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NEW YORK -- Years before Michael Sam was born, gay-rights activists Kate Kendell and Paul Guequierre were already die-hard National Football League fans. Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, grew up in Ogden, Utah, far from any NFL city, and became a fan of the Los Angeles Rams because shes an Aries and liked their uniforms. For Guequierre, raised in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and now a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, it was a family affair. Treasured season tickets for the Green Bay Packers were acquired by his grandfather, passed on to his father, and now are his. The cover photo of his Facebook page shows the towering statue of a Packers wide receiver. For Kendell, Guequierre and other gay fans of the NFL, their passion for pro football was rewarded May 10 with a moment they describe as thrilling: the decision by the Rams -- now of St. Louis -- to make Sam the first openly gay player drafted by an NFL team. "I feel like my support for the NFL now doesnt have an asterisk come with it," Kendell said. "Its now truly Americas game." The milestone has made gay fans more enthusiastic and already is drawing newcomers into the fold. Many may become Rams fans or -- like Guequierre -- henceforth consider St. Louis "my second favourite team." The NFL says it hasnt done any marketing research to gauge the size of its gay and lesbian fan base. Gay sports fans surveyed by Outsports said pro football was their favourite sport by far. Outsports co-founder Cyd Zeigler said that Sam -- if he makes the Rams roster -- will further boost the NFLs popularity among gays. "People who have never liked football are buying Michael Sam jerseys," he said. "People who have never watched a game watched the draft." As of midweek, Sams Rams jersey was the No. 2 seller among rookies at NFLShop.com, trailing only Johnny Manziel, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback drafted by the Cleveland Browns. Sam -- although drafted 249th out of 256 players -- also was among just 10 draftees selected by the league to be featured on special bronze and silver commemorative coins, according to NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy. Howard Bragman, a public relations expert who has been working with Sam, expects the NFL and advertisers to capitalize on fans excitement over Sams debut. "The first time he plays, youre going to have huge numbers watching," said Bragman, the vice chairman of Reputation.com. "The NFL is a business," Bragman added. "It understands very well that LGBT fans are passionate, they have good incomes, theyre concentrated in NFL cities." Sam already has done a nationally televised ad for Visa. "The tide has turned," Bragman said. "Martina Navratilova said she lost endorsements after she came out. Youll find that Michael will do very well." That doesnt mean the NFLs advertisers will shift their focus away from heterosexual young males, nor are sexy female cheerleader squads likely to disappear. But gay fans may be all the more at peace with such things. "We know who theyre marketing to with those ads," said Guequierre. "Most (gay) people I know are OK with that. We dont feel like were being left out." Now based in Washington, D.C., Guequierre, 36, tries to attend at least one Packers home game per year, and makes his tickets for the other games available to relatives and friends, including a lesbian couple who are devoted fans. Guequierre said gay fans, like gay athletes, increasingly feel less pressure to conceal their sexual orientation while at games. He recalled an incident at a Packers game a few years ago, when he stood up and vocally scolded a fan behind him who had called a Chicago Bears player a homophobic slur. "No one else gave me a hard time," Guequierre said. "The guy looked embarrassed. ... He came across as the bad guy." Guequierres passion for football extends to the playing field -- hes an avid competitor in the D.C. Gay Flag Football League, which has 20 teams and about 275 players. One of the main sponsors is Nellies Sports Bar, one of a wave of gay sports bars that have opened up in cities nationwide. Doug Schantz, co-owner of Nellies, says there are now 25 TVs in the bar, all tuned to sports, with pro baseball and the NFL neck-and-neck as the most popular. "With the Redskins, it doesnt matter if theyre bad or good," Schantz said. On the other side of the country, Kate Kendell has settled into San Francisco, and is a zealous 49ers fan -- though her girlhood love of the Rams is now rekindled. She has raised her 17-year-old son to share her football passions. "On Monday nights, we break with tradition of sitting around the table as family," Kendell said. "We all watch the game. I leave office early to make sure were there for kickoff." Kendell expressed delight that gay youths would now be able to grow up with openly gay sports stars as role models. "Many of my gay male friends are not sports fans -- not because of lack of interest, but because their earliest introduction to sports made them feel stigmatized and shamed," she said, evoking epithets such as "You throw like a girl." "While surely there will continue to be homophobic remarks, there is a sense of a corner being turned," she said. "What I feel more than anything is a sense of elation and joy, that the game I loved since I was a kid I can now embrace without reservations." Cardinals Carlos Martinez Jersey . Louis Blues were workmanlike, methodical and -- most of all -- effective on Monday night. Cardinals Michael Wacha Jersey . 