This is going to happen, maybe already is to some extent. Young folks who I teach are not even startled by a celebrity coming out.

He was All Big Ten in 1995, and Academic All American of the Year, also in '95. You were just not paying attention because he was a very good college hoops player.

Hmmmm.I wonder if he and I are compatible.

My generation is too apathetic to get riled up by something so blase as homosexuality.

As a member of the dreaded "MSM", I'm wondering why you would find Amaechi "going to a gay bar" as being a "newsworthy" event. When was the last time you saw a story about Lebron James "going to a straight bar"??...

Sure we may report stories about players' personal lives, families, wives, etc. that imply that they are straight, but I find your last statement a little ironic in that you want us to treat gay personalities the same as straight ones, when we don't specifically "report" that someone is straight, unless it is because of behavior that has gotten them into some kind of trouble with the law. They are athletes; it's news if they get a triple/double, not who they sleep with.

When was the last time you saw a story about Lebron James "going to a straight bar"??..


But the MSM oftens reports on parties and clubs attended by athletes.

Of course they do; having just got back from Miami after a week of "that", I can attest to lots of stories of that nature, but the athletes' sexual orientation was NOT the focus of those stories....those "club/party" stories are "celebrity" in nature, not necessarily "sexual".....

I wonder how frank and revealing this autobiography is going to be. My suspicions are kindled by the synopsis of the book that states he was celibate from his return to the NBA in 1999 until his arrival in Utah. That’s not how I heard things went down in Orlando. In any event, I find it very hard to believe that he total abstained from men for two years, especially in view of his apparently “active” past. It’s one thing to be deeply closeted and reclusive, it’s another to forswear dick altogether…

My suspicions are further kindled by the fact that many in the NBA are worried about “The Man in the Middle”, the publication of which has a number of teams, and the NBA in general, anxiously waiting to see whether the British player ‘names names’". If nothing was going on, what is there to worry about?

Why would you need to specifically report that someone is straight? It's assumed.

Maybe it's not significantly newsworthy, but there are columns in virtually every newspaper that report the comings and goings of celebrities, including athletes. They generally follow the format of "So-and-so was out on the town, having dinner at such-and-such restaurant with teammates/friends/family; later the entire party went for drinks and dancing at such-and-such club." These columns freely report on athletes seen in straight establishments but not on athletes seen in gay establishments. Thus, the perception that all athletes are straight is maintained.

Of course, if the media did report on athletes seen in gay clubs, then they'd be accused of outing. It's a Catch-22.

Actually, I think he was only celibate during the time he was trying to make the Jazz, then when he got the contract he went back on the market. That jives with the rumors I've read that he had a very out and very vocal boyfriend in Salt Lake City.

LZ Granderson on ESPN.com: Man up! (I love that expression for some reason )

Okay, it's easy to suggest that folks "man up"--I don't like the phrase, personally--but that person is going to have to have the courage, determination and self-control of JACKIE ROBINSON. He took racist abuse not only from fans, but from teammates and opponents, and the toll it exacted was tremendous. The first out gay NBA or NFL or MLB player is going to have to deal with a lot of abuse, unfortunately. I think a person with the character and fortitude to cope exists out there, and after Amaechi's coming out--because that takes courage too, he isn't the only ex-NBA player who's gay, to be sure--someone will be brave and dauntless enough to do so while still playing.

Again, John Amaechi, you're a winner (and a hottie too!)!

Here are some of the comments by some of those in the NBA in responding to Amaechi coming out.

NBA commissioner David Stern said a player's sexuality is not important.

"We have a very diverse league. The question at the NBA is always, 'Have you got game?' That's it, end of inquiry," Stern told The Associated Press.

Orlando's Grant Hill, who said he didn't know Amaechi when he was with the Magic, applauded the decision to go public.

"The fact that John has done this, maybe it will give others the comfort or confidence to come out as well, whether they are playing or retiring," Hill said.

LeBron James, however, said he didn't think an openly gay person could survive in the league.

"With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not trustworthy," James said. "So that's like the No. 1 thing as teammates -- we all trust each other. You've heard of the in-room, locker room code. What happens in the locker room stays in there. It's a trust factor, honestly. A big trust factor."

Injured Philadelphia Sixers forward Shavlik Randolph acknowledged it's a new situation.

"As long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine," Randolph said. "As far as business-wise, I'm sure I could play with him. But I think it would create a little awkwardness in the locker room."

News that Amaechi had come out surprised some players.

"For real? He's gay for real?" said Philadelphia center Steven Hunter. "Nowadays it's proven that people can live double lives. I watch a lot of TV, so I see a lot of sick perverted stuff about married men running around with gay guys and all types of foolishness."

Even so, Hunter said he would be fine with an openly gay teammate.

