Good morning and welcome to The Huddle for today, September 17, 2020. It’s Thursday, or as my friend Robin Roberts always calls it: “Friday Eve!” It’s also the second day of Bi Awareness Week!

Your need to read time today is 90-seconds, as usual.

This Morning’s Sports Headlines:

Today’s Coming Out story: From alienation to acceptance, a gay fan’s soccer journey

In other LGBT Sports news…

Andy Murray wants Margaret Court Arena renamed over anti-gay views

Also new this morning…

Mark Your Calendars! Big Ten football to resume weekend of Oct. 24

Billie Jean King’s Team! Los Angeles Dodgers heading to playoffs for eighth straight season

And then there’s this: Maya Moore is now married to Jonathan Irons, the man she helped free from prison

OutShouts:

The Windy City Times profiled Illinois State University’s new diving coach, out champion diver Logan Pearsall, and our friend UCLA Softball Coach Kirk Walker shared the story with fellow members of the Equality Coaching Alliance on Facebook.

Logan Pearsall

Pearsall is speaking with Outsports for a story for you, our readers, so watch for that soon!

If you’re an LGBTQ person in sports looking to connect with others in the community, head over to GO! SPACE to meet and interact with other LGBTQ athletes, or to Equality Coaching Alliance to find other coaches, administrators and other non-athletes in sports.

Join Outsports co-founder Jim Buzinski tonight at 8 p.m. EDT, for a conversation with four men’s hockey players, coaches and referees who have come out recently and are still connected to the sport. They’ll share their experiences in the locker room, the reactions of teammates and colleagues, as well as talk about the shifting dynamics on a hockey team when a player comes out as gay or bi. Get more details and learn how to register by clicking here!

Highlights from Social Media:

What do you think of what runner Katherine Burgess posted to Instagram about women’s sports coverage? Tell us in the comments below!

View this post on Instagram

I’ve seen several stats that say women’s sports coverage has been around the 4-5% mark since the 80s (it was even worse before then). That’s all of our childhoods that have been effected in one way or another. And it’s important for boys to grow up seeing strong female leaders in sports as well. When I was running in high school we had one of the fastest girls in the state on our team. Where I’m from, the schools typically ran the men’s and women’s teams together for the cross country 5k race to save time. But when my teammate became good enough to run faster then some of the boys at races we had a few other teams wanting to separate the races. The coaches didn’t want their men’s team to feel embarrassed. Whereas our coaches encouraged her to train with our men teams near daily. And many of our guys who ran similar times as her had no issues proudly running along side her in the races. What norms you expose kids to matter.

A post shared by Katherine (Katie) Burgess (@katherine_kart) on

With the help of a mirror, Sebastian shared this sizzling selfie from his gym workout to the #gayathlete hashtag on Instagram: “If everything was easy it would probably not be fun.”

NCAA track and field champion CeCé Telfer is looking FINE!

If you want your social media post to be included here, or to share one showcasing LGBTQ sports, email us the link at [email protected] or tag @Outsports on Instagram or Twitter!

Podcast Du Jour

Nearly every day of the week, Outsports has a new podcast for your enjoyment. It’s not only Thursday but it’s Bi Awareness Week, and our Brian Bell talks with The Biconic Russell Rogue on his podcast, LGBT In The Ring today. They discuss his experiences as an out bisexual wrestler, discovering his inner bad bitch and why Bi+ awareness needs to grow. Listen here:

This and all Outsports podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and on every platform where you find Outsports!

Today’s Sports Calendar

NFL:

Cincinnati Bengals vs. Cleveland Browns at 8:20 p.m. EDT on NFLTV

WNBA PLAYOFFS:

Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN 2

Connecticut Sun vs. Los Angeles Sparks at 9 p.m. EDT on ESPN 2

NBA PLAYOFFS:

Miami Heat vs. Boston Celtics at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN

NHL STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS:

Tampa Bay Lightning vs. New York Islanders at 8 p.m. EDT on NBCSN

MLB NATIONALLY-TELEVISED GAME:

Minnesota Twins vs. Chicago White Sox at 2:10 p.m. EDT on ESPN+

SOCCER:

Click here for ESPN’s schedule of soccer action today.

Share your thoughts in the comments below or email us at [email protected]

Thanks for reading all the way to the end. The next edition of The Huddle will appear tomorrow morning on Outsports.com Stay safe!