Stupid on my part," Eaton said. "I need to pick

[lw789]

NEW YORK -- Michael Sam was picked by the St. Louis Rams in the seventh round of the NFL draft Saturday, becoming the first openly gay player drafted by a pro football team. Sam played at Missouri, and came out as gay in media interviews earlier this year. His team and coaches knew his secret and kept it for his final college season. He went on to have the best season of his career: He was the Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year. "Thank you to the St. Louis Rams and the whole city of St. Louis. Im using every once of this to achieve greatness!!" Sam tweeted with a frenzied typo moments after he was picked, including a picture of himself wearing a Rams cap and a pink polo shirt. The pick came after several rounds of suspense. The first round of the day came and went, no Sam. Then the second, and the third, and finally, the day was down to just a handful of picks. When Mike Kensil, the NFLs vice-president of game operations, walked to the podium at Radio City Music Hall in the drafts final minutes to announce the Rams second-to-last pick, the crowd got a sense something was up. Very few of the last day picks were announced at the podium. Twitter lit up with suggestions the Rams were about to make news. When Kensil said: "The St. Louis Rams select ... Michael Sam..." the fans gave a hearty cheer, chanting "Yes! Yes! Yes!" and "Michael Sam!" Sam was in San Diego watching with friends and family at the home of his agent, Joe Barkett of Empire Athletes. ESPN and the NFL Network had cameras there and showed Sams reaction. Sam was on the phone bending over, with his boyfriend hugging him and rubbing his left bicep. When Sam got off the phone, the tears started. He gave his boyfriend a big kiss and a long hug as he cried and his eyes reddened. After, they shared cake -- and another kiss. Sam will start his professional career not far from the place where he played his college ball, with three former Missouri teammates. The 6-foot-2, 255-pound Sam was considered a mid-to-late round pick, far from a sure thing to be drafted. He played defensive end in college, but hes short for that position in the NFL and slower than most outside linebackers, the position hell need to transition to at the professional level. He was taken with the 249th overall pick out of 256. Players from Marist, Maine and McGill University in Canada were selected before Sam. "In the world of diversity we live in now, Im honoured to be a part of this," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said during an interview on ESPN. The impact of Sams selection goes far beyond football. At a time when gay marriage is gaining acceptance among Americans, Sams entry into the NFL is a huge step toward the integration of gay men into professional team sports. Pro sports have in many ways lagged behind the rest of society in acceptance. Publicly, most people in and related to the NFL have been supportive of Sam. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said Sam would be welcome in the league and judged solely on his ability to play. A few wondered whether teams would be reluctant to draft Sam because of all the media attention that would come with it. Fair or not, the NFL -- coming off a season in which a bullying scandal involving players on the Miami Dolphins was one of the biggest stories in sports -- was looking at a possible public relations hit if Sam was not drafted. He would likely have been signed as a free agent and given a chance to make a team in training camp, but to many it would have looked as if he was being rejected. Now that hes there, it could be seen as an opportunity for the NFL to show that crass locker room culture is not as prevalent as it might have looked to those who followed the embarrassing Dolphins scandal. . They showered him with "MVP! MVP!" chants. In many ways, it seemed like hed never been gone. . The New York State Supreme Court only partially dismissed the lawsuit, meaning the case could be headed for trial. The tour announced a year ago that Singh would be suspended for saying in a Sports Illustrated story that he took deer antler spray, which was believed to contain the banned substance IGF-1. http://www.hockeycapitalsnhl.com/authen ... ls-jersey/. He never mentioned anything about his hitting. The 33-year-old right-hander had success with both Sunday, pitching six solid innings and helping the offence-starved Mets with an RBI single as New York salvaged a doubleheader split with a 4-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. . Both had to wait out a rain interruption lasting nearly five hours before taking comprehensive third-round victories to join Carling Bassett-Seguso (1983, 1986), Patricia Hy-Boulais (1996-97) and Daniel Nestor (1999) as Canadians who made it into the second week of a major. . (AP) -- The head of the committee that developed Major League Baseballs plan to expand instant replay says he is optimistic the system will be in place this season, even though owners and unions for players and umpires have yet to approve.CHICAGO -- Trevor Plouffe is certain that even though his Minnesota Twins are stuck in last place in the AL Central, theyve stayed mentally tough. Thats why the third baseman wasnt surprised to see his team rally an inning after losing a late lead and beat the Chicago White Sox 8-6 Saturday night. "Weve kind of been resilient all year," Plouffe said. "Well take the blow and get back up and start fighting again." Plouffe got four hits and the Twins stopped Jose Abreu, rallying to end a three-game skid. Abreus hitting streak ended at 21 games, longest in the AL this season. He went 0 for 3 with two walks, one of them intentional. The Cuban rookie, who leads the majors with 31 home runs, had reached base in 10 straight plate appearances before he popped up in the first inning. "Thank God," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said when asked about the hitting streak. "We pitched around him a couple times in situations. You know what, the guy is a great hitter and when a guy is swinging the bat as good as hes swinging and youve got to pitch around him a little bit, youve got to try to get him to chase." Plouffe doubled twice, drove in two runs and started the three-run eighth-inning rally with a one-out single. Oswaldo Arcia was credited with a two-run double in the eighth, giving the Twins a 7-6 lead, when his liner glanced off the glove of left fielder Alejandro De Aza. Adam Eaton hit three doubles and a single for Chicago, but was thrown out at second by left fielder Eduardo Nunez trying to stretch a single to end the bottom of the eighth. "It was stupid. Stupid. Stupid on my part," Eaton said. "I need to pick up the ball better. I saw it go offf his glove and kind of thought it bounced a different direction.dddddddddddd. I thought it went toward more the warning track. Thats ignorant on my part. Thats stupid, unbelievable how dumb that was." Ryan Pressly (1-0) won and Glen Perkins pitched the ninth for his 27th save in 30 chances. Ronald Belisario (4-8) took the loss. In the opener of the series Friday, Chicago scored four runs in the eighth for a 10-8 win. This time, the Twins got three in the eighth and Danny Santana added a solo homer in the ninth. Alexei Ramirez homered for the White Sox. Chicago took a 6-4 lead in the seventh with four runs. Eaton hit a two-run double, Gordon Beckham had an RBI double and Ramirez singled home a run. Kurt Suzuki hit a single off Belisario in the eighth, and the White Sox then brought in closer Jake Petricka with runners on first and second. After a groundout, Arcia hit a liner that got De Aza turned around. CANT WATCH White Sox manager Robin Ventura is one of the few people who really knows what Paul George is going through right now. The Indiana Pacers forward broke his lower left leg in a gruesome accident Friday when his foot hit the basket stanchion and his leg snapped. Ventura suffered his own awful injury in 1997 when he broke and dislocated his right ankle on a slide into home plate. "I havent seen it," Ventura said. "I dont ... Im not going watch it. I dont need to watch any of that. You feel sorry for him. Its a freak accident, but I dont want to see it. Ive had enough." ON DECK In the finale of the three-game series Sunday, Minnesota starts right-hander Kyle Gibson (9-8, 3.94) vs. left-hander Jose Quintana (6-7, 3.15). ' ' '