Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/08/sports/basketball/08amaechi.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02 /08/sports/basketball/08amaechi.html</a> The news, first reported by Outsports.com on Tuesday, caused a small ripple in the N.B.A. world. Amaechi, in a book to be published next week by ESPN Books, “Man in the Middle,†wrote about his reluctance to disclose his sexuality in the homophobic culture of sports. The New York Times received a proof of the book. “Coming out threatens to expose the homoerotic components of what they prefer to think of as simply male bonding,†Amaechi wrote. “And it generally is. It’s not so much that there’s a repressed homosexuality at play (except for a small minority), only that there’s a tremendous fear that the behavior might be labeled as such. Or, as I heard the anti-gay epithets pour forth that gay men in the locker room would somehow violate this sacred space by sexualizing it.†Five male professional athletes have come out after their careers ended: David Kopay wrote a best-selling book after he retired from the N.F.L. in 1972 and Esera Tuaolo wrote a book in 2002 when he retired from the N.F.L. The others were Roy Simmons, a former N.F.L. offensive lineman; and the former major league outfielders Glenn Burke and Billy Bean. N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern told The A.P.: “We have a very diverse league. The question at the N.B.A. is always, ‘Have you got game?’ That’s it, end of inquiry.†------------ This is interesting, I didn't realize that other sports had athletes/former athletes come out, but never the NBA. Frankly, if you're 6 foot 10 and a toned 270 pounds, I don't think a lot of people would give you a problem, lol.
Originally Posted By DAR My problem is not him announcing he's gay, but the timing of it. He has a book coming out(no pun intended) that nobody would have read.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Well at least he discusses it in the book so it's not a totally unrelated "attention-getter", lol.
Originally Posted By DlandDug Has WE suddenly "gone gay?" We have no less than four different working topics on gay related themes. It's a conspiracy, I tell you! Oh, and on topic, I always thought all that male bonding in the locker rooms was more than just manly high jinks...
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>Has WE suddenly "gone gay?" We have no less than four different working topics on gay related themes.<< Proof positive that global warming causes gayness.
Originally Posted By gadzuux >> My problem is not him announcing he's gay, but the timing of it. He has a book coming out(no pun intended) that nobody would have read. << I agree. The fact that he's coming out just to pimp his new book detracts from the whole disclosure, and makes it commercial. Also, he comes out AFTER he retires from the NBA. As post 1 mentions, that's easy - lots of people have done that. When a professional athelete comes out during their career, let me know. Until then - no story here.
Originally Posted By DAR ^^^ Regarding your last point, you might find this article interesting. <a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=granderson/070207&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1" target="_blank">http://sports.espn.go.com/espn /page2/story?page=granderson/070207&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab2pos1</a>
Originally Posted By Lisann22 <a href="http://www.lambda.net/~maximum/burke.html" target="_blank">http://www.lambda.net/~maximum /burke.html</a> Glenn Burke did not publicity come out but he was out within the sport and suffered greatly for it. Here is a summary of his story. It was very well known to most baseball fans when he played with the A's that he was gay. ---------------------------------------- Double Tough Glenn Lawrence Burke was born on November 16, 1952 in Oakland, California. His father left his mother in 1953, and she raised eight children alone on a nursing-home aide's salary. Glenn was a star athlete at Berkeley High School. He was given a scholarship to the University of Denver, but, after several months in the snow, he opted to return to a warmer climate. In 1972, Burke was recruited by the Los Angeles Dodgers and sent to play in the minor leagues in Utah, Washington, Connecticut, and New Mexico before being called on for "the show." Weighing a lean 220 pounds, his teammates nick named him King Kong "Being black and gay made me tougher." Glenn Burke ~ October 1994 In September of 1977 the Dodgers had the National League West wrapped up and were anticipating a trip to the playoffs and the World Series when Dusty Baker hit his 30th homer for the year in a game against the Houston Astros. Burke ran out to meet his teammate at home plate, leapt into the air, and taught America a new way to celebrate. Glenn Burke the Natural Burke possessed all the qualities of a great athlete. He was named Northern California's High School Basketball Player of the Year in 1970, and could run the 100 yard dash in 9.7 seconds. He was able to dunk a basketball using both hands - a remarkable accomplishment for someone who was just over six feet tall. Young Glenn was considered capable of being a professional basketball player, but his first offer came from major league baseball. When he started his baseball career, many of the scouts described him as the next Willie Mays. Glenn Burke the Trendsetter Glenn Burke is credited with inventing the "high five" in 1977 when he ran out onto the field to congratulate his Los Angeles Dodgers teammate Dusty Baker for hitting a home run in the last game of the regular season. His celebration has since been imitated by athletes and fans in virtually every sport around the world. The second recorded "high five" came moments later when Baker returned the favor in celebration of Burke's first major league home run.
Originally Posted By gadzuux Thanks for that link, dar - I enjoyed reading that. And now I feel so validated! And I've never heard of LZ Granderson before - I never read sports columnists. But yeah - we're both aligned on this one.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Yeah DAR, that was a good article. I didn't even realize this guy was retired, lol, I was skimming the article after I had my news segment on it (they didn't mention it in the segment either). And relax, folks. Any alleged "global warming" doesn't cause "gayness"---this thread was moved by the mods from Gen. Entertainment. ;-)
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy SportsCenter is covering this now. Charles Barkley just said, "I've got a ton of gay friends, I've played with gay guys," Interesting choice of words!
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy Now the PTI guys are discussing LeBron James' comments: "With teammates, you have to be trustworthy. If you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, you're not trustworthy. It's the locker room code; it's a trust factor." Funny, I would think if someone secretly told you they were gay and you told other people, then you would be untrustworthy. The PTI anchors say James is young and sounds like he was trying to say something that would sound good when he was asked about it.
Originally Posted By Lisann22 Maybe I'm tired but I'm not getting how your statement of "I would think if someone secretly told you they were gay and you told othe people, then you wold be untrustworthy." What does that go to? I'm not seeing how it matches what LaBron said.
Originally Posted By TALL Disney Guy I was counteracting what he said because his statement seems backwards. If someone has a secret about themselves they keep to themselves, how is that "untrustworthy"? It's not that's their own personal issue. You're only untrustworthy if other people can't trust *you*. That was my take on it. And I would think if you're keeping a big secret to yourself, then you're definitely trustworthy to keep "locker room code" secrets of others. Like the PTI guys said though, sadly sports just isn't a "safe" area to come out with such personal secrets for the most part. You know what? I think it's his wording. If he had said "trusting" I could see that. But "trustworthy" is different.
Originally Posted By gadzuux >> Like the PTI guys said though, sadly sports just isn't a "safe" area to come out with such personal secrets for the most part. << I agree with this assessment, and by "safe" that includes physical harm. What does that tell you about these professional atheletes? What a buncha heroes they are.
Originally Posted By DAR I'm also thinking it has to do with enviroment some of these guys were raised in. It's not secret the majority of players are black and grew up in less than desirable neighborhoods. From what I've heard being gay is frowned upon, that could be a reason some players are afraid to come out.