"As long as he don't make any advances toward me I'm fine with it," he said. "As long as he came to play basketball like a man and conducted himself like a good person, I'd be fine with it."

Orlando's Pat Garrity acknowledged reaction was bound to vary throughout the league.

"They would have teammates that would accept them for being a good person and a good teammate, and there would be people who would give him a hard time about it," he said. "I think that's true if you're playing basketball or in an office job. That's just how the world is right now."

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Some of the responses just go to show how far we have to go and how ignorant people are. Where shall I begin. Well...lets start with praise for David Stern and Grant Hill for their comments of support.

Now the criticisms. Lebron James' part says he doesn't think an OPENLY gay person could survive in the league. However, his comments talk about a player who is gay but who isn't acknowledging it. He talks about someone not being trustworthy if they are gay and not admitting it. WELL UMMMM DUH...Lebron...trust me...you've got that goin on in your locker room right now. His statements don't make sense. If his statements are supposed to be about someone not being able to survive being OPENLY gay I don't get the part about the trustworthiness of someone who is closeted and not revealing it. So...that doesn't make sense.

Moving on to the next NBA comment from Philadelphia Sixers forward Shavlik Randolph. I HATE the whole "don't bring your gayness on me". Newsflash...its not contagious!!!!! Newsflash...we aren't oversexed maniacs who are looking to "bring our gayness" on every str8 guy.

Next we have Philadelphia center Steven Hunter who talks about the sick and perverted things he sees on tv with married men running around with gay guys. So is it sick and perverted when married heterosexual men have affairs with women? Why is it sick and perverted when married men have affairs with other men? Its shameful to do that if you're married yes...but sick and perverted? Then lets move on to his later comments that once again show fear of a gay player making advances toward him. But its his other comments that say "as long as he came to play basketball like a man". Well...how else would he play it? Like a woman? Are you expecting him to be swishing up and down the court with coochie cutters on and his shirt tied in a knot revealing his stomach?

MY GOD WILL SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE THESE PEOPLE FROM THEMSELVES!!!!!!

My first reaction to what Lebron said was that we definitely need athletes, like actors to keep their mouths shut about social issues...I know...that's kind of mean...anyway, I'm hoping that he was misquoted, otherwise as Maryland Super Hotness pointed out he sounds really silly.

But I feel like life is so much more complicated than speculation. I was on the bus late last night and an extremely flamboyant young man got on the bus and proceeded to hit on the driver for 1.5 miles. While the man was on the bus, the driver was polite, but when he had gotten off the bus the driver commented about, "his fruitty ass." The irony of the situation was that the driver let the young man ride without paying a fair out of the kindness of his heart when it was clear when the young man got on the bus that he was definitely gay. So to me it's hard to say how any player might react, the strong homophobe might end up being the biggest ally just based on the fact that people can differ in thought and life but respect each other. I feel this way about someone like Karl Malone. I don't collect guns, he's not gay, but I think we'd be cool. Maybe we'll be able to have a gay version of "Brian's Song" without the tragic death attached someday.

I think some folks forget,maybe on purpose,that this country, overall is still not very gay-friendly.Most cities are not like San Francisco.I live in Detroit which I do not consider a gay-friendly city.Anyway under certain circumstances I can certainly understand why someone would choose not to come out especially in a potentially hostile enviroment.Yes,a lot of players said they are okay with a gay team mate but these comments were made after the fact.John is not an NBA player any more and I personally believe that those guys that said they are okay with this,really aren't.

Excerpt from Salt Lake Tribune:



Edit: props to Outsports. Even the NY Times article on Amaechi acknowledges that the story was broken by Outsports: 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.

Of all the responses so far I best like former Penn State teammate Pete Lisicky's comment that Amaechi was "..caring.." and "..not just because I'm a guy."

Nice turn on the old adage that guys are only after women for their bodies. It's the sort of compliment that a woman might offer about guys they would marry rather than those that they would just date for sex.

But I think Pete is better without the blonde highlights. I'm just saying...

congrats, amaechi for being the first nba player and (more importantly ) former HOUSTON ROCKET to come out of the closet.

it's funny how a few players have spoken out about sloan after leaving the jazz. amaechi talked about respecting jeff van gundy and not sloan after joining the rockets. scott padgett spoke out against sloan after joining the rockets. if i recall correctly, didn't ostertag do the same thing (but with some other team)? of course a lot of players speak out against their coaches after being traded, waived, etc... but this isn't the same as sloan. i mean there's no denying the guy is effective with the guys ON the court, but behind the scenes... well... i guess he's the devil incarnate or something. i dunno.

anyhow... this is completely unrelated but,

houston
14-6 with yao out.
just wait until the big fella gets back.
houston rockets 2006-2007 nba world champions

congrats again, meech. should have brought your arse back in the league when yao went down to help with the center position. it's not like you don't know van gundy's system.

