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Mindy Tanner, 36,
is a Web designer and lives in Long Beach, Calif. Born
into a sports-crazy family, she's a big fan of gymnastics, the NBA, and
women's tennis.
Want to be a
featured columnist at Outports.com? E-mail us at mail@outsports.com
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Wimbledon: Still
the Lesbian Super Bowl
By Mindy
Tanner
For Outsports.com With the WNBA actively courting lesbian fans, women's tennis is not the only game in town for the lesbian sports fan. The folks running the WNBA are counting on the lesbian audience to lift them out of the financial doldrums, and onto the major sports stage along with their brother organization, the MLB and the NFL. I say no thanks.
Instead of watching the Women's National Boring Basketball Association, I spend the latter part of June and early July watching along with countless others of my sister lesbians, the most important sports event of the year for
women …Wimbledon.
Yes, folks, Wimbledon is still the Lesbian Super Bowl.
We tune in to find out who won their matches, who lost, and to see some great tennis.
We also watch to be inspired by the fighting spirit of these women. There is the extra benefit of seeing Amazonian women running around in super short tennis skirts (and good-looking Amazons to boot.)
Sure, the Women's Tennis Association has been trying for years to distance itself from the "Lesbian Sport" label, but actually they should be kissing our butts, and rewarding our loyalty with such things as appearances at bars and pride festivals. I don't know about any other sisters in the audience, but I'd love to cruise
Steffi Graf.
Just look at the distinguished list of WTA players who have come out. We all know about the
Real Martina, but also women like Billie Jean King and
Rosie Casals have been out and proud for a long time. Can you say that about the WNBA?
Is She or Isn't She?   And then there is always the most fun part of Wimbledon, what I call ``Is She Or Isn't She?'' Speculation and guessing about who's dating whom, or who's gay and who's not. I had a lot of fun one year trying to figure out if
Hana Mandlikova was really Jana Novotna's coach, or something more. Another year, Steffi was a favorite target of speculation, especially since she's got that real butch thing going on
(Andre Agassi…yeah, right; I wonder who the top is?), and she was really buddy buddy with Warrior Princess
Gabriella Sabatini (left)
Lucy Lawless didn't look to basketball for the right look for Xena
(right). She looked at Gab with her long dark hair, beautiful deep brown eyes, beautiful brown skin…and, goddess, that walk! She had a walk most butch men would envy.
There are a million reasons why some lesbians would rather watch women in skirts and rackets than women slam-dunking a basketball. There is a grace and finesse about tennis that is like watching ballet. There is that in basketball as well, but most of the players in the WNBA want to be like
Shaquille O' Neal. The fast break and the slam-dunk now rule the game for both men and women.
It's not like it was in the '80's, when women's basketball was still a good game--better than the men, actually. Besides, women can't grunt in the WNBA like
Monica Seles does … too unfeminine. Keep up the grunting,
Monica. I just love that grunt.
Look at the people in the WNBA. Are you sure they are so gay-friendly? Many of their players are like
Lisa "I'm So Tall, They Gave Me a Modeling Contract" Leslie and
Rebecca "Who Needs Talent? I'm Tall Enough Just to Stand in Front of the Basket"
Lobo, who won't even acknowledge that the league even has lesbian fans, much less lesbian players.
They also look so awkward in their feminine dresses and high heels given them to wear to excuse them from being athletic women-and to appear "non-threatening" to the media. Who says sexism is dead in women's sports? It's not in the WNBA.
To hell with them. Give me real women. Women like Billie Jean, Martina, Rosie and
Renee Richards. Even though they got a lot of crap for being who they are, they persevered and received the respect of their peers.
Chris Evert never gave a damn whom Navratilova slept with.
Not only that, give me people like John McEnroe, who acknowledges the presence of lesbians in women's tennis, and says he doesn't care. Plus, I'll take
Bud Collins over Cheryl Miller any day, flowery pants and all. Mindy
Tanner, 36, is a Web designer and lives in Long Beach, Calif. Born into a sports-crazy family, she's
a big fan of gymnastics, the NBA, and women's tennis. She can be
reached via e-mail.
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