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Doran Grant picked off the first pass of the game, scoring on a 33-yard return, and Braxton Miller threw for 233 yards and four touchdowns as No. 4 Ohio State extended the nations longest winning streak to 21 with a record-breaking rout 56-0 of Purdue. "I saw, not necessarily a sleepy look, but I just didnt like what I saw in our pregame," said Meyer, the Buckeyes coach. "So we brought them in here and kind of rattled them up a little bit and made sure they woke up." Did they ever. The Buckeyes produced the highest scoring total and most lopsided victory margin in the 56-game series, surpassing marks they set in a 49-0 victory in 2010. They handed Purdue (1-7, 0-4) its first back-to-back shutouts in six decades, and the 56-point loss matched the worst in Boilermakers history. Purdue lost 56-0 to Iowa on Oct. 28, 1922 and 56-0 to Chicago on Nov. 9, 1907. It was hardly a surprise. Ohio State (9-0, 5-0) hasnt lost in 22 months. Meyer tied a personal best by winning his 22nd consecutive game, which includes his final victory at Florida. Miller went 19 of 23 before giving way to Kenny Guiton for good in the second half. Guiton was 8 of 11, throwing one TD pass and running for two more. He finished with 98 yards rushing on nine carries, second only to Carlos Hyde who ran for 111 yards on eight carries. Tight end Jeff Heuerman caught five passes for a career-high 116 yards and was one of five different Ohio State receivers to score. Plus, the Buckeyes defence forced two turnovers, added six more sacks to their Big Ten-leading number and limited the Boilermakers to 116 total yards as a large contingent of scarlet-and-grey clad fans turned the road game into a pseudo home contest in the second half when most of the Boilermakers fans left. The combination was enough to keep Ohio State on track for a second straight perfect season and a potential berth in the BCS title game. But the Buckeyes, admittedly, needed some early help. "It was an early morniing, we had to get up early, we had to get prepared, we had to eat well," Miller said.dddddddddddd "We had to get the guys going and the coaches talked to us and got us hyped." Purdue certainly didnt need that. The game that was billed as a blackout turned into a washout. How bad was it? Etling, the freshman, was 13 of 29 for 89 yards. Purdues mistake-prone secondary was gouged so often by the Ohio State quarterbacks that the Boilers gave up a record-breaking scoring total in Ross-Ade Stadium for the second time this season. The Boilermakers head into next weeks game against Iowa with eight consecutive scoreless quarters and with the dubious achievement of failing to reach the red zone for the third consecutive game. Purdue hasnt taken a snap inside the opponents 20-yard line since late in a Sept. 28 loss to Northern Illinois, and still hasnt beaten a Football Bowl Subdivision since Darrell Hazell took over the program after last season. "We didnt tackle very well, we had guys out of place quite a few times (on defence) and we need to get off the blocks," Hazell said. "We cant get a quarterback beat up the way we did. We had problems in pass protection." Miller & Co. made them pay for those miscues, seemingly every time. On the games second snap, Grant stepped in front of B.J. Knauf, picked off Etlings pass and sprinted 33 yards to make it 7-0. Miller then threw a 40-yard TD pass to a wide open Jeff Heuerman on the Buckeyes second offensive play to give Ohio State a 14-0 lead. Before the first quarter ended, Miller threw an 8-yard TD pass to Nick Vannett and a 2-yard shovel pass for a TD to Corey Brown to make it 28-0. Not enough? Guiton threw a 1-yard TD pass to Chris Fields midway through the second quarter, and Miller hooked up with Ezekiel Elliott on a 10-yard scoring pass later in the first half to make it 42-0 at the half. Guiton ran for two scores in the second half to close out the milestone victory. "Were just playing Ohio State ball," Hyde said after the Buckeyes rolled up 640 yards in offence. "I expect this out of the offensive group, you know. Just come out and be explosive all day and put points up and put up yards. Thats what I expect from us." 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