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| Anderson Silva, right, of Brazil, prepares to kick Chris Weidman of Baldwin, N.Y., during the UFC 168 mixed martial arts middleweight championship bout on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2013, in Las Vegas. Weidman won during the second round by a technical knock out after Silva was injured. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Nick Diaz, set to fight ex-UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in January, said he won’t try and attack the leg Silva broke late last year.
“When someone tells you a fighter’s injured and they tell you to go after an injury, it really throws you off,” Diaz said, according to MMAFighting.com.
“It would be sad to lose a fight on account of, you’re trying to concentrate on capitalizing on someone’s weakness when it comes to injury and something like that, [rather than fighting] your fight without worrying about something like that.”
Diaz will face Silva during UFC 183 in Las Vegas on Jan. 31.
“Someone came up to me and told me that [his opponent's] knee was hurt,” Diaz recalled, “and he said to me, attack his knee, I’m like, ‘Yeah right, I’m not going out to attack this guy’s knee.’ It just doesn’t … it’s not realistic to go after his injury, unless they got a cut the same week, then it’s like, yeah, hit him in the eye, because the [expletive] is going to re-open and now you wouldn’t fight on the cut. Maybe on a cut you want to take advantage of it, that makes sense.”
A few days ago, Diaz also said his DUI arrest was a “big misunderstanding.”
“Where I live, everybody knows how it is in Lodi,” Diaz told Fox Sports.
“You can’t even drive through town at the wrong hours without getting stopped. I was just having a real bad night. I wasn’t really getting along with the officer very well,” he added. “There’s a lot to that story that people don’t understand. I haven’t really been having a lot to say about it. It’s not a big deal to me. It is a big deal, of course, but there’s a lot to the story that people don’t understand.”
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Showing posts with label Others. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Others. Show all posts
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| Yahoo PH Sports - Manila, Philippines-Maria Sharapova gestures during aninterview at Edsa Shangri-la on 28 November 2014. (Czeasar Dancel/NPPA Images)
Global tennis icon Maria Sharapova is in town for the Coca-Cola International Premier Tennis League, where she will team up with Andy Murray and other tennis stars on the Manila Mavericks in this unique, four-team competition. Hours before they were to debut against the UAE Royals in the kickoff leg at the Mall of Asia Arena, Sharapova sat down with Yahoo Philippines to talk about the IPTL, the sport of tennis, and the role of social media in her life. Excerpts:
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Maria Sharapova: Thank you.
YPH: Before coming over, what had you heard about the Philippines?
MS: The Philippines has always been a place that I’ve wanted to visit. I always knew that I had a huge fan base in the Philippines, and it’s one of the biggest reasons why I came here. I usually don’t play too many exhibition matches in the off-season, but when I heard that I had the opportunity to come to Manila and play for my fans here, I thought it would be a great opportunity.
YPH: When you were first approached by the IPTL with this new concept, what attracted you to it and what can you say about this innovative format?
MS: When something is new, obviously you have a lot of questions and you’re not quite familiar with things and how it’s gonna go. But after a few different meetings one of my concerns was not playing for the whole tour which is quite long. Originally I just asked if I could play one match. They asked me kindly if I could play another one since I would already be here. So I agreed to play two. That’s usually the maximum that I would play in the off-season.
YPH: IPTL is breaking the code, and introducing new things to tennis. If you were in charge what’s the one thing you would change about tennis and how it’s played?
MS: It’s a bit of a tricky time because after a long season to expect so many athletes to come and perform at an incredibly high level for a longer period of time. I think that wouldn’t have been very smart. That’s why I think the concept is great. It’s fast. It’s five games to each set, which I think will make it quite fun and competitive. You also see your teammates on the side, which is unique in our sport. So I think these elements will bring out the entertainment side of the game, which I think is very important and sometimes a little bit lacking when you’re watching a match for over three hours.
YPH: It’s been 10 years since you won your first Grand Slam title (Wimbledon, 2004) and you recently won another Slam (Roland Garros, 2014). During those 10 years, what’s the biggest change that you’ve noticed in the sport?
