Speaking Of Sports

[mikeyank]

I borrowed this title from one of my hero's, Howard Cosell, the controversial sportscaster of the 1970's who made a living "telling it like it is".

On another thread that I had started last summer when Toronto Blue Jay Yunel Escobar was suspended for wearing a gay slur on his eye black, I brought up San Francisco 49er Chris Culliver's anti-gay remarks made on Tuesday with comedian Artie Lange.

Today New York Daily News columnist Tim Smith, made some excellent points. He said:

"After getting hauled into the principal’s office, where he got chewed out by GM Trent Baalke and coach Jim Harbaugh for an hour, a contrite Culliver showed up at the team’s final media availability playing bump-and-run coverage. He said he went along with the joking manner of the line of questioning from Lange, but really didn’t mean any of the comments.

Though it came off his lips, Culliver said, “It was definitely not something that I felt in my heart.’’

Culliver’s change of heart came after that talk with Baalke and Harbaugh, because it embarrassed the 49ers organization, which participates in the NFL’s “It Gets Better’’ gay and anti-bullying public service announcement campaign. Plus San Francisco has a very large and politically active gay population.

“I love San Francisco,’’ Culliver said."

“I reject what he said,’’ Harbaugh said as he tried to quell the situation. “That’s not something that reflects the way the organization feels, the way the rest of the players feel.’’

Harbaugh is wrong on one level. What Culliver said to Lange is absolutely the way a majority of NFL players feel. That is why there hasn’t been a single active NFL player to announce that he is gay. That doesn’t mean there aren’t gay players on NFL rosters. “Chris (Culliver), I’ve got news for you. There is a gay player on your team,’’ said Esera Tuaolo, who came out after he left the NFL, according to Sports Illustrated on Thursday.

A player on the opposing team in the Super Bowl on the Ravens is very outspoken in favor of gay rights and understanding.:


Ravens linebacker BrendonAyanbadejo pushes for same-sex marriage, but thinks most people share Chris Culliver’s feelings on gays in sports

Ayanbadejo, using Super Bowl stage as his soapbox, continues to spread his message of tolerance, fully aware that it will take time for everyone to fully embrace it.

NEW ORLEANS — The morning after 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver’s homophobic remarks sparked controversy, Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, a staunch advocate for same-sex marriage, made it clear that he wasn’t surprised by that type of narrow-minded thinking.

“I hear it all the time,” Ayanbadejo said on Thursday. “I hear it every day. And it’s not just in the locker rooms. It’s on my Twitter. It’s on my Facebook. . . . I’m not surprised, but that’s why I speak so loudly about this.”

Earlier in the week, Culliver intimated that gay players wouldn’t be welcomed in the 49ers’ locker room. “We don’t got no gay people on the team,” Culliver told a radio station during Super Bowl XLVII Media Day on Tuesday. “They gotta get up out of here if they do.”

Ayanbadejo rejected that mind-set, but maintained that “Culliver is going to turn this into a positive thing.”

“I think in San Francisco, and being from the Bay Area myself, we really try to preach love and acceptance of everybody,” Ayanbadejo said. “I couldn’t really say anything negative to the young man. It’s just one of those things you have to live and you have to learn. In the words of Martin Luther King, ‘You can’t fight hate with hate. You have to fight hate with love.’

“We’ve all made our mistakes,” he added. “We’ve done certain things and we’ve hurt people if we meant to do it or not. But more than anything, it’s an opportunity to have a learning experience.”

 

[mikeyank]

Ronaiah Tuiasosopo "deeply in love" with Manti Te’o

Another sports story that has been getting a lot of attention is the story of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o who was hoaxed into believing that he was communicating with a girl through texts and even phone calls and it turns out it is a guy named, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo who admitted on the Dr. Phil television program that he was "deeply in love" with Te'o.

Dr. Phil: Tuiasosopo 'romantically in love' with Te'o

The alleged mastermind behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, sat down with Dr. Phil McGraw in a two-part interview.

In an excerpt of his two-part interview with Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, Dr. Phil McGraw said the alleged mastermind behind the Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax spoke of his "confused" sexual identity, and that Tuiasosopo "fell deeply, romantically in love" with the Notre Dame star.

"I asked him, straight up, was this a romantic relationship with you?" McGraw told NBC's Matt Taibbi during a segment on NBC's Today. "And he says, 'yes.' I then said, are you then, therefore, gay? He says, 'Well, when you put it that way, yes.' And then, he caught himself and said, 'I am confused.'"

