Month: April 2008

Bill Buckner and the ’86 Red Sox. Jean Van de Velde and the ’99 British Open. Memphis Tigers and the ’08 National Championship. Up 9 points with two minutes left, Memphis completed one of the great choke jobs in sports history Monday night, losing in overtime to the Kansas Jayhawks. Missed free throws. A key […]

It’s the most wonderful time of the hockey year: the Stanley Cup playoffs. To win the Cup a team needs to win 16 games, four best-of-7 series, with few days off between games in a series and limited days off between series if their series goes the full seven games. It’s a grueling proposition. Throw […]

The Pulitzer Prize winners for 2008 were announced today. The journalism categories include Public Service, Breaking News Reporting, Investigative Reporting, Explanatory Reporting, Local Reporting, National Reporting, International Reporting, Feature Writing, Commentary, Criticism, Editorial Writing, Editorial Cartooning, Breaking News Photography and Feature Photography. Something is missing. Why aren't Pulitzers awarded for sports? Surely there's plenty of […]

Should the NCAA be taking a position on the (reportedly) heavily lesbian fanbase headed to the women’s Final Four in Tampa Bay this weekend? That’s the subject of an article by Orlando Sentinel columnist Shannon Owens today, for which I was interviewed. We chatted for about a half hour on the subject yesterday and both […]

Almost as deeply as he’s fought for gay civil rights, Mixner bleeds silver and black By Cyd Zeigler jr. Few gay-rights activists have a more colorful and impactful history than David Mixner (just ask his old pal, former President Bill Clinton). He was a founding member of the nation's first gay Political Action Committee, got […]

The man slouching in a beat-up camping chair is Kansas City Royals catcher John Buck, one of the “cover men” of the 2008 Royals charity calendar. It looks like he was shot on the loading dock of a Wal-Mart and the photographer was a Wal-Mart greeter. Makes you want to rush out and buy 100. […]

German gymnast Fabian Hambuechen is in a tight battle with Minnesota Twins star Joe Mauer in the Sweet 16 of the King of the Hardwood contest. Vote here to get the field down to the Sweet 16, and check out a slideshow gallery of each athlete. German gymnast Fabian Hambuechen is in a tight battle […]

At a speech Thursday for Stonewall’s annual Equity Dinner in London, Sir Ian McKellen ended his keynote remarks with an interesting question: “Where are the sports people who will brave the ragging in the changing rooms and the heckling from the terraces?” Coming from him, this is more than a fair question. McKellen is openly […]

Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart has gotten in some hot water after photos surfaced of him partying heavy at his home with buddy Nick Lachey and young co-eds. Now, The Dirty.com has a new photo showing Leinart expressing his inner man-love. So it’s true when people say the Cardinals suck. —Jim Buzinski Arizona Cardinals quarterback […]

A girl on a field trip to Fenway Park got buzzed by a red-tailed hawk on Thursday. The girl’s name: Alexa Rodriguez. Think the red-tailed hawk is a Red Sox fan? The girl’s fine, despite the hawk drawing a little blood from her scalp. The hawk has been nesting in the park and even has […]

When all is said and done, look for Tennessee to beat UConn for the title. By Frank JakkaOutsports.com As predicted here on Outsports in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament preview, Connecticut and Tennessee, top-seeds in their respective regions, along with LSU and Stanford, both two-seeds in their regions, pulled out big victories to gain the […]

Australian rugby player Luke O’Donnell, who posed naked for a charity calendar, is one of the 16 athletes in eight brackets in the King of the Hardwood West and Southeast regionals. He faces Austrian swimmer Markus Rogan in his match. Vote here to get the field down to the Sweet 16, and check out a […]

Ohio State beat UMass for the NIT title Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. There was a time when the NIT meant something. Even as late as 1970, the NIT championship was regarded as a legitimate claim to a national championship. Since then, it’s become the race to see who’s the best team of those […]

So I spent all Friday and most of Saturday telling friends how Tyler Hansbrough wouldn’t be able to handle Louisville’s front line. No way he could put up big numbers against the combo of David Padgett and Derrick Caracter, not to mention having Earl Clark’s big arms near his face. Case closed – the Cards […]

A scholar looks at sports talk radio, focusing on Jim Rome, and how it deals with gay and lesbian issues. (An excerpt from the book "Beer, Babes, and Balls: Masculinity and Sports Talk Radio," by David Nylund. Reprinted by permission) By David Nylund In their analysis of sport media’s treatment of women, critical sport scholars […]

Reports from Wan Yanhai, a respected AIDS activist in China, say that authorities there are cracking down on gay establishments, possibly related to the run-up to this summer’s Olympics. Two examples: In the afternoon of 20 March 2008, more than 10 police cars visited "Oasis" club, the most popular gay bath house in Beijing. More […]

SoapNet, the Disney-owned cable network that has been airing reruns of daytime and old school soap operas for years, has announced its second original program; this one based on the wives of professional hockey players. From The Hollywood Reporter: “MVP: The Secret Lives of Hockey Wives” (working title), produced by Toronto-based Screen Door, revolves around […]

The gay movie featuring a couple of surfers who fall in love, Shelter, finished last weekend making $28,210 on six screens, according to Boxoffiemojo.com. But according to John Cleland in the marketing department at here!, the film actually grossed around $31,000 on seven screens because some tracking numbers don’t count a theater in New York […]

Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny has become a YouTube hit after hitting himself three times in the head at the Miami Masters moments after losing a point to Spain’s Nicolas Almagro. He was a bloody mess, but went on to win the match. I see coaching in his future. —Jim Buzinski [youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=0AEfCQxVmxM] Russia’s Mikhail Youzhny has become […]

Jose Canseco’s second tell-all exposé of MLB’s steroid culture hits the shelves today and the media is shamelessly parading him around as if he’s breaking some salacious news story. I’m in full support of discussing the harmful and underexposed issues in sports (which steroids certainly is), but Canseco, who is clearly swinging for the fences […]