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2002 Outsports
Top 10
The Best Gay Sports Teams in the
U.S. After a year of the Gay
World Series, Gay Super Bowl, Gay Games and gay teams winning
straight leagues, we have come up with our list of the
Top 10 Gay Sports Teams in the U.S., thanks to a team of voters in
various sports and publications across the country. Outsports
and our voters have seen
many of these teams play. The
selection of teams, and their ranking, depended on their performance
in 2002; some consideration was given to performance in recent years. Here
is our list. Feel free to weigh in on our discussion
board with yours.
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Los
Angeles Heat
Basketball - Los Angeles |
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The clear-cut premiere gay basketball team in the
nation, the Heat swept through 2002 winning every tournament
they entered, including winning gold in Sydney.
In fact, they have won the last six tournaments they
entered, losing only one game in the course of the six
tournaments. What's more impressive is that the
competition they have faced has been very tough. The gay
basketball scene has been primarily dominated by similar teams
over the last decade, with cross-town rivals the Long Beach
Rebels a consistent threat. Still, the Heat have managed
to stay on top from start to finish this year, and for that they
have earned the distinction of our #1 gay sports team in the
U.S. |
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Los
Angeles Stray Cats
Softball - Los Angeles |
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The winners of nine consecutive Gay Softball
World Series titles, the Stray Cats continued their dominance in
2002, winning gold at the Gay Games in Sydney against worldwide
competition, and winning the Gay Softball World Series in
Portland, Oregon. |
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West
Hollywood Aquatics
Aquatics - West Hollywood |
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The class of American water polo, the West
Hollywood Water Polo team again won gold in the Gay Games in
Sydney, beating Montreal in the title game, 13-2 after not
losing a match the entire tournament, outscoring their
opponents, 132-12. The swimming & diving teams from West Hollywood won 79 Gold, 38 Silver and 31 Bronze Medals at the
Gay Games as well. |
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San
Francisco Fog
Rugby - San Francisco |
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The San Francisco Fog appeared in numerous media
outlets this past year as they honored their fallen teammate,
Mark Bingham. In June, they hosted and won the eight-team
Mark Bingham Cup, which was the largest American gay rugby
tournament of the year in 2002.
They won the championship game, 27-5, over London.
The Fog’s B-Team won the consolation bracket. |
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Old
School
Basketball - Los Angeles |
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More than any other basketball team at the Gay
Games in Sydney, the gold-medal women’s team dominated their
competition from start to finish. They won all of their
matches at the Gay Games by double digits, winning all of their
pool play games by at least 19 points. |
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Boston
Lobsters
Hockey - Boston |
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While the Competitive Division at the Gay Games
was being dominated by Canadians, it was the Bostonians that
were easily handling the competition from the U.S. in the Rec-A
division, beating their opponents by a five-game combined score
of 19-2 and winning gold. |
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Golden
Gate Wrestling Club
Wrestling - San Francisco |
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The GGWC has been around as long as the gay
sports movement took shape in San Francisco with Tom Waddell's
vision for the Gay Games. In Sydney, the GGWC won more
golds than any other wrestling team at the Gay Games (6) and won
more total medals than any other wrestling team (11).
In fact, only one other team won more than four medals. |
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New
York Rising
Soccer - New York City |
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The women’s soccer team from New York took second place at
the Gay Games, the highest finish by any American team.
They were dominant in their pool play, beating teams from around
the world before ultimately losing to a British team in the
finals. |
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Portland
Mixed Fruit
Softball - Portland, Oregon |
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They were the hometown
favorites in the Gay Softball World Series, and for good
reason. It was the Portland Mixed Fruit's first time in
the women's competitive division; in the past, they had competed
in the alternative division. They made it out of pool play
and into the double-elimination bracket, where they eventually
suffered their first loss, leaving them one loss away from being
out. They stormed back in the losers bracket and ended up
defeating the Atlanta Blaze 12-9 and 9-3 in the championship
games. |
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Colorado
Climax
Hockey - Denver |
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Few teams took greater leaps this year than the
Coors Light Colorado Climax. For starters, they developed
and launched a second gay hockey team - the Colorado Climax Too
- and launched a third team - Colorado Climax XXX - this year as
well. They won their local mainstream (read: straight)
league. They took second place in the Rec.-A Division of
the Gay Games. And they had one of their players (Stefan Bolton)
named Colorado's high school tennis coach of the year. |
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Honorable
Mentions |
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Boston Bad
Dogs – Hockey
Chicago
Volleyball – Volleyball
Long Beach
Rebels – Basketball
Los Angeles
Motion – Football
Los Angeles
Rebellion – Rugby
Metro
Wrestling – Wrestling
New York
Rising – Soccer
San
Francisco Spikes – Soccer
Team San
Francisco Bowling – Bowling |
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