Tuiasosopo said Te'o knew nothing of the hoax, and doesn't believe he ever suspected Kekua wasn't real.

''He had no involvement,'' Tuiasosopo said. ''He did not know anything.''

 

[mikeyank]

Colin Kaepernick

Twenty five year old tattooed rookie quarterback Colin Kaepernick has lead the 49'ers to the Super Bowl, and I must admit I find him rather hot, besides being a hell of a passer and runner. I am rooting for Colin and San Francisco on Sunday!

 

[Beth]

Twenty five year old tattooed rookie quarterback Colin Kaepernick has lead the 49'ers to the Super Bowl, and I must admit I find him rather hot, besides being a hell of a passer and runner. I am rooting for Colin and San Francisco on Sunday!

for once, when it comes to sport, we are in agreement: Kaepernick is a very sexy man and because of him, the 49ers will win on Sunday!

 

[joninliverton]

I'll be watching the first quarter live on uk tv, but then it's bed time..

 

[rrhill]

49ers’ LGBT Anti-Bullying Video Pulled After 2 Players Deny Involvement

NEW ORLEANS (CBS SF) – The organization that partnered with the San Francisco 49ers to create a widely touted anti-bullying video in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, pulled the video Thursday night after two players who appeared in it publicly denied their involvement.

The It Gets Better Project said it removed the 49ers video from its website, itgetsbetter.org.
The bizarre saga began when 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks and nose tackle Isaac Sopoaga were questioned by reporters about their participation in the video made last August for the “It Gets Better” project, following an uproar over teammate Chris Culliver’s homophobic remarks this week on gay players.

Safety Donte Whitner and defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francois also appeared in the video.

Brooks and Sopoaga first denied appearing in the video, until reporters showed them the clip. Then, the players claimed they didn’t realize the point of the video was to fight bullying against LGBT youth.

“I didn’t make any video,” Brooks initially told the newspaper USA Today. “This is America and if someone wants to be gay, they can be gay. It’s their right. But I didn’t make any video.”
When a reporter showed him the video on his cellphone, Brooks replied, “Oh, that. It was an anti-bullying video, not a gay video.”
Sopoaga told USA Today that he did not remember the participating in the video, even as another teammate tried to jog his memory. He then had no comment after the reporter showed him that it was a video to fight the bullying of teens because of sexual identity,
In the video, it is Whitner who says, “The San Francisco 49ers is proud to join ItGetsBetter.org to let all LGBT teens know: It gets better.”
The 49ers were the first National Football League team to join the online movement created in 2010 in response to a rash of suicides among LGBT teenagers who had been bullied.
In 2011, the San Francisco Giants were the first Major League Baseball team to participate in the movement and produce an anti-LGBT bullying video.
source: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/20...s-deny-appearing-in-lgbt-anti-bullying-video/

 

[stowe1]

Born and raised in Baltimore was I - so Ravens win!! Plus Flacco can put his cleats under my bed anytime of the day or night!!




-

 

[mikeyank]

Myles Crosby

I'd never heard of Myles Crosby until I read a small article in the sports section of this morning's New York Daily News, saying that he is a handsome, fit, 6-foot-3, 17-year-old high school football player from Texas, who is a high school senior who decided to go to college at SMU as a safety. He is currently ranked as the world's Number 11 male model, according to models.com, while he is unranked by Rivals.com who rates high school football players.

I did some research and found this article which included two images of young Myles.

Top Male Model Myles Crosby Turns Down Fame and Fortune for College Football

The young man sacrificed a handsome sum of money and tremendous fame to be a near-anonymous part of a larger team.

And he loves it.

To truly grasp what he is giving up, consider this part of the report.

At 17 he became one of the youngest stars in the industry and posed in Calvin Klein ads for jeans, underwear and the Euphoria fragrance. He has graced the pages of Esquire, GQ and Vanity Fair, to name only a few...

...Crosby is the 11th-ranked male model in the world, according to Models.com. If he entered modeling full time right now, Gerald Frankowski, the director of the men’s division at the Kim Dawson Agency, said the young star would “easily” be earning a six-figure income.

 

[Ms. Kianna]

Mikey is at the Knicks game tonight!!!!

If I was there, I would be drooling over Jason Kidd, but I am sure Mikey is drooling over younger players instead....

