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My two
days on ESPN Radio
By
Cyd Zeigler jr.
Outsports.com
Discuss this story
List to
clips from Cyd Zeigler's appearances on DKLA:
July 23
July 24
 Monday
and Tuesday, July 23 to 24, I sat in the very large seat of
former St. Louis Ram D’Marco Farr on his
L.A.-based self-named radio show, nicknamed "DKLA." I’d
been appearing on the show every Thursday as their
“alternative lifestyle expert” for a few months, and have
come to really enjoy Farr and his co-host, Kevin Kiley. I’d
done a similar stint with Kiley on the wildly popular Fox
Sports News show “Kiley & Booms” in 2002. When Kiley heard
that Farr would be on vacation, he decided he wanted to try
co-hosting with a gay guy for two days. I got the call and,
as far as Kiley, producer Drew Belzer and I know, it was the
first time ESPN Radio had an openly gay person host one of
their shows, let alone in the No. 2 radio market in the
country, for two days.
ESPN has
been a champion of gay equality for years now. From reaching
out to gay journalists to sponsoring the Gay Games, the
company has, by their own admission, made it a priority to
open their doors to people with different voices and unique
perspectives. When Kiley, a wonderful straight ally,
approached program director Larry Gifford about bringing me
on, he was met with a near-automatic yes.
On the one
hand, it wasn’t exactly groundbreaking radio. The topics of
the two days I was there were virtually laid out for us. In
what some at the station, and many since, have called “a
first for American pro sports,” the three biggest
professional leagues all had major press conferences and
press releases within six hours on the same day. That
Tuesday at 8 a.m., NBA commissioner David Stern addressed
the media for over an hour, talking about the allegations
against referee Tim Donaghy that he bet on basketball; At 1
p.m., in the first few minutes of our broadcast, Atlanta
Falcons owner Arthur Blank held a press conference to
announce his agreement (or disagreement, depending on how
you heard it) with the NFL commissioner’s suspension (yes, I
call it a suspension) of Michael Vick; an hour after that,
MLB commish Bud Selig announced he would try (or rather,
hope he wouldn’t be able) to make it to Bonds’
record-breaking performance.
“That was
the craziest day of sports news I have ever seen,” Kiley
said when we took our headphones off at the end of the last
hour.
We talked
those three topics to death, spurred a bunch of phone calls,
and gave people up-to-the-minute information. Good
journalism and some good fun; just not revolutionary.
On the
other hand, it was groundbreaking. No, it wasn’t Jackie
Robinson playing in the Major Leagues or Jesse Owens winning
in Berlin. What it was was a gay man taking hold of ESPN
Radio for two days, sharing his thoughts on sports and not
being afraid to let his taste, life and sexual orientation
slip across the airwaves into the car radios of thousands of
mostly straight people, many of whom, despite living in
Southern California, probably hadn’t given much credence to
the notion that a gay man could hold his own in a sports
conversation with a sports-media pro with 20 years of
experience.
The power
of it was, in part, the fact that we were able to engage in
just (pardon the expression) “straight” sports talk. I’m
gay, Kiley’s straight, and for two days we bantered back and
forth about sports and life the way we have before on the
phone, and the way I have with so many of
 my
straight friends over the years. When talk hit on Vick’s
legal troubles, I mentioned the strong affinity so many gay
people have to their animals. The scandal involving Donaghy
led me to comment on his most attractive qualities (for the
record, great pecs and a cute nose). I even got to flirt on
air with the show’s hunky (but very straight and very
married) producer, Belzer (left).
But the
most rewarding part of the two days didn’t come from the
emails I got afterward (100% positive and supportive) from
gay people who’d heard me on the radio and wanted to thank
me (though, truth be told, they should be thanking Kiley,
Gifford, Belzer and ESPN). The biggest reward I got came on
the first day in the form of a call from a listener I’m
assuming is straight named Rodney.
We were
talking about Barry Bonds’ potential record-breaking visit
to Dodger Stadium. Kiley asked whether I’d rip the
record-breaking ball out of a 12-year-old’s hand if I had
the chance. I said no; he (and most of the barbaric callers)
said he’d rip the kid’s arm off to get the ball. (Note to
parents: Do not sit with your children inside the foul poles
at any San Francisco Giants games until the record is
broken).
Enter
Rodney.
Rodney: “I
want to send kudos to your guest. I really enjoyed your
interview with him a couple weeks ago. Very interesting
topic, very insightful, and I really appreciate what you’re
doing for sport. You’re giving a lot of knowledge, and I
hope it’s getting a lot of other people more introspective
about pro sports.”
Me: “Well
thank you. I think most people think that gay people have no
idea what the difference between a soccer ball and a
basketball is. But the fact of the matter is, we’re just
like everybody else.”
Kiley: “Ya
think?”
Me: “Yeah,
except we wouldn’t take the ball out of some kid’s hand at
the bottom of the pile.”
That
launched us into a brief chat about gay sports leagues, the
Gay Superbowl, and this idea that “gay people are just like
everybody else.”
And after
exactly 86 seconds of “gay” stuff, it was back to mainstream
sports talk.
One
particular member of the Outsports Discussion Board is a
sports-radio talk show host at Sirius. He is often bemoaning
how hard it is to get ahead as a gay man in sports radio.
That certainly wasn’t my experience. I know two different
openly gay men who’ve passed through the halls of ESPN radio
(and I’m sure there are many more). And if me
being on-air for two days somehow helped a gay person feel a
little comfort by hearing a voice like his on the air, then
I guess I did my job.
But the
thing I loved the most about those two days was that it had
nothing to do with any political statement. It was about
good radio, about being entertaining, about being
informative, and it was one of the most educational
experiences of my life. I have every indication that ESPN
Radio saw it exactly the same way.
Now if I
can just get an interview with Jeremy Bloom next time I’m on
– you know, to talk about the Philadelphia Eagles and his
chances of getting the starting kick-returning job – then my
mission will be complete.
July 31,
2007 |
