro Football Weekly, USA Today Sports Weekly and The Sports Xchange. His work can now be seen locally on foxsportsmidwest.com.

Balzer came to St. Louis in 1978 to work for The Sporting News, where he became Pro Football Editor in 1979. He was an analyst on ESPN's initial broadcast of the NFL Draft in 1980, and continued in that role through 1988. He has won six writing awards in the Professional Football Writers of America competition, won an Emmy for commentaries on KPLR-TV in St. Louis in 1986 and was nominated for an Emmy in 1988 and 1990. Balzer has been an officer (secretary and secretary/treasurer) for the Professional Football Writers of America since 1986 and was inducted into the St. Louis Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2010.

Currently, in addition to his work with The Sports Xchange, USA Today Sports Weekly and foxsportsmidwest.com, Balzer is the senior editor for Lindy's pro football magazine, a position he has held since 1992, and a talk-show host for FoxSports Radio 1490 in St. Louis and SiriusXM NFL Radio. He is also one of 46 voting members on the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee and also votes for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He has been a fixture on sports-talk radio in St. Louis since 1979 save for an 18-month stint as co-host of a nationally syndicated sports show on the Las Vegas-based Sports Fan Radio Network from January, 1994 to June, 1995.

A 1974 graduate of Hofstra University, Balzer was the sports information director at the school while a student and after graduation worked as director of public relations for the National Wheelchair Athletic Association, director of public relations and promotions for the Long Island Tomahawks of the National Lacrosse League and director of public relations for the Continental Basketball Association.

Prior to leaving New York for St. Louis in 1978, he was the play-by-play typist for all basketball games at New York's Madison Square Garden.

He is also no stranger to indoor football. In 1986, while with The Sporting News, he wrote the first published story on the sport after a demonstration game in Rockford, Ill. Balzer did national broadcasts for Arena Football from 1988–91 and was part of the television broadcast team for several years for the St. Charles-based River City Rage and Renegades. He was also the public relations director for the Arena Football League in 1993.

In the community, Balzer is currently a part of the unique Celebrity Karaoke event that has existed for 10 years and currently raises money for The Adoption Exchange. He was also on the original board for the Ronald McDonald House in St. Louis and was a longtime committee member for the Gateway Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.​

Yes, I live in the St louis area. No, I do not think this is indicative of his bitterness.

 

[Ramhusker]

If this is true, the NFL owes us a pick.

 

[-X-]

View: https://twitter.com/HBalzer721/status/712758124084473856


View: https://twitter.com/RamsONDEMAND/status/712759477787734017

 

[OldSchool]

View: https://twitter.com/HBalzer721/status/712758124084473856


View: https://twitter.com/RamsONDEMAND/status/712759477787734017

Thank you Mr Balzer for validating my opinion of your "reporting".

 

[RamBill]

Jeff Fisher: Hard Knocks-Michael Sam story is “absolutely absurd”

Posted by Michael David Smith on March 24, 2016, 9:42 AM EDT

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...nocks-michael-sam-story-is-absolutely-absurd/

Rams coach Jeff Fisher is scoffing at a report that he drafted Michael Sam, the NFL’s first openly gay player, two years ago in a quid pro quo with the NFL to keep his team off Hard Knocks.

Asked about the report this morning on Mike & Mike, Fisher said there was never any such discussion with the NFL, and the Rams selected Sam solely because he was the highest-ranked player on their draft board at the time the pick came up.

“That in itself is absolutely absurd, it’s 100 percent incorrect,” Fisher said. “I was really taken aback by those comments. It’s insulting, from my standpoint, as it relates to Michael. We had three seventh-round picks. When we drafted Michael he was the best player on the board. Who in their right mind would think that you give up a draft choice to avoid doing something like that?”

Fisher said he thinks Sam has been subjected to unfair scrutiny that most seventh-round picks fighting for a roster spot don’t have to face.

“It’s really unfair to Michael. Michael worked so hard,” Fisher said. “It’s really not fair to Michael because of all the hard work he put in.”

The Rams have agreed to do Hard Knocks this year as they move to Los Angeles, and Fisher said he’s looking forward to it.

“I think it’s a great opportunity for our franchise,” Fisher said. “This is a historic move. The moves in the past have not been documented and I think it’s a great opportunity.”

If the Rams want a lot of attention for this year’s Hard Knocks, perhaps they should re-sign Sam.

 

[Selassie I]

Hey Balz-inyourmouth-er ...

There's the denial you requested... on Mike & Mike no less.

LOLZ

 

[Amitar]

If this is true, the NFL owes us a pick.

If this is true then the Ram officials that made this deal need to fired. Total embarrassment if true. The Rams are now the laughing stock of not only the league but entire sports world. This is the last thing the Rams needed. And thanks Goodell the fool.