 

[mikeyank]

Mikey is at the Knicks game tonight!!!!

If I was there, I would be drooling over Jason Kidd, but I am sure Mikey is drooling over younger players instead....

Thanks Ms. K. Knicks lost, and you are right. I am not into Jason Kidd. There was a hot Lithuanian player on Toronto whose name I can't pronounce. otherwise not a hot team on either side, but some cute fans in the stands. I always find the beauty if I look hard enough.

 

[mikeyank]

U.S. national team player Robbie Rogers reveals he's gay, stepping away from soccer

U.S. National Soccer player Robbie Rogers simultaneously announced that he is gay and is walking away from soccer. The 25-year-old wrote a post on his website which he tweeted out Friday.

"For the past 25 (years) I have been afraid, afraid to show whom I really was because of fear. Fear that judgment and rejection would hold me back from my dreams and aspirations," Rogers wrote. "Fear that my loved ones would be farthest from me if they knew my secret. Fear that my secret would get in the way of my dreams."

Rogers has made 18 appearances for the U.S. National Team. He is contracted to Leeds United, of the power Championship League in England, but has been loaned out to Stevenage, a League One side. Prior to his move across the Atlantic, Rogers played for the Columbus Crew of the MLS.

"Now is my time to step away," he wrote. "It's time to discover myself away from football."

 

[joninliverton]

UK soccer as you call it, is not place for gay guys. You only have to look what happened to Justin Fashanu.

 

[mikeyank]

Jake Layman

I am a very big fan of the Duke Blue Devils basketball team. I was very unhappy to watch them upset last night in College Park Maryland by the Maryland Terrapins, but I did get the pleasure of watching the Maryland Freshmen from Massachusetts, 6' 8" 200 lb. Jake Layman once again. That boy pushes all my buttons! (And yes Ms. K. He does remind me of AYDEN), with blonde hair and a lean toned torso.

 

[mikeyank]

NFL Combine Gay Questions: Teams Prying About Sexual Orientation, TE Nick Kasa Says

NFL prospect Nick Kasa was asked by scouts about his sexual orientation at the NFL Combine, the tight end said in a radio interview on Tuesday.

Kasa, a senior at the University of Colorado, is one of a few hundred players who participated this week in the NFL Scouting Combine, an annual showcase for NFL prospects in advance of April's draft. Over the course of the Combine, participants submit themselves for a variety of physical and mental tests, as well as interviews with NFL teams. According to Kasa, it was during these interviews that the topic of his sexual preferences came up.

“[Teams] ask you like, ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ Are you married?’ Do you like girls?’” Kasa told CJ and Kreckman of ESPN Radio Denver on Tuesday. “Those kinds of things, and you know it was just kind of weird. But they would ask you with a straight face, and it’s a pretty weird experience altogether.”

The comments come a day after Mike Florio of NBC Sports and ProFootballTalk told radio host Dan Patrick that NFL teams were extremely curious about the sexual orientation of Notre Dame's Manti Te'o. Te'o, of course, has been dogged by such questions since the Lennay Kekua bombshell dropped last month.

"Here's the elephant in the room for the teams and it shouldn't matter, but we have to step aside from the rest of reality and walk into the unique industry that is the NFL," Florio said to Patrick. "Teams want to know whether Manti Te'o is gay. They just want to know. They want to know because in an NFL locker room, it's a different world. It shouldn't be that way."

The level of tolerance -- or intolerance -- in NFL locker rooms recently garnered attention when San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver made anti-gay comments before Super Bowl XLVII.

"I don't do the gay guys man," Culliver said during a radio interview with comedian Artie Lang just days before the game, according to Yahoo. "I don't do that. No, we don't got no gay people on the team, they gotta get up out of here if they do."

 

[mikeyank]

Former Ravens LB Ayanbadejo sees gays coming out

Retired Baltimore Ravens linebacker, Brendon Ayanbadejo, who openly supports same sex marriage told the Baltimore Sun that he believes that up to four current NFL players will come out collectively, sooner rather than later.

I do not believe that any professional athletes in any of the four major sports in the U.S., (baseball, football, basketball and hockey) have even openly discussed their being gay until after they retired. I do believe it would be a major step in further getting it into the heads of America, that "we are everywhere".

This is the AP story of Ayanbadejo's comments.:

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo says up to four NFL players may soon come out as gay, according to a published report.

''I think it will happen sooner than you think,'' Ayanbadejo told