Good catch on that. As the author of the article, I was pretty upset when I saw that addition to the story. At the AP, editors can and will utilize writers in the field and add to a story, which is mostly a good thing, but sometimes not. Because you're right, as written it's confusing and doesn't make sense. In fact, I've gotten several letters already about it.

Here's the deal: I wrote and asked the editor about the contradiction, and she said that LeBron said both things. Meaning, he answered the question could an openly gay person survive in the league by saying no, and then backed it up with that hypocritical, nonsensical quote.

So the editor felt it made sense to show the hypocrisy by juxtaposing the two. A little subtle? Perhaps. I might have as a writer said something like: "When James was asked if an openly gay person could survive in the league, he said: 'No. ... rest of quote.'"

But that's just me.

Glad folks are talking about the story, and bravo to Cyd and Jim, who engineered this and, I believe, introduced John to Howard Bragman, his publicist.

Bill

The quote from Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinal:

"Without a doubt, he's one of the most refreshing athletes I've ever been around. He actually read books."

Sounds really positive and enlightened, UNTIL you read the rest of his article:

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_ma...ech_is_gay.html

It's really disgusting and shows an unbelievable level of ignorance.

i just watched him on espn dot com and the accent is sexy as all get out.
it's a trip when you can look at a pro athlete and be turned on by his thoughts.

I found an article in the Baltimore Sun, written by David Steele, that was thoughtful, thought provoking and extremely well written.

It talks about the need for a gay Jackie Robinson in professional sports today.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp....home-columnists

In my opinion, Mr. Steele's comparisons are striking and seem valid and reasonable without coming across as preachy or pushy.

Okay, so now that John Amaechi's broken the ice, what's AC Green waiting for?

John now has a Clubhouse profile.

So does that mean he's single?

Welcome young Meech!

Tennis! Meech plays tennis!! Awesome. Funnily enough, Billy Bean competed in the Gay Games in tennis. I guess something about being a closeted professional athlete goes along with being a masochist.

Meech, if you read this, I hope you'll consider coming to the States this summer for Chicago's Second City Tennis Classic! It's the first weekend in August (I think...). The following weekend is Market Days, which is a really fun time.

Anyway, welcome to Outsports, congrats on coming out, and enjoy life! I'm extremely interested in reading the book.... Cheers!

Sorry to be a bit silly about Meech's profile, but shouldn't basketball be one of the sports participated in?

I realize dude isn't making money off hoops, but can one assume that he longer even so much as touches a basketball anymore?

Welcome!

Well, around the net I've seen that he didn't touch a basketball until he was 17. Maybe he ended up not liking the game enough to keep with it after retirement.

Congrats on coming out Meech, good luck with the book sales!

How cool!! Welcome John.Hope your book is a huge success! Wow,6'9" and 285 lbs.! My head is spinning!

Watching TNT and they just talked about Meech's book. Charles Barkley was a grade-A d!ckhead (surprise), he said he didn't care, but he also said "God would judge."

Barkley insisted he and other players didn't care, he said he was angry that the media portrayed the players as homophobic, and then argued that American society is homophobic.

What put me over the top: Barkley and a co-anchor slammed Meech for "trying to sell a book."
I used to like Charles Barkley.

I suppose I'm irritated because they've had several days notice and all they could come up with was, "Well, I really don't care. Just don't call me homophobic, even though I'm going to say in my next breath that God will judge..."

I'm sure most lockerrooms are homophobic. I'm also sure that no one wants to be called a bigot.
But to accuse Meech of pimping himself to sell a book? Grrrrrr...

I haven't seen the conversation but I know when Barkley was saying he was in favor of gay marriage he said something similar. He said we should be allowed to get married and let God (not the legislators) judge. I don't know if this is what he meant but to me he was saying, "Don't use the God excuse to mask your bigotry; let Him decide in the end"

Well,When Meech and I get married,we'll deal with it! Eddie Amaechi! Sounds great!

I think there are plenty of players and former players that have had positive and supportive things to say. I know Grant Hill had a good quote (can't find it right now, but figures: Grant Hill=class act). I like Sam Mitchell's quote:

Good column by AP's lead sports columnist. I am quoted BTW. Liked this quote from an NFL spokesman:




Also, this is what Barkley told Mike Wilbon of the Washington Post:

Great reporting, Cyd and Jim. But I have to beef with one element of the story. I might be overly sensitive. But when you say "Salt Lake City, controlled by the Latter Day Saints," I cringe a little. This city is no more controlled by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) than Boston is "controlled by" the Catholics. There are a lot of Mormons here, and there are a lot of Mormons in power, but the story makes it sound like Salt Lake is some kind of theocracy.