MS: The sport itself has become much more physical. It’s much more demanding on the body. Taking care of your health and your body is much more important now than it was 10 years ago.
YPH: What’s the one thing that people don’t know about Maria Sharapova?
MS: (Laughs) I would say I’m relatively shy. It takes me a while to feel comfortable with an environment. But I’m quite outgoing when I’m around people that I know quite well. And I enjoy having a good time. I enjoy doing karaoke.
YPH: What’s your favorite song?
MS: I like singing to Cher (songs).
MS: Okay.
YPH: I’ll give the name of a player and the first word or adjective that comes to mind, just say it.
MS: All right.
YPH: Serena Williams.
MS: Great competitor.
YPH: Novak Djokovic.
MS: Fun guy.
YPH: Roger Federer.
MS: King of tennis.
YPH: Rafa Nadal.
MS: Fun to watch.
YPH: Li Na.
MS: Wow. Let’s see now. She’s so many adjectives. An ambassador.
YPH: Martina Navratilova.
MS: Legend.
YPH: Victoria Azarenka.
MS: Great competitor.
YPH: Andy Murray.
MS: Talent.
YPH: Who were your idols growing up?
MS: I didn’t have one particular person that I admired. I enjoyed watching tennis, event though I didn’t watch much on TV, but I enjoyed watching Steffi Graf and Monica Seles. Those two were probably my favorites to watch.
YPH: When did you decide that you wanted to become a tennis player?
MS: I think when I moved to the United States. I was seven years old and we moved because of tennis. At that point I realized that this is something serious and eventually something that I’d do in my career.
YPH: When you started playing, when did you realize that “Hey, I can do this pretty well. I might become no. 1 and win some Grand Slams.”?
MS: When you’re young, you’re playing in smaller tournament and juniors. I think when I was 12 or maybe 13 or 14 I found myself playing under-18s or playing up because the level at 14, I was quite strong for it. Little by little, you start realizing the competition that you can take on, kind of of believing in yourself and in your game and seeing your progression. And that point you kind of start realizing, “I can be good at this one day.”
YPH: You’re one of a handful of players who have won all the Grand Slams at least once. Do you approach each Grand Slam differently in terms of preparation?
MS: Yeah, definitely. Each one has its own prestige, and I always go into each one of them just really excited and inspired because it’s a big stage for every athlete, something that we work for for a long time. It depends on the match, depends how you feel, where you are, where your game is, also on the surface and how you visualize yourself playing out there. So of course you treat each Grand Slam with a little bit of a different mindset.
YPH: What’s the toughest one to win?
MS: There’s nothing easy, that’s why it’s so special to be a champion.
YPH: What was the most memorable?
MS: I’d have to say I have to respect each victory that I’ve had in Grand Slams because they’ve all come in different stages over the course of the last 10 years in my career. And it was very different, from winning Wimbledon at 17 years old in a moment where it was unexpected of me to do that, to coming back from shoulder injury and winning Roland Garros, a Grand Slam that no one believed that I could win. It’s tough to choose which one is more memorable at this point.
YPH: Here’s a question from one of our Twitter followers. What other sport aside from tennis do you enjoy watching and who is your non-tennis sporting idol?
MS: (Laughs) I enjoy watching basketball. I like fast-paced sports. Michael Jordan was someone that I looked up to not just for what he did on the court which is incredible, but everything that he’s done afterwards and the inspiration that he’s had.
YPH: Another Twitter question: What can you do to bring more top players to promote our country as a year-round tennis capital?
MS: I think this is a great step in doing that. From bringing in an event like this, I can see from social media how big it is for this country and for the city itself. Watching tennis live and real is such a different experience than seeing it on television and I hope that they get inspired from this occasion and maybe hopefully in the future you’ll see us playing a tournament here.
YPH: It’s good you mentioned social media because you’re one of the more active athletes on social media. How has this helped you, being the global icon that you are? How do you handle it?
