Whether or not Michael Sam left the Montreal Alouettes training camp late last month in order to take care of personal business potentially related to the disintegration of his relationship with former fiancée Vito Cammisano is neither here nor there as far as the other members of Canada's professional football league, the CFL, are concerned.

Sam, the first openly gay player ever to be drafted into the NFL, has since returned to the Alouettes fold since his unexpected departure on the eve of the team's first preseason game - a departure which clearly did not engender positive feelings between Sam and his teammates and coaches - and looks ready to get back to football.

For at least some of the rest of the CFL though, it seems like it'll be difficult getting past, not Sam's sexuality, but the unwarranted media attention he's thus far drawn in his short and frustrating tenure.

"Michael Sam hasn't played a down of football north of the border and he has gotten a thousand times more recognition than Randy Chevrier, who won the Tom Pate Award (for outstanding sportsmanship and someone who has made a significant contribution to his team, his community and CFLPA). That's pathetic. You guys (in the media) should be embarrassed," an unnamed CFL coach or player said, via Kirk Penton of the Edmonton Sun.

"Our players are saying they're hearing Michael Sam is an American prima donna. Thought he could just show up and dominate our league. Wrong," said another.

In short, it seems like Sam has quite the uphill battle if he's going to both make a name for himself in the CFL and impress coaches back in the states enough that he could potentially get another shot with an NFL team.

While many people are pulling for Sam to play and play well, it's likely, just as other barrier-breaking players before him, that Sam's road will not be an easy one, made all the worse by the fact that his particular cause is being watched closely by media who know that Sam's name is a big draw where clicks and attention are concerned.