Month: July 2008

British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, aka “Borat,” apparently has duped Arkansas fight fans by promising “hot chicks, cold beer, hardcore fights,” but delivering a show that had two male wrestlers kiss and make out. The unsuspecting audience who turned up for the Blue Collar Brawlin’ event, lured by the promise of $1 beer, expected a […]

The personal stories are always the most compelling aspect of the Olympics. Well, that and hot jocks stuffed into outfits that show off their muscled assets. But stick with me, here. With the Beijing Games a month away, the dramatic stories of sacrifice, training for years in obscurity and personal commitment to sport are surfacing. […]

While the number of Olympians who are openly gay to the media remains small, one female wrestler, at least, is gay-friendly. Randi Miller will be competing for the United States in women’s freestyle wrestling, 63kg. Back in 2004, she trained with the gay-oriented Golden Gate Wrestling Club in San Francisco while visiting the Bay Area; […]

NFL wide receiver Plaxico Burress says that rumors about his then-Pittsburgh Steelers teammate Kordell Stewart’s being gay affected the quarterback’s play. From Pro Football Talk: “It had to be tough on him personally,” Burress told Tim Benz of Pittsburgh radio station 105.9. “I didn’t call him gay or anything like that. . . . I […]

I’ve only seen the name “Brett Favre” a hundred thousand times in the last week, so I figured once more wouldn’t hurt. The man whose popularity is falling faster than the stock market today asked the Packers for his release. Apparently, he wasn’t getting enough attention from them. I can only hope the Packers refuse […]

Greg Wyshynski at Yahoo! Sports alerts us to the name for Iowa’s new American Hockey League team, the Iowa Chops. The name and logo bear more than a passing similarity to the logo for CHOPS (Changing Homosexuals into Ordinary People). The organization is described as “the powerful new program developed by Christian Youth expert Donnie […]

Doping in sports is a cat and mouse game. That’s the intro into a fascinating report that aired today on “The Bryant Park Project,” a National Public Radio news and public affairs show, exploring all of the ways that elite athletes will try to cheat during the Beijing Olympics. The seven-minute discussion with Larry Bowers […]

Gotta love this video from a (ahem) Fresno Grizzlies game, during which a ball girl (ahem) leaps for a sick catch that makes all those dives in SportsCenter’s Top 10 Plays look Little League. -Cyd Zeigler jr. [youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hvmlp2QPfsE] Gotta love this video from a (ahem) Fresno Grizzlies game, during which a ball girl (ahem) leaps […]

One great thing about the Olympics is that every four years the media discover athletes that for the most part toil in obscurity and make them cover material. Swimmer Michael Phelps is certainly not obscure, but rival and friend Ryan Lochte is little known outside his sport. But Men's Journal put them put on the […]

Before I get into this, I have no information as to whether the kid’s gay, straight, bi or asexual. I have no idea. That’s not the point. In fact, his Facebook page says he’s interested in women, so I’ll take that at face value. But listening to American diver Thomas Finchum in an interview after […]

The Kirkpinar traditional Turkish oil wrestling championship has been going on for over 600 years, and last weekend was the latest installment. While it certainly does qualify as a sport, you have to wonder what else these guys are up to when they, according to a reporter in a Youtube video, often win (as you […]

Here! Films and Regent Releasing have acquired the U.S. distribution rights for ‘Breakfast with Scot‘, the company announced today. The movie centers on a gay pro hockey player raising a kid with his partner. You may remember that the Toronto Maple Leafs and the NHL allowed the use of their name and logo in the […]

On Yahoo Sports there's an AP article headlined "A-Rod loses $200,000 in All-Star bonuses." It's a little misleading. When Alex Rodriguez signed his old megadeal with Texas it included clauses that would pay him $100,000 for making the All-Star team and another $100,000 if he led his league in fan voting. He opted out of […]

Fourteenth in a series. Broadcast: Los Angeles Dodgers on FSN Prime Ticket, Atlanta at Dodgers, 7/7/08; Announcer: Vin Scully Except for a brief pre-game spot by the post-game show announcers, it’s all Vin Scully, all the time. The Hall of Famer works alone (when he works, that is; these days Scully doesn’t travel east of […]

Pro athletes go to extremes to avoid anything gay. Well, except for Vince Young, the Tennessee Titans QB who likes to dance shirtless with other guys while clubbing. But now it seems he can brush off his man-on-man indiscretions by uttering this simple phrase: no homo. It’s all the rage in the NFL, according to […]

Rafael Nadal dethroned Wimbledon king Roger Federer yesterday in the longest final in tournament history, 6-4, 6-4, 6-7, 6-7, 9-7, to become the first man since Bjorn Borg to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back. Although Federer remains the No. 1 ranked player in the world on the computer, he has shockingly failed to […]

Though Out magazine’s self-labeled “sports issue” doesn’t live up to its billing (neither the cover photo nor the editor’s letter pertains to sports, there are only two sports-related articles, and one photo shoot had an oddly placed baseball bat), there is a feature on Francisco Rodriguez, an openly gay former pro tennis player who was […]

By Dan Woog Two years ago, Shelly Boyum-Breen's oldest daughter tried out for a select volleyball team. If she made it, the fee for the season would be $3,500. If she didn't, it would still cost $800 to play on a non-all-star team. {jumi [story2.html]} Boyum-Breen (left), who was working in sales for the WNBA, […]

It looked for all the world like Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal were on their way to winning Wimbledon this year. Yet Serena was ultimately denied by the woman she trusts most to keep her safe, while Nadal’s dreams are currently on hold due to a second rain delay. Serena started off strong in the […]

Matthew Mitcham, who in August will be the first openly gay Olympic athlete to compete for Australia, gave an interview to Sydney’s gay magazine SX. In it he is pretty ho-hum about being an out athlete and says his mom knew he was gay long before he said so. He also had some choice words […]