MS: I enjoy social media because it gives me a chance to feel closer to my fans, and for them as well. They only see you perform on the court or doing interviews or in pictures. It makes the experience more personal when you’re able to share some things of your life that other people don’t see. I treat my Facebook and Instagram quite different, as well as Twitter. I like to give audiences a different perspective of my life. And I think that’s why I’m quite successful on social media, because I’ve been doing it all on my own for many years. Some people can really see that and they appreciate that.
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. - UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis ended up hearing after the fact that Nate Diaz wants a piece of him.
Diaz was an assistant coach on Gilbert Melendez's team on The Ultimate Fighter 20 opposite Melendez.
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T.J. Dillashaw used a kick to the head to stop Joe Soto in the fifth round Saturday at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Ca...Guys like Joe Soto are what make professional sports so great. Soto said he didn't want to die without having gotten a chance to fight in the UFC, and on Saturday, he was going to get his chance.He was set to face Anthony Birchak in the first fight of the night at UFC 177 at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, Calif.
But just an hour or so before he was to weigh in and only about 26 hours before he actually was supposed to fight, Soto was given the opportunity to fight T.J. Dillashaw for the bantamweight title when Barao passed out while trying to make weight.Soto put on a significantly better performance on Saturday in the main event against Dillashaw than Barao did in May when he was pummeled from start to finish and lost his belt in Las Vegas.Like Barao, Soto was finished in the fifth round, but other than that, there was few similarities between the two matches.Soto was competitive, worked hard and was a threat from the beginning until he was stopped with a head kick at 2:20 of the final round.It was yet another outstanding performance by Dillashaw, who coolly adjusted after the man he'd prepared to fight for more than two months dropped out only an hour or so before the weigh-in.Dillashaw handled his business like a true professional. He spent time with his coaches Friday discussing how to best Soto, and then he went out and used a high-strike volume to gradually wear Soto down."Man, it's been crazy," Dillashaw said. "An hour before making weight, I get a call and I hear he's not making weight and there was a switch of opponents. It's [hard] especially when it's a tough opponent like Joe Soto."
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| Filipino archer Gabriel Moreno bags gold in Youth Olympic Games |
NANJING – Archer Gabriel Luis Moreno did the unexpected when he delivered the gold medal for the Philippines in the second Youth Olympic Games here Sunday.Moreno, who was ranked 30th among 32 male archers here, teamed up perfectly with China’s Li Jiaman, ranked No. 3 in the women’s side, to win the gold in the mixed team event.
The winning tandem stood at the middle of the podium and received their gold medals.
Moreno, the flag-bearer of the Philippine delegation to this YOG, said he didn’t expect to win anything in this gathering of over 3,000 athletes from 202 Olympic nations.
“I didn’t expect to win anything here. I just gave my best,” he said.
Moreno almost missed the quarterfinals after he left the Fangshan Archery Field with his family to have lunch following the morning session.
When they arrived in the venue at around 2:30 p.m. it was almost time for him to shoot.
“I was already crying inside the cab and my dad was panicking. Everybody had warmed up. So I just concentrated,” he said.
It’s the first gold medal for the Philippines in the Youth Olympics for athletes aged 14 to 18 years. In the inaugural staging of the event in 2010 in Singapore, the Philippines didn’t win a single medal.
“This is a big win for us coming from a third world country,” Moreno added.
In the finals, Moreno and Jiaman defeated Muhammad Zoklepeli of Malaysia and Cynthia Freywald of Germany, 6-0 (38-37, 38-35, 37-33).
Moreno clinched the victory with a nine on his last arrow. In the finals, he had 10s in the first and second sets. Jiaman had a 10 in each of the three sets.
In the semis against Canada’s Eric Peters and Finland’s Mirjam Tuokkola, the 16-year-old Filipino archer had three straight 10s.
Philippine chef-de-mission Jonne Go was ecstatic after the win.
“Nothing is impossible. If we only focus on our youth, we can achieve more in sports. And it’s not only in archery. We showed that we can win in the Asian Youth Games and now we won a gold in the Youth Olympics,” she said.
Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuancgo and Philippine Sports Commission chairman Richie Garcia left for Manila earlier in the day and missed the victory.
