Part of the photo from Sports Illustrated
The current issue of Sports Illustrated, the one previewing the Super Bowl, has something I never thought I would see in a mainstream sports magazine -- two male fans kissing. Not the peck on the cheek you might see from a European soccer player or a drunk LSU fan, but two fans wearing San Francisco 49ers gear in a passionate lip-lock celebrating the team winning the NFC Championship.
The photo by Deanne Fitzmaurice was taken at Hi Tops, a San Francisco gay sports bar, and accompanies an essay by Bay Area resident and SI writer Chris Ballard on the diversity of the 49er fan base:
"We'll crowd the railing at Hi Tops, the city's first official gay sports bar, where patrons sport supertight T-shirts, drink Big Unit cocktails and roar 'Kill him! Kill him!' whenever Aldon Smith gets near the opposing QB ...
If the Niners win it all ... some of us -- a number of whom might be gay, or vegan, or gay and vegan -- might even ride on top of a cable car.
The essay and photo are on Page 48 of the magazine. It looks like Hi Tops has a pretty hot and happening scene, and this Sunday I imagine it will be crazy there.
