Sports Deficiency Syndrome

via HuffPost Gay Voices, by Domenick Scudera

Doctor, can you help me? The Super Bowl is this Sunday, and I do not care. I feel nothing. That is not normal, right? I cannot even tell you the names of the teams that are playing.

Am I missing the sports gene?

I always thought my aversion to athletics stemmed from the fact that I was gay.

Professional sports are not exactly gay-friendly, what with all the sports stars spewing "faggot" at each other when they get angry.

And I hated gym when I was a kid. Maybe that's when it started? I was always picked last for a team. I was told I threw "like a girl."

I knew some girls who threw really well, so that didn't make a whole lot of sense. Oh, and I loathed dodgeball. In junior high school all the boys were put in a big, padded room, and the bullies were encouraged to let loose their aggressions by whipping the balls extremely hard at the "less athletic."

In other words, dodgeball was organized gay bashing. But my gay friends today are not damaged like me.

They are totally sports-crazed, glued to their billboard-sized televisions on game days just like everybody else. What is wrong with me?

I have tried to get into sports. I really have. Concerned friends have invited me to Super Bowl parties in the past. They try to explain football to me while we watch, but then they hoot and holler like crazy when someone does something that is seemingly inconsequential, like walking over a line or dropping a ball.

It is all so confusing. Yards, downs, flags being thrown all around. I cannot follow it. I watch all the wrong things -- the players' tight pants, the graphics that overlay the live action.

Commercials and the half-time show are way more interesting than the actual game.

There are commentators on these shows who are supposed to help you. Big, burly, beefy guys in striped suits and striped shirts.

They sit in a semicircle and analyze everything. But to me, it is as if they are speaking a foreign language. These men have encyclopedic knowledge of things that make absolutely no sense.

They know how many yards some player ran four years ago, or they know the exact number of times a right-handed player threw the ball to a left-handed player in the rain on a Tuesday.

How do they remember this stuff? Each one is like a sports Rain Man.

I long to feel the same hyperinflated emotion, the pure joy, that a rabid fan feels when his or her team wins the Super Bowl. Have I ever experienced that scale of elation any time in my life?

Maybe I would feel it if I won the lottery, or if same-sex marriage were made legal. But those are once-in-a-lifetime moments. A sports fan can feel that grand excitement any day of the week just by turning on ESPN. Why can't I be like everybody else?

Is there a pill I could take? A sports reparative therapy? Maybe I could join a support group, an Athletically Challenged Anonymous meeting?

The symptoms get worse around the time of the big games, series, cups, and bowls. I feel so lonely, like the sole human after a zombie apocalypse.

The game will be playing everywhere! Everyone will be wearing their team colors, talking statistics, placing bets. There is nowhere to hide. Please, help!


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NBA, GLSEN and Ad Council's Official "Think B4 You Speak" PSA

Posted by Keith R. Green

As a diehard Chicago Bulls fan, I'm not sure if I was more excited by last night's victory against the Miami Heat or by seeing this 30-second PSA aired during the game. Huge shout out to the NBA and especially to Grant Hill for such a progressive campaign. I'm sure that I speak for thousands of non-heteros basketball fans when I say, "we really appreciate it!"

Kobe, This is How You Respond to A Gay Slur

By Andrew Sharp via SBNation.com

After Kobe Bryant's homophobic comments last week, the NBA's fined him $100,000, Kobe apologized, and Wednesday, the Lakers released a public service announcement to promote gay rights. And all of that's well and good. But just for perspective's sake, here's a story that's 1,000 times cooler.

Recently, during a Brazilian volleyball match, the home crowd began chanting "bicha" at a visiting player, the equivalent of a bunch of Lakers fans calling Kevin Garnett a "faggot."

But here's what's worse—unlike the ref that Kobe called gay, the Brazilian player was actually gay, and after the game, he admitted as much publicly. So... a pretty terrible story all around. But that's when it starts getting good.

At the next match, the players joined together to wear pink warmup shirts to show solidarity. One of them even wore a rainbow-colored jersey.

Read more...

Singapore's Water Polo Team Will Stop Using Its Curved Phallus Speedos

Question: Should the Singapore government be more embarrassed by the half-moon swimsuits, or by the fact that it is wasting time giving fashion critiques to the men's water polo team?

FTM Kye Allums is NCAA's First Openly Transgender Athlete

Via CNN - Everything will be the same when Kye Allums takes to the court in the university's season opener later this month. Just that female-bodied Allums, 21, will be identified as a man,

"I decided to transition, that is change my name and pronouns because it bothered me to hide who I am, and I am trying to help myself and others to be who they are," Allums said in his statement.

In his sophomore year, he began telling people he was a man trapped in a woman's body.

"I told my teammates first, and they, including my coaches, have supported me," he said. "My teammates have embraced me as the big brother of the team. They have been my family, and I love them all."
becoming the first openly transgender player in NCAA Division I basketball.

"This means a lot," Allums said in a statement. "I didn't choose to be born in this body and feel the way I do."

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Monday Morning Perk-Up [Football]

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

Chicago Blackhawk to March with Stanley Cup in Pride Parade

Michael Sneed is reporting that Blackhawks President John McDonough is rerouting the Stanley Cup from the NHL draft in L.A. to the Chicago Pride parade Sunday . . . and Blackhawk defenseman Brent Sopel has volunteered to represent the team. "I am honored to do it," said Sopel, who will be accompanied by wife, Kelly, and his four kids, Jacob, 12, Lyla, 8, Jayla, 6, and Paul, 20, whom they adopted three years ago after Paul's parents died within six months of each other.