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Michael Bisping battered and bruised Cung Le en route to a fourth round stoppage victory in the main event of today's (Sat., Aug. 23, 2014, UFC Fight Night 48: "Bisping vs. Le" showcase from the CotaiArena in Macau. By the time the bout was over, Le's mug looked more like hamburger instead of anything resembling a human face. Click here if you don't believe me (fair warning: it's ugly). The fight started even enough, with both fighters feeling our their range and getting down their timing. The tide turned when Bisping landed a hard punch directly on Le's eye. It did enough damage that Cung mistakenly thought it was a poke though the replay showed it was a clean shot. From there, he was operating with only one functioning eye and that one had a cut near it about two rounds in. Finally, Le wilted without proper eyesight and "The Count" took advantage, earning the finish in the fourth frame. So, once again, Bisping on back on the road to being a contender at 185-pounds. We'll see if he ever gets there. For a complete recap on the fight click and for complete UFC Fight Night 48 results and coverage click here.
World number one Williams, 32, now has 62 career WTA titles, but lifted the trophy in Cincy for the first time in her sixth attempt
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| HIT. Serena Williams of the US hits a return shot to Ana Ivanovic of Serbia during the final match of the Western and Southern tennis tournament at the Lindner Tennis Center in Mason Ohio, USA, 17 August 2014. Tannen Maury/EPA |
CINCINNATI, USA – Serena Williams won her first Cincinnati title Sunday, August 17, with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory over Ana Ivanovic, just a week out from the defense of her US Open crown.
World number one Williams, 32, now has 62 career WTA titles, but lifted the trophy in Cincy for the first time in her sixth attempt.
She won nine of the last 10 games against Ivanovic to roll to victory in just over an hour.
Williams has won both of her summer hardcourt events played in the United States, taking the Stanford title last month. In between she reached the semi-finals in Toronto, losing to her sister Venus.
"I was just so excited for this final," Williams said. "I just really felt like I had nothing to lose. So I was able to relax.
"It truly feels good. I didn't expect to come here and win or have such a good summer. I've just been trying to go with the flow and be positive and it's working out."
The American finished with a love game against Ivanovic, a former world number one who will now return to the top 10 in the rankings for the first time in five years.
Williams took advantage of her scheduling good luck after playing the afternoon semi-final on Saturday, while Ivanovic had to work for nearly three hours the night before to battle past Maria Sharapova.
"It's definitely very, very quick, you know." Ivanovic said of the turnaround. "Despite all that, I really tried my hardest. She just played too good today.
"This is the biggest final I've been in in a while and it felt good to be part of it," she added. "I just want to keep working hard and keep improving in the areas that I can.
"There are still a few points in my game that I feel I need to work on for the US Open and also for the end of season. Definitely exciting times."
Williams now stands 38-6 on the season and has not lost in any of her five finals.
Things clicking for Serena
However, she hasn't made it to the championship match in a Grand Slam – a trend she now feels could be reversed at the US Open.
"I won Stanford but I definitely didn't play as well. Then in Montreal, I got to the semis but didn't play as well as I did here," she said.
"On my first day of practice here something just clicked," added Williams, who had fallen to Ivanovic at the Australian Open in January.
Williams fired a dozen aces and broke the Serbian four times. The American was broken early to trail 3-1, her only real danger in the brief match.
The top seed leveled with a love game for 3-3 and won the opening set from back-to-back Ivanovic double-faults.
Williams found another gear in the second set, taking a 1-0 lead and breaking her tiring opponent twice more along the way.
Ivanovic and Williams were both playing their WTA-leading fifth finals of 2014. Williams now owns five titles while Ivanovic has three.
"I really felt she was really solid today," said Ivanovic. "Not only on her serve, but on the groundstrokes I felt like she was dominating.
"I did have chances, especially when we started the rallies, but I just couldn't get the serve back."
"It was still a great match even if I lost," Ivanovic added. "I'm looking forward to the US Open, it's the last Grand Slam of the season and the most exciting one. I'm looking forward to trying to do well."
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| Ana Ivanovic talks with medical staff during a match against Maria Sharapova during their semi-final match Saturday… |
The semi-final match between WTA Tour marquee players Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic in Cincinnati Saturday night might not have featured the best tennis in the game's history – although it had its moments – but it wasn't short on drama.
