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In this week’s episode of Slate’s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca discuss University of Missouri linebacker Michael Sam’s announcement that he is gay, and they’re joined by Cyd Zeigler of Outsports to talk about how the media rollout happened. They also look at the dangers of Winter Olympics sports, and ask whether Americans are reveling in Sochi’s problems. Finally, they talk about Oklahoma State guard Marcus Smart’s suspension for shoving a Texas Tech fan.

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:

• Cyd Zeigler wrote a behind the scenes story for Outsports on how Michael Sam came out.
• Sam made his announcement in interviews with ESPN and the New York Times.
• Josh writes in Slate that Sam “will force the NFL to confront its prejudices.”
• Peter King’s column for the MMQB quoted several anonymous GMs and scouts who claimed that homosexuality is still a divisive issue in the NFL.
• Pete Thamel and Thayer Evans of Sports Illustrated interviewed eight NFL executives and coaches, writing, “In blunt terms, they project a significant drop in Sam’s draft stock.”
• Jonathan Vilma is uncomfortable with having a gay teammate, saying, “I think that he would not be accepted as much as we think he would be accepted.”
• Last September, Deadspin asked if the NFL was blackballing former Cardinals safety Kerry Rhodes because he is gay.
• After injuring his wrist on a practice run, Shaun White withdrew from slopestyle, stating, “the potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympics goals on.”
• Olympic officials scrambled to modify the slopestyle course after Norwegian hopeful Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone in a crash.
• Justin Peters writes in Slate that we can’t blame Sochi for the dangers of the downhill, slopestyle, and other courses.
• Sochi has been plagued by various problems with its accommodations, including water and privacy. Sochi Problems now has its own Twitter handle.
• War correspondent Margaret Coker tells journalists to stop whining about Sochi.
• Oklahoma State’s Marcus Smart was suspended for three games after shoving a Texas Tech fan.
• Texas Tech fan Jeff Orr’s statement, in which he apologizes for calling Smart a “piece of crap.”
• Dave Zirin of The Nation writes that to “ask a 19-year-old Marcus Smart to act in accordance with Jackie Robinson is a ridiculous weight to ask Mr. Smart to carry.”
• Metta Word Peace thinks Smart can learn from this incident.

Hang Up and Listen’s weekly Holy Crails:

Mike’s Holy Crail: The 30 for 30 short Judging Jewell, and the epistemology of accusations, whether levied at Richard Jewell, Barry Bonds, or Woody Allen. (Here’s that Vanity Fair story about Jewell.)

Stefan’s Holy Crail: Revisiting the infamous 1979 incident in which the Boston Bruins went into the stands to fight fans at Madison Square Garden.

Josh’s Holy Crail: On the observations of Questlove and Chris Rock that society doesn’t allow black people to be mediocre, and how that also applies to gay athletes.

Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Links compiled by Casey Butterly.

You can email us at hangup@slate.com.