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Opening Ceremonies
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The Games
Open: Finally, they're here. After two years
in the making, millions of dollars raised and
countless hours spent organizing the massive
event, Gay Games VII kicked off Saturday night
before an enthusiastic crowd at Chicago's
Soldier Field estimated at 30,000 fans and
12,000 athletes.
As openers go
(this was my fifth), it was rather flat. A lot,
for me, was the lack of non-American
participation. Compared to past Games, it was
very sparse (Games organizers could not
give me a percentage). This is all due to the
split between the Gay Games and the rival
OutGames, which will be held in Montreal in two
weeks.
The joy of past
Games has been seeing thousands of athletes from
all over the globe decked out in colorful
costumes. Some of that was certainly there
Saturday night and everyone was jazzed to be in
Chicago. But the non-U.S. staging area was tiny
compared to past Games and that was the biggest
shame of the split.
There can be no
faulting the organization Saturday -- there were
tons of volunteers, plenty of fluids (it was hot
and muggy) and the procession into the stadium
went very smoothly; everyone involved should
take a bow.
As for the
entertainment, I marched as an athlete, so we
saw none of the opening acts. And once on the
field, the sound system was so bad it was as if
the sound was piped through a wind tunnel. When
we finally got to our seats, the sound was much
more clear, but by then I had been on my feet
for four hours and was ready to leave. --Jim
Buzinski
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My shout
outs. It was cool to see some people I
hadn't seen in quite some time; some not since
Sydney in 2002. NYPD officer
Lars Rains, always as friendly as can
be, chatted with us for about 15 minutes.
Outsporters Jim from Chicago and
Philly Runner are here, the latter trying to
decide which events to do. I hadn't seen Greg
Elwood from the Long Beach Rebels for a
couple years.
Curtis Moore, who took home 13 medals in
track in his age group in Sydney, is back for
more - and he's got less hair this time!
Boston's Marc Davino and Phil Clawson
are always a treat to chat with. Mac
Chinsomboon will hopefully give us a crew
update from West Manitoba (that's a joke - crew
is being held waaaay outside the city). Mike
Horton's here playing basketball with
Memphis. - Cyd Zeigler jr.
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Typical
French. I know Jim had a different
experience, but the French I tried to
photographer couldn't have been more rude. When
I asked to take the photo of a group of three,
the woman I handed my card to literally scoffed
at it and tossed it back to me, as though she
couldn't be bothered. Maybe she isn't out or
something - I don't know. But, I was certainly
left thinking, "typical French." - CZ
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My French
connection: I laughed when Cyd told me about
his reception from the French athletes. They
were nothing but charming towards me when I took
their pictures. Maybe it was me complimenting
them on their cool straw hats. - JB
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Beaded
ladies. Big props to the contingent from
Louisiana who had the most interactive costumes,
tossing out beads to the other athletes. - CZ
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Hizzoner:
Mayor Richard Daley gave an intro at the opening
that got him a standing ovation, talking up how
gay-friendly his administration has been and
condemning the anti-gay divisiveness of much of
American politics. But he did show somewhat of a
tin ear when he referred to Gay Games founder,
the late Tom Waddell as "Waddle," as in what a
duck does. -JB
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Things
running smoothly. One of the things I have
to hand it to Chicago for - they are organized.
Everything I've seen so far has flown nicely,
there are a million lime-green shirts (those are
the volunteers) around, and the timelines
actually seem to be being met.
When Gay Games
Vice-Chair Kevin Boyer told us today that they
wanted to make the entire procession of athletes
occur in 45 minutes, I chuckled. Now, maybe it
took 50-60 minutes, I don't know. But, they were
pretty much dead-on. So, props to them! - CZ
Other Notes
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Registering on gay time. When we arrived at
registration on Saturday around 11:30am, I was
expecting a long line. Instead, I was registered
and credentialed in about five minutes. When I
went back to registration around 3:30pm, the
line was, by my best guess, an hour long. -
CZ
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Billy and
Efrain. Ran into Billy Bean at registration.
He was all registered, having done so a year ago
and having sent in his photo. But he was sitting
by himself in registration waiting for his
partner, Efrain, who was one of those in
registration hell having not sent his photo in.
While Billy is playing tennis, Efrain can be
found in the bowling lanes this week. - CZ
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Magic
hands. No shocker that one of the most
popular aspects of the registration and vendors
area was the free massages. Of course, we'll all
be really needing them starting tomorrow when
we've been actually competing. - CZ
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I feel
their pain. We walked back from the opening
ceremonies with Joe, a triathlete from Boulder,
Col. He said that registration for the triathlon
starts at 3 a.m., which is when some
participants will be leaving the bars and
parties. The race starts at 6 a.m. because, as
he said, "people don't like the bikes clogging
the roads." That and it's about 10 to 15 degrees
cooler than at noon. -
CZ
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You should
get to know Dave Kopay. Not enough people
know Dave Kopay. I hadn't seen Dave in about
three years. Man, he looks really good. He's
been swimming and using his elliptical machine,
and it shows. He was simply glowing in his mint
polo shirt this afternoon when I saw him. And
what a fun guy. He always shoots from the hip
and generally has something nice to say about
Outsports or Jim or me. I don't get enough of
Dave Kopay, and it's great to see him get
treated well by the Gay Games and highlighted to
the participants. - CZ
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Weather Woes.
The National Weather Service issued a heat alert
for Chicago through early next week, with
temperatures close
to 100 and high humidity. The heat is the talk
of the Games so far, and officials instituted
their heat emergency plan for
the Opening Ceremonies at Soldier Field. It
included:
- 20,000 bottles of water (up from 12,000).
- An additional 6,000 bottles of Gatorade.
- 13 hydration stations with tents.
- Soldier Field opening its air conditioned club
level area, which can hold 6,000.
- Fire Department misting stations, 18 medical
teams and two ambulances.
The city takes heat very seriously, following a
heat wave about 10 years ago that killed dozens,
mostly elderly. -Jim
Buzinski
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No
worries. Three women athletes at
registration were asked if they were concerned
about the heat. Nope -- they're pool
players. "We get to be inside all week and drink
beer. We'll be in heaven," one said. -JB
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To protect
and serve. This is the first
Games held in U.S. in 1994 and what's most
noticeable is the explosion of corporate
sponsors. It's no longer taboo to be associated
with gay events and this was evident at the
dozens of sponsors tables set up
outside registration. ESPN, American Airlines
and the Chicago White Sox were there, along with
gay-themed businesses such as
Oliva travel and Gay.com.
There were also booths for the Oakland (Calif.),
Chicago and Los Angeles police departments,
along with the Los Angeles Fire
Dept. and the Los Angeles County Sheriffs. The
sheriffs had 11 possible recruits sign up, but
the LAPD considered that lame
to what they have done (the two departments are
fierce competitors at these kinds of events). LAPD will give is written test
this week to 300 people who signed up. -JB |
Gallery: Opening Ceremonies
(116 photos)
Gallery: Registration
Saturday
(18 photos)
The Diary of a Gay Games Virgin
Gallery: A look back at Sydney 2002
(200+ photos)
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