Ivanovic led by a set and 4-0, then 5-2 before Sharapova mounted a comeback to lead 4-2 and have match points at 5-4. Ivanovic ended up winning it 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in two hours and 45 minutes.
But the moment that had social media in an uproar came in the second game of the final set when Ivanovic doubled over, apparently in some distress and in tears, and ended up lying on the court as the tournament physician took her blood pressure.
Sharapova was clearly not impressed; earlier, she also had been unimpressed at Ivanovic leaving the court, asking the chair umpire whether she was merely taking a bathroom break or doing a full wardrobe change. In short, she was not impressed, and perhaps even less impressed with the way she was playing to put herself in such a deep hole.
But she let out a little "bad Maria" after she double-faulted to hand that third-set break back to her opponent.
It appeared the remark was directed at chair umpire Felix Torralba.
Afterwards, Sharapova said she "never got a clear answer" on what the medical issue was, speculated it might be "anxiety" but that Ivanovic seemed fine afterwards during a long, gruelling point that followed. She deflected a question about the above gesture saying Ivanovic's distress was "strange timing" and just "came out of nowhere," Dr. Sharapova again mentioning she couldn't come up with another possible reason for it other than anxiety.
This, of course, came after the Russian lost a match she appeared on her way to win. Certainly her comments about the lack of information – whether or not there would be a medical timeout – had some validity. If there were, Sharapova would have been allowed to have coach Sven Groeneveld come on court during the treatment.
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Maria Sharapova, from Russia, reacts in a semifinal against Ana Ivanovic, from Serbia, at the Western & Southern … |
Ivanovic has had the occasional on-court medical incident in the past. One that comes to mind came at Indian Wells in 2012 during a match against Ksenia Pervak.
Ivanovic landed after a serve, and doubled over, saying later she felt dizzy and that she thought "it was just a little bit of excitement and everything." She sat down for quite awhile in the middle of the match, as she and the trainer waited for the doctor.
"Yeah, I just said after I landed after that serve I just felt so dizzy. And then they wanted to track my blood pressure. I was like, I'm fine, I'm fine. I didn't want to cause any pause," she said.
Ironically, Ivanovic ended up retiring in her match against a concerned-looking Sharapova in the semis of that tournament, after having a medical timeout to treat a hip injury.
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| Maria Sharapova shows her concern after Ana Ivanovic retires from their semi-final match at Indian Wells in 2012. … |
In Cincinnati, while they took her blood pressure, Ivanovic thought it might have been something she ate.
“I think I ate something bad today. When my coach was coming out, I kept telling him I don’t feel good, like my stomach is really upset. Then it really built up in the third set, and I was not feeling fine. They gave me some pills, and after some games it was better," Ivanovic told the media in Cincinnati afterwards.
It wasn't Sharapova's finest hour. But sometimes it's fascinating to take a look behind curtain of the composed, controlled exterior.
Ivanovic plays Serena Williams in the Cincinnati final today.
LAS VEGAS — Michelle Waterson, the Invicta Fighting Championships 105-pound champion, is already reaping the benefits of Invicta's recent broadcast deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Beginning September 6, Invicta events will stream live on Fight Pass, the UFC's digital subscription service. Previous Invicta events aired mostly via Internet pay-per-view, with mixed results; purchasing problems with their pay-per-view partner forced Invicta founder Shannon Knapp to give away her last two events for free. So Knapp signed a deal with the UFC that gives the promotion access to her complete library and allows any subscriber to the Fight Pass service to view Invicta's live events.
Waterson will headline the inaugural Fight Pass event when she defends her championship against Yasuko Tamada at InvictaFC 8. She has been out of action since beating Jessica Penne in April 2013 to capture the Invicta belt, and so the UFC public-relations team has flown Waterson to Las Vegas to begin promotional efforts. She visited the UFC's headquarters on Sahara Avenue, where a makeup artist gave her a once-over before she began a series of video interviews designed to promote her fight.