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Who's That Queer [Gareth Thomas]

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

Gareth Thomas (born 25 July 1974 in Sarn near Bridgend) is a Welsh rugby union player who currently plays at fullback, wing or centre for the Cardiff Blues and most recently played as a fullback for Wales. On 26 May 2007, he surpassed Gareth Llewellyn as the most-capped Wales player with his 93rd appearance. A prolific try scorer at international level, Thomas is listed ninth in the world on the all-time Test try scoring list. During the 2007 Rugby World Cup, Thomas created sporting history when he become the first Welshman to win 100 international caps in rugby union. During this game he scored a try and prevented another but Wales lost to Fiji and were eliminated from the tournament. He is also the first rugby player to come out while still playing professionally.


Gareth Thomas made his debut for Wales on 27 May 1995 against Japan. He held the Wales record for the most international tries with 40 until Shane Williams surpassed that total in the 2008 Six Nations Championship, but still retains the record for most Test appearances for his country, with 100. He surpassed the try record previously held by Ieuan Evans in 2004 against Italy. He also got a hat-trick of tries in the Second Test against Japan in 2001; 51 appearances after announcing his arrival on the international scene with a hat-trick in the 1995 World Cup game against the same opposition. Equally at home at centre, it was from that position he scored the longest intercept try ever seen at the Arms Park, a 90 metre dash against Australia in 1996.Thomas was named as captain for Wales' final match in the 2007 Six Nations against England after current captain Stephen Jones was ruled out with a broken wrist. When Thomas took the field, he equaled Llewellyn's Wales record of 92 caps. He broke Llewellyn's record when he led Wales out against Australia at Telstra Stadium in Sydney on 26 May 2007, a match that Wales lost 29–23 on a Wallabies try after the siren.

From 2002 to 2006, Thomas was married to childhood sweetheart Jemma. The couple married in St Brides Major, near Bridgend, and filed for divorce in 2007; during the relationship, Jemma suffered three miscarriages.

In December 2009 Thomas announced publicly that he is gay. He told the Daily Mail , "I don't want to be known as a gay rugby player. I am a rugby player, first and foremost I am a man." Thomas' public confirmation of his sexuality makes him the first openly gay professional rugby player still playing the game. In an interview with the BBC, Thomas talked about how he hoped that his coming out would mean that in the future, young gay rugby players would be able to come out and be accepted as a "talented gay rugby player". Thomas also said, "What I choose to do when I close the door at home has nothing to do with what I have achieved in rugby."

Source: Wikipedia

Who's That Queer

Brought to you by Pistol Pete

Even in 2008, the world of professional sports - especially the major men's team sports - is one of the final closets. David Kopay has achieved fame as a gay icon. Kopay was an overachieving player with five National Football League (NFL) teams from 1964 to 1972. During this time he wrestled with his sexuality and eventually decided to be honest with himself and the public.

Since Kopay, only two additional former NFL Players have come out as gay. Kopay has been credited with inspiring these athletes to be more open about their sexual orientation.

Kopay gave an interview in 1975 to the Washington Star in which he declared his homosexuality. He is believed to be the first professional athlete to have taken such a step. In 1977 he wrote his autobiography, The David Kopay Story: An Extraordinary Self-Revelation. His biography offers insights into the sexual proclivities of heterosexual football players and their homophobia. In 1986, Kopay also revealed his brief affair with Jerry Smith, who played for the Washington Redskins from 1965-1977 and who died of AIDS without ever having publicly come out of the closet.

After he retired from the NFL, he was considered a top contender for coaching positions, but was snubbed by professional and college teams because of his sexual orientation. He eventually took over the family business selling and installing floor coverings in the San Fernando Valley.

Kopay, who remains active as a speaker, is an important figure in that he exemplifies the fact that gay men can and do compete as athletes. He is a board member of the Gay and Lesbian Athletics Foundation.

Source: Gay for Today

Semenya to Keep Gold Metal, No Matter What!

Even if South African track star Caster Semenya does have both boy and girl parts, she's still a gold medal winner: The International Association of Athletics Federations ruled she can keep the gold medal she won in August in Berlin. But the bigger news? The results of the investigation into Semenya's gender (!) will be kept private. Read the rest at Queerty.

Sexy Soccer Studs

Anybody else stoked for the 2010 World Cup??

Laura Ricketts Is First Openly Gay MLB Owner

The Chicago Cubs have reached a baseball milestone and it has nothing to do with their century-plus World Series drought.

With the team's purchase by the Ricketts Family, the Cubs are the first Major League Baseball team to have an openly gay owner.

Among the new owners is Laura Ricketts, an out lesbian who is also on the board of the gay rights organization Lambda Legal, the Windy City Times reports.

Read the rest at HuffPo.

A Little Ben Cohen Anyone?

Towleroad has a great series called Sportrait, which featured talented (and hot) athletes. And who better to feature than Aussie rugby player Ben Cohen?


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Aussie Professional Rugby Jocks Fight Homophobia

Ya gotta love the Aussies.

The high-profile muscled jocks of Australia’s national rugby team, the Qantas Wallabies, have joined forces with the country’s largest LGBT-focused health and HIV/AIDS organization for a campaign to fight discrimination against LGBT people.

Team captain Stirling Mortlock and other players were photographed holding handwritten signs championing inclusiveness in sports as part of the This Is Oz campaign, an online photo blog where users can upload photos of themselves with messages that challenge homophobia and celebrate diversity and social inclusion.

Read the rest at the Advocate.