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A Gay Games perspective:
The topography of Chicago can best be described
as flat and that's also an appropriate adjective
for Gay Games VII, which concluded Saturday with
the Closing Ceremonies at a sunbaked Wrigley
Field before 20,000 fans and athletes.
These were the fifth
Games I've attended and I would rank them behind
New York (1994) and Sydney (2002), and ahead of
Vancouver (1990) and Amsterdam (1998). This is
an overall ranking, taking into account all
factors, from sports to visibility to
atmosphere. From a personal athletic standpoint,
I never had a better time.
Athletes from outside the U.S. were few and far
between, estimated at 2,500-3,000, the fallout
from a split in the gay sports movement. In
comparison, Team Chicago had 2,500 athletes by
itself out of 12,000, making these more like the
American Games. Missing was the diversity seen
at past Games with thousands of athletes from
all over the world; I especially missed seeing
the Dutch swim team.
None of this was the fault of the Chicago
organizers, who should be applauded for pulling
the event off with two years less than normal to
prepare. Chicago won the bid when Montreal
reneged on its deal with the Federation of Gay
Games and decided to host a rival OutGames,
which start July 29. Chicago had nothing to do
with the split, but stepped up to ensure that
the Games tradition did not die.
Chicago media report that the Games will either
break even or net a small profit, quite a
contrast from Amsterdam and Sydney, which were
financial basket cases that left hundreds of
creditors burned. It is clear that the U.S.
model of heavy corporate sponsorship is the only
way for the Games to be financially feasible,
and let's hope that Cologne representative were
paying attention as the German city gears up to
host Gay Games VIII in 2010.
It was hard to tell the Gay Games were even in
town unless you knew beforehand. Signage was few
and far between and even the facilities weren't
well-marked. Games co-executive director Kevin
Boyer made a good point when he said you can't
have Olympics-size visibility without an
Olympics-size budget, but the event still was
swallowed up in a city as large as Chicago.
As with every Gay Games, the sports competitions
were uneven. Lars Rains, a New York city cop and
track athlete, echoed everyone I spoke with who
said the track and field events were the most
disorganized and poorly run they had ever seen
("disaster" was the most commonly used word).
Gatorade sponsored ice hockey, but the drink was
nowhere to be found at the venue. Softball
players, meanwhile, complained about rock-strewn
fields with no dugouts, while they enviously
eyed empty pristine fields near Navy Pier.
On the other hand, volleyball players I spoke
with raved about their facilities at Navy Pier,
while the pool facilities at the University of
Illinois-Chicago appeared first-rate. At every
venue I attended I saw teams of medical people
and physical therapists, all of whom gave
first-rate care to athletes.
On a personal level, these were the most
satisfying Games I participated in as an
athlete. Cyd and I formed an Outsports
competitive flag football team, and we went 5-1
and won the gold medal. I loved everyone on my
team, and it was awesome to win the gold with
Cyd, Outsports web developer Rory Ray and my
longtime friend and defensive co-captain Matthew
Feitshans. I fell in football love with my
center, Corey Johnson, from New York, who caught
about 45 passes in six games and seemed to have
an inexhaustible energy. The capper was having
former NFL player Esera Tuaolo on the team –
what an ambassador for the sport!
The highlight of the tournament was our
round-robin game with the Chicago Flames.
Imagine the Bears-Packers or Raiders-Chiefs and
you get a sense of the intensity anytime a team
I quarterback plays the Flames. The game got
added fuel when the Flames' quarterback told USA
Today (yes, a national newspaper mentioned gay
flag football), "I hope [Tuaolo's] not ashamed
to be on the team that wins the silver (medal),
because we're gonna win it all."
Not that we needed motivation, but the comment
got us intensely focused … until the first
drive, when the Flames marched down in four
plays for a 7-0 lead. We settled down and the
score was 20-20 heading into the final two
minutes. Then the real fun began.
On fourth and 8, I fired high to Anthony Castro,
a 19-year-old receiver who is that rarest of
jocks – out on his high school football team. He
made a catch that Cyd correctly described as
"sick." He went up, took the ball from the
defender, cradled it in his right arm, used his
left to balance himself on the ground and stop
his knee from touching, then ran forward an
addition 10 yards. The Chicago defense could
only shake its collective head. Two plays later
I hit Zach Brott for a 30-yard score and a 27-20
lead.