"They're pampering me," Waterson says with a laugh.
Waterson is enthused about Invicta's partnership with the UFC. There is no better partner than the biggest mixed martial arts promotion in the world, after all, and the UFC is at least putting some of its muscle behind the all-female fight company. Invicta commercials will soon begin running during UFC broadcasts, and every Invicta event is now available for streaming on Fight Pass.
"Shannon was waiting for the right opportunity and the right partnership," Waterson says. "And I think she scored big teaming up with the UFC. I'm just glad to be part of both organizations."
Waterson's year on the shelf was not entirely of her own doing. She had trouble getting fights and often wondered if she was doing the right thing by continuing to train instead of hitting the streets and looking for a job.
"Thank God my husband is very understanding. He believes in me and what I can do, and he allowed me to train. He took over the financial burden," Waterson says. "It's frustrating as a fighter. I'm sure all the other girls that are signed with Invicta feel the same way. They love Shannon and they want to support the organization. But at the end of the day, I have family that I have to support. So you just start wondering if it's worth it to wait, because I have a family to feed. There are other things I could be doing."
Waterson did other things. She made an appearance on the reality show American Ninja Warrior. It was a short jaunt, with Waterson lasting just seconds before ending up in a pool of water. She competed in bikini competitions, "just to stay in shape." But mostly, she wanted to fight. She traveled the United States, training with different camps whenever she could. She spent a week with famed grappling coach Ricky Lundell in Las Vegas and went to Austin for a week of training in the brutal Texas humidity.
And now, finally, Waterson has a fight. She spends five days a week at Jackson/Winklejohn in Albuquerque, New Mexico, her home gym since she was 21 years old. Greg Jackson and Jon Jones and the rest of her teammates call her Peanut, a nickname Jackson assigned her on her very first day in the gym. She earned her nickname with her diminutive size, but she spends her days training with Holly Holm, Tara LaRosa and other women who compete in higher weight classes.
Before Holm's injury, Waterson sparred with the new UFC signee on a regular basis. Neither takes it easy on the other, regardless of the size difference.
"I just have to bite down on my mouthpiece and go," Waterson says. "I know that if I catch her with one good shot, she's coming."
Waterson may eventually join Holm in the UFC. Questions regarding an eventual trip to the UFC's new 115-pound division are already circulating, and Waterson admitted there may come a day when she's ready to make the jump. For now, though, her focus is on solidifying her place as the best atomweight in the world.
"I'd like to make my presence known as a 105-pound champion. I don't want there to be any question," she says. "I want to be the 105-pound champion and secure that division. I want to be able to fight everybody and say that I have conquered that. Once that has happened, then I would consider it."
Waterson's first step toward cementing herself as champion will come against Tamada, a nine-year veteran of the sport who is making her Invicta debut. Tamada has competed exclusively in Japan and sports a 15-8 record. She is not the kind of fighter you'd expect to give Waterson many problems, but the champion said Tamada presents at least one interesting challenge.
"She's an awkward southpaw. I'm excited to fight her, because when you're fighting a southpaw you get to do all these tricks you aren't able to do with a regular person," she says.
Waterson is spending just 24 hours in Las Vegas on her mini-promotional tour. On Tuesday, she will head back to Albquerque, a city that offers very few distractions from her fight preparation. It is the desolate nature of Albuquerque that draws so many world-class fighters in and then keeps them there; there is nothing to do but focus on fighting.
Fighting, and doing so for Invicta, is all Waterson plans on doing. For now, anyway. She shakes off comparisons to Ronda Rousey—the UFC's beautiful bantamweight champion, currently in the midst of an assault on Hollywood—and notes that her entire focus is on mixed martial arts.
You won't see her competing in professional muay thai or jiu-jitsu fights anytime soon, because she wants to be the best in mixed martial arts. There is plenty of time for the other stuff, and with Waterson's good looks, skills and charisma, it isn't hard to imagine her someday taking the same path as Rousey.
But not right now. Right now, fighting is the only thing on Waterson's mind.