In fact, John's book talks about what a great city Salt Lake is for gays and lesbians. Salt Lake is in the top 10 (I forget the exact ranking, but I'm thinking 5 or 6) American cities based on per-capita same-sex couples. And the Mormons here are, by and large, not quite as backward and hateful as you think. All of my best friends at work are active Mormons who are very supportive of me, encouraging me to call a guy for a date when I'm shy and things like that.

Barkley was on PTI earlier today and he didn't say anything like what he reportedly said on TNT. He said he'd played with a couple of gay players and that he didn't care one bit.

But when you say "Salt Lake City, controlled by the Latter Day Saints ...

Fair point, Doug, and we will review. Thanks for posting!

I was struck by this characterization in the Times of London article: "His outspoken nature ensured that he made as many enemies as friends in British basketball, regardless of his sexual orientation. He had, and has, little time for diplomacy. You were either with or against him."

It would be GREAT if Amaechi (or someone!) came out ready to kick ass, call these ignorant, judgmental men on their bullshit, make some noise, become notorious, even; meanwhile challenge other gay athletes to "man up" -- and support them when they do.

Congrats and best wishes to Mr Amaechi -- may "Man in the Middle" become a best-seller!

Wow, sounds like Barkley knows how to play to his audiences, because he definitely was "bothered" tonight -- and "bother" is a term he used. If he's going to be cool on PTI, that's awesome.

On TNT tonight, though, he and Kenny Smith were over the top about it *not* being a big deal they both came across as fake, if not completely insincere. They both insuinated Meech is making "a big deal" to make $$$ from his book.

I was watching 1st and 10 on ESPN.COM and the moderator if an active player will ever come out and admit he's gay. The reponse was "...we know they're there but that's another question".

Know for fact or based on percentages. I really don't care either way

I'm impressed by Amaechi and very unimpressed by LZ Granderson. It's easy, from the safety of your padded naugahyde armchair to tell someone else to "man up." Maybe LZ should try to imagine himself as an active, out NBA player, facing ostracism and hatred from his teammates, fans and opposing players. In addition to the many quotes from current players cited in this thread, Eddie Jones commented that the player's own teammates "would stay away from him, far far away." It would take almost unbelievable mental and emotional strength to continue to play under those conditions.

More comments we have compiled:

I am sick and tired of this theory in the media that he's just trying to sell a book. John Amaechi lived a life as a professional athlete in a major sport that he feels should be told in a book. And it should. So obviously with the book coming out he needs to come out himself first. To me, it's the old "cart before the horse" analogy.

Also, how come "Mike and Mike" on ESPN Radio didn't make one mention of this story yesterday during their 4 hour broadcast? It took some unknown bozo filling in for Max Kellerman to start his show off at 10am announcing this would be the big topic of the day. And I also did not hear Mike Francesa open up his WFAN show with this either. It seems the big sluggers of talk radio were too chicken (or maybe too macho) to discuss John Amaechi.

I didn't catch Mike and Mike, but Dan Patrick talked extensively about this on his show. He spent a good part of his weekly discussion with Mike Wilbon talking about Amaechi. Wilbon made it very clear that there are other gay NBA players...Patrick also talked with Keith Olberman about it, and, man, all these guys (Olberman, Patrick and Wilbon) were just totally cool...

Yep -- Here's Wilbon's terrific column from this a.m.'s Waashington Post

I agree with this to a point. Salt Lake City itself (not the entire county/valley and certainly not the state) is often an island of tolerant sanity in the state of Utah. SLC mayor Rocky Anderson is one of the most progressive mayors in the US. But almost everything done in the city and state is colored by how the Mormon church views whatever is done, and it isn't completely unfair to say everything that gets done in the state gets done with the either the explicit or implicit approve of the Mormon church. If the church wants to kill any legislation all they usually have to do is make a phone call to the right political leader. I think it's the closest thing we have in the US to a theocracy. There aren't many places in the US where the governor, a vast majority of the legislature, a majority of the state supreme court, the entire congressional delegation, and a vast majority of mayors and local governments all belong to the same religion.

Changed to: "... Salt Lake City, with its strong Mormon influence, ..."

I think if LZ needs a reason to get excited about a retired player coming out, it's things like this;

Isiah Thomas, New York Knicks coach
Newark Star-Ledger and Newsday
"If [there was an openly gay player] in my locker room, we won't have a problem with it. I can't speak for somebody else's locker room, but if it's in mine, we won't have a problem. I'll make damn sure there's no problem. I think [an openly gay player] will and I think he should [be accepted.] We're a diverse society and we preach acceptance. We're proud of diversity and no matter what your sexual preference may be, there is an acceptance and a tolerance level that should be accepted everywhere. No one should be excluded."

I'm excited and I don't even like basketball!

Patrick's seemed to show an anti-gay streak in previous comments and such.



A book? Like this one? Or this one? Or this one? Or even this one?