Chicago, as is its nature, would not quit and
they got down to our 2-yard line with one play
left. Ray, our rusher, took away the first
option and forced a pass to the center, who
turned to reach the ball across the end zone.
But Cyd was in perfect position and he grabbed
the flag a half-yard short (I was watching down
the sidelines and the call was correct). Players
on both teams erupted, us in joy and the Flames
in disbelief; a couple of Chicago players acted
like Grade A jackasses, dropping f-bombs on the
officials in a disgraceful act of
unsportsmanship. These guys should be ashamed of
themselves and need to realize that it's only a
game.
I had mentioned Tuaolo, who acted like a magnet
for athletes, fans and officials, not only at
football but everywhere there were Games events.
At the closing at Wrigley Field, people were
going up to him to have their pictures taken or
to have him sign shirts and programs. "We love
you!" was something I heard a lot.
It meant a lot to him to be able to participate
openly as a gay athlete, without having to
censor himself. He was a great player and
teammate, though the nearly 300-pounder joked
that, "flag football is a skinny man's game."
After we beat New York for the gold, both of us
turned to each other with tears in our eyes and
embraced. It's a memory I'll long remember. –Jim
Buzinski
 Talk
about a family affair: The Integrated Water
Systems ice hockey team, nicknamed the Left
Wings, featured seven members of one family.
Here's the scoop:
--Kathy Seaman is the goalie, and she married
Jen Putney.
--Kathy has three kids who played on the team:
Rebekah, Bobby and Mary.
--Jen's brother, Ted, played, along with his
wife, Rebecca.
The team hails from Wolfeboro, N.H., a city of
about 8,000, and advanced to the gold medal game
in the men's recreation division, but lost to
the Boston Lobsters. (Click on picture for
larger view). -Ross Forman
Marathon men and women:
The last event in the Gay Games was the
marathon, which started bright and early at 6
a.m. on July 22. I was impressed by the number
of people who showed up to cheer the
runners. Fortunately the weather cooled down and
the rain had stopped. It was a perfect day to
run a marathon.
I had a chance to speak to
ultra-marathoner Donna Perkins, who was the
second woman to cross the finish line. For
Donna, running a marathon is just a warm-up.
She’s used to competing in races that are
usually 50 miles, sometimes up to 100 miles.
Donna’s first 100 mile event was
the Western States Endurance Run. This grueling
24 hour epic through the Sierra Nevada Mountain
range consisted of twenty-two foot downhills
and nineteen foot uphills.
“As a prize you get a sterling
silver belt buckle with a cougar on it.” Donna
remarked. ”It’s absolutely beautiful. I did
have friends ask me, you mean you ran 100 miles
for a belt buckle?”
Donna credits her high pain
threshold as the reason she can compete in
extremely long distances. In fact, she once ran
a race with a broken leg.
“I stepped into a rut and I
actually physically saw my leg bowl in the lower
part. I knew it wasn’t good, but I didn’t feel
anything at the time because of my pain
threshold and endorphins. So I just kept going
on it for 15 miles I ran and walked on a broken
leg until I could come to the next aid
station.”
Donna had a great Gay Games. In
addition to the marathon, she competed in the 10
and 5k road races as well as the off road
biking. -Ronit Bezalel
Chicago Diesel Daisies at the
Marathon:
While I was waiting for the marathoners to cross
the line (definitely not a short wait like the
100 meter dash), I spoke to members of Chicago’s
Diesel Daises flag football team. I vaguely
remembering playing them years ago and having my
butt kicked. I quit flag football shortly
thereafter.
The Diesel Daises were at the
marathon to support some of their team members.
Despite the early morning, they were quite
jovial, having won the bronze in the
recreational flag football division.
With an average age of 40 years,
the Diesel Daises’ motto is “football,
friendship, and forgetting your age.”
“This team has a great community
spirit,” said Linda Howitzer who has been with
the Diesel Daises since the beginning. Linda is
extremely tough on the field. She broke her
finger in the semi-final game, and played
through it.
Watch for an upcoming documentary
about the Diesel Daises, a Chicago hometown
favorite. - Ronit
Bezalel |