"My main focus is MMA. I wouldn't want to take away from me having the belt. Maybe it would be a different story if I'd already defended it," Waterson says. "But because I haven't defended it yet, I don't think I should try to go off and venture into other things.
"I feel like I should defend my title first and then maybe have a little more freedom."
The Green Bay Packers were deep in the St. Louis Rams' end of the field, threatening to score another touchdown and put the game out of reach.
A holding penalty and a dropped pass set up a 3rd-and-19, though, and everyone on the field knew Packers quarterback Matt Flynn would have to air it out.
St. Louis Rams defensive end Michael Sam knew it was time.
Opportunities like this come so rarely for players like Sam. They get so few reps in today's shorter, one-a-day training camp practices. They get just a few drives in just a few preseason games, perhaps a few dozen snaps, to prove they can play football for a living.
Technically, the Packers mounted six second-half drives—but three of them were only three plays long, and the last was just three straight runs to wind clock. In the middle of the Packers' longest second-half drive, Sam was subbed out.
For a pass-rusher like Sam, every snap where the other team runs the ball to the other side of the field, the quarterback rolls out away from him or fires off a quick slant is a chance wasted, an opportunity taken away. Sam saw this 3rd-and-19 for exactly what it was: a gift-wrapped chance to keep his lifelong dream alive.
He fired off the line, dipped his shoulder, got around the corner and took Flynn down. The NFL's first openly gay player registered his first sack.
His joy and relief were evident. He popped up and celebrated with a huge home-run swing in front of a tiny, roaring Edward Jones Dome crowd.
Announcers are prone to shouting "He just made the team!" whenever a guy on the bubble flashes in preseason. None of the small mob of people in the booth for the NFL Network broadcast said anything like that this time; Sam's hopes for a roster spot might have been doomed the instant his hometown Rams drafted him.
The Rams have one of the deepest, most talented defensive lines in the NFL. Beastly starting ends Robert Quinn and Chris Long are backed up by veterans William Hayes and Eugene Sims; Sam is battling Sammy Brown, Kourtnei Brown and fellow rookie Ethan Westbrooks for, likely, one roster spot.
For just a few drives' worth of work, a two-tackle, one-sack stat line looks fine for Michael Sam. The problem is the four-tackle, one-sack performance by Westbrooks—not to mention the fact that Westbrooks got in earlier, played longer and was the one subbed in for Sam in the middle of that lengthy drive.
Head coach Jeff Fisher and his staff are looking at a lot more than stats and snap counts when deciding who'll make the final roster. They're watching tape.
The eye in the sky will show Sam made plays; however, his coaches aren't just looking for good plays—they're looking for evidence he'll eventually show well against first-string competition.
Sam showed he can rush the passer in the fourth quarter of a preseason game, in an obvious throwing situation. He didn't fare as well when the odds were stacked against him.
He gave good effort against the run, doing a fine job getting leverage and holding the edge. However, he wasn't disruptive, didn't stuff anyone and didn't run any plays down from the back side. When he was double-teamed, he was blown off the ball, either in rushing or passing situations. He got great penetration up the middle on a stunt—but the Packers were running a screen and lobbed it over his head just in time.
Sam, too often and too quickly, looked to get upfield and around the corner, as he did on his sack. That works well for deep dropbacks and shotgun snaps, but one-trick ponies won't succeed in the NFL.
He doesn't have a great first step, nor much power to the inside. Sometimes, he tries to juke defenders with a flat-footed, side-to-side shimmy, like a kid trying to psych out a defender in a game of driveway basketball. At this level, that's just wasting time he doesn't have before the quarterback gets rid of it.
Does Michael Sam have what it takes to be a starting-caliber NFL defensive end? Maybe. Some of the holes in his game are a matter of teaching and development, and some of his strengths can be honed even further.
Watching the Rams defensive line work over the Packers offensive line, though, it's hard to see how he'll have the time and opportunity to learn and grow before the Rams have to make a decision on his future.
Even if the draft's best story doesn't have a storybook ending, Sam has already proved he can compete at this level. Even if The Turk comes for Sam's digital playbook before Week 1, his preseason performance will likely earn him an opportunity to make his mark somewhere else.
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