Time once again for Outsports to stop the clock for an instant reply of the week that was. It’s my way of memorializing the glorious victories, the ignominious defeats, and the players and personalities who made them, lived them or just couldn’t avoid them. This weekend is Super Bowl weekend, so I’ve front-loaded the list to focus on The Big Game as well as other stories.
I realize my roster may differ from yours, and I welcome your comments, contributions and critiques. I read them all! Details on how to reach me are below, after our look at the winners, losers and hopefuls.
Who will win? Chiefs or 49ers: Who should an LGBTQ fan root for in the Super Bowl?
In the battle for the support of LGBTQ football fans. the 49ers have the edge, but the Chiefs offer their own reasons to be cheered on.
Losers: Those fans who ask, who cares that 49ers coach Katie Sowers is a woman and openly gay? We all should
Katie Sowers is being celebrated for a reason, as a role model for women and LGBTQ people in sports.
Hopeful: 49ers’ Katie Sowers on being first woman to coach in Super Bowl: ‘Make sure that I’m not the last’
“Yeah, being the first, it is historic,” Sowers said on NFL Network Monday at Super Bowl Opening Night in Miami. “There always has to be a first to make change. But the most important thing that I continue to say is to make sure that I’m not the last.”
Winner: 49ers’ Katie Sowers first woman and first openly gay coach in Super Bowl history
Katie Sowers makes history as a woman and LGBTQ person when the San Francisco 49ers reach the Super Bowl.
Loser: Goshen College didn’t want her coaching because she’s gay. Now she’s in the Super Bowl
Katie Sowers says rejection led her back to her favorite sport, football. You’ll see the 49ers assistant coach at the Super Bowl.
Giving Hope: Openly LGBTQ 49ers assistant coach Katie Sowers featured in Microsoft NFL ad
Katie Sowers is a pioneer in the NFL coaching ranks, as a woman and openly gay.
Winners: Fans’ Reactions to Katie Sowers going to the Super Bowl are giving us life
Forget the haters. The buzz around 49ers Assistant coach Katie Sowers and her historic role in the Super Bowl is what we need right now.
Winner: Esera Tuaolo’s Inclusion Party celebrated the LGBTQ community at the Super Bowl
The LGBT community — athletes, fans, DJs — took center stage at Esera Tuaolo’s Inclusion Party at the Super Bowl Wednesday.
Winners: USWNT featured in patriotic Budweiser Super Bowl ad
The USWNT is featured in Budweiser’s patriotic “Typical Americans” Super Bowl ad.
We’re Hopeful: First Super Bowl commercial to feature drag queens won’t get taken off the air
The makers of Sabra Hummus are targeted by the so-called One Million Moms for pushing “an agenda of sexual confusion” with the ad that they say “blurs the biological distinctions between male and female. Normalizing this lifestyle is contrary to what conservative, Christian parents are teaching their children about God’s design for sexuality.” Oh, STFU.
Winners: Congrats to Joanna Lohman and her fiancée on their engagement!
“Rainbow Warrior,” international envoy and retired soccer star Joanna Lohman is engaged to marry “the love of her life,” Melodie George.
Losers: Education Department forces out whistleblower after exposing push against trans athletes
HuffPost Exclusive: Dwayne Bensing says he faced retaliation for reporting the department’s fast-track treatment of a case affecting transgender students.
Winner: Delle Donne expected to be ready for 2020 campaign after successful surgery
Elena Delle Donne played hurt during the 2019 WNBA Finals and her Washington Mystics still defeated the Connecticut Sun. Once healthy, Delle Donne will look to repeat for the trophy.
Winner: Noah Rubin, Founder of Behind the Racquet, Is Changing the Culture of Professional Tennis Through Story Sharing
The founder of Behind the Racquet is changing the culture of professional tennis through story sharing.
Winners: Out gay figure skater Timothy LeDuc and skating partner named to World Championship
Almost one year to the day Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc won the U.S. Pairs Championship, they were selected to represent the U.S. in Montreal.
Loser: Israel Folau’s signing with French rugby league inspires rival club to declare a Pride Day
The Wigan Warriors will be hosting an LGBTQ celebration on the day they meet Folau’s new club.
Winner: Hockey player Zach Sullivan comes out as bisexual before EIHL Pride Weekend
The Manchester Storm player opened up publicly for the first time about his sexuality at the EIHL’s first pride weekend.
Winners who are sorry: Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe apologize for protest at Margaret Court Arena
Navratilova and McEnroe paraded a banner around Margaret Court Arena Tuesday urging Tennis Australia to change the venue’s name.
Winners: Boston Pride to celebrate Pride Night in the NWHL on Feb. 15.
For the Boston Pride, celebrating LGBTQ community is ‘is not about just one game.’
Feeling Loss: All of us mourning Kobe Bryant, whose evolution on LGBTQ issues was a really big deal
Kobe Bryant vowed to become an ally after he had called a referee a homophobic slur in 2011, and backed up his words with action.
Also Mourning: Aaron Hernandez’s fiancée speaks about sexuality rumors following Netflix series
Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez told ABC she would not have loved her late partner any differently if he was gay or bisexual.
Hopeful: Chris Mosier makes history at Olympic trials, calling it ‘incredible and heartbreaking’
Out trans All-American duathlete, Hall of Fame triathlete and now race walker Chris Mosier was unable to finish his historic Olympic trial. He vows, “this isn’t the end.”
Winner: Out race walker Matthew Forgues moves step closer to qualifying for 2020 Olympics and poses with Pride flag
Matthew Forgues finished in a strong second place at the U.S. Olympics trials and got to do it with his husband cheering him on.
Winner: Kerron Clement: How being different pushed me to two Olympic golds
Olympic champion Kerron Clement talks with Five Rings To Rule Them All about taking aim at the Olympics after coming out.
Not a Loser, but Feeling Regret: Irish Olympic martial artist wishes he hadn’t come out publicly
Jack Woolley came out as bi in a documentary and the Irish Olympian now feels it was premature.
That’s all for this week! I’ll bring you a fresh list of winners and losers next Saturday. Got a name I missed, or want to challenge my choices? Comment here or on Facebook or Instagram, tweet at us, message me via any social media, or just plain email me at [email protected] Thanks!
