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 Ice
capades: Brian Cordeiro had an incredible
performance Tuesday in Gay Games ice hockey
action, held in suburban Lincolnwood. He scored
five goals and dished out two assists as the
Boston Lobsters bombed the Leftwings 10-1.
Cordeiro, 36, (left) will lead his team against
San Francisco 2 on Wednesday in the final day of
seeding play. However, it's the Los Angeles
Blades who are the clear-cut favorite to win the
gold medal in the men's competitive division -
not Cordeiro's Lobsters. Boston fans actually
threw lobster stuffed animals on the ice to
honor team members who tally the three-goal hat
trick. Cordeiro scored his hat trick in the
first period.
The four ice hockey finals are Friday, starting
at 2:50 p.m.Chase Willier, meanwhile, scored the
lone goal in a 1-0 win for Vancouver Northern
Lights over Southern in women's ice hockey play.
Her goal was assisted by Jen Cham. Cham also
played Tuesday for Trans America Chaos.
"This is my first Gay Games, and definitely
won't be my last. I'm having a great time, and
definitely want to go to Germany (in 2010),"
said Cham, 34, a nurse from Vancouver, B.C. "The
Games are bigger than what I expected. The
Opening Ceremony was amazing. Everything has
been awesome."
Itay Hod of Logo TV made an on-ice appearance
Tuesday at the ice rink - but only to do tape
some segments, not actually play.
Openly gay pro wrestler Chris Kanyon will drop
the ceremonial first puck for the two men's
championship games on Friday. No word on whether
anyone will do the same for the women. -Ross
Forman
Overcoming the obstacles: Jenn Childress
couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her air
conditioner. The Gay Games Off-Road mountain
bike race was the following day, and she
couldn’t sleep. It was 1a.m. and Jenn swore it
was more than 100 degrees in her room. Her cats
looked like they were going to expire.
Jenn realized
that the heat was on full blast. It’s the kind
of heat the landlord controls, so she had no way
to turn it off. Meanwhile, sweat was dripping
down her forehead and she felt herself
wilt. This was no way to prepare for the race
tomorrow, she thought.
The
superintendent came by and turned off the heat
at 2. “Great,” thought Jenn, “this is just
perfect, I’ll be racing with virtually no sleep
after having sat in a sauna for half the
night.”
A very tired Jenn
lined up the next day at the starting line for
the “Sport” Category of the Gay Games Off Road
race. Her practice loop had gone well, but you
never know how you’ll do in the race. Waiting
for the race, Jenn felt the familiar
butterflies. At 27, she was the youngest female
rider in the “Sport” category.
The starting bell
rang and the eight women took off and sprinted
into the woods. Jenn quickly pulled to the
front. She battled with another woman for the
lead as they broke away from the pack and soared
through the course with amazing speed. Just when
things were looking promising, a branch got
caught in Jenn’s her wheel. The bike jerked,
causing the chain to come off. While everyone
whizzed by, Jenn frantically pulled her bike off
the course and fixed her chain.
Jenn was back
racing five minutes later, but that was long
enough to lose significant time. She pedaled as
hard as possible and was able to catch up to a
couple of racers. But the fastest ones were
still ahead. Jenn felt like she was going to
puke, the heat was unbearable. But she was going
to do everything possible to catch up.
Coming out of the
second lap, a woman on the sidelines called out
“Go, Jenn! Dig deep, you can catch up! You’re
right behind her!”
This was the
motivation she needed. Pulling out all her
strength, Jenn pounded the trail. She soared
downhill, cut the switchback curves close and
pumped uphill. She was going to catch the woman
ahead of her.
Halfway through
the third lap, Jenn caught up to the racer and
tailed her as they cruised downhill. “Mountain
bike races are won on the uphills” Jenn told
herself, as she strategically made her move as
the track widened and gave way to an uphill
section.
Jenn was feeling
sick, the heat was unbearable. She pumped her
legs as fast as possible. Her face was covered
with salt. She couldn’t quit, she was almost
there.
Jenn tore across
the finish line and almost collapsed. She
figured that there was still one rider ahead of
her, and that she’d won the silver. Not bad at
all, she thought. Not bad.
“Congratulations, you’ve won the gold!” the
announcer said.
Jenn was stunned.
Despite having no sleep, despite the chain
falling off, she caught up and was the overall
gold medal winner for the Women’s Sport
category. Not bad for her first Gay Games
Off-Road race. -Ronit
Bezalel
Gay Games all over
America. The numbers are starting to roll in
for the Gay Games media exposure, and they're
pretty darned impressive. Chicago 2006's
tracking firm has confirmed that from July 14 to
the morning of July 18 the event was featured in
361 TV segments and seen by 62.8 million people.
Now that's the power of the Gay Games; probably
the better half of 62.8 million people scratched
their heads over the weekend and said, "I didn't
know them queers played sports." And this isn't
including radio, print or Internet exposure.
Kudos to the media relations team at Chicago
2006 – their efforts to get the Gay Games in
front of the public can have a lot more impact
on our fight for rights than political groups
jumping down Lance Armstrong's throat for making
a joke about Jake Gyllenhaal getting it in the
rear. – Cyd Zeigler jr.
The medics. I was injured when a player
from the Chicago Flames rammed into me on the
last play of the first half of our game against
them. His cleat or knee hit my calf and I went
down. The on-site medical staff at football and
at swimming, where we headed after football, was
so friendly and eager to help. "We love that
people are using our services," a cute blonde
medic said to me as he was wrapping my calf. The
medical staff is available at every venue
taping, wrapping, and consoling everyone who
needs their attention. With the heat, they've
been busy and they all deserve all of our
thanks!
Gay Games spokesperson Kevin Boyer says that
despite the heat, only five people have needed
medical transport because of the heat. Only
three fractures have been reported at the Games
thus far, which is a fraction of what I would
have guessed. - CZ
Outsports football
update.
In day two of football action, our Outsports
Team beat
the Chicago Flames in the morning thriller, 27-20, and won
the quarterfinal game against the Sixth Street
Knights, 39-23. We next play the San Diego Toros
in the semifinals at 12:30 p.m. The Chicago
Flames will take on the New York Bad Apples in
the other semifinal. - CZ |
Into the pool
(29 photos)
Gallery: Various Sports
(40 photos)
Gallery: Wrestling
(21 photos)
Gallery: Official Gay Games photos
(20 photos)
The Diary of a Gay Games Virgin
Gallery: Competition Starts
(24 photos)
Gallery: Opening Ceremonies
(116 photos)
Gallery: Registration
Saturday
(18 photos)
Gallery: A look back at Sydney 2002
(200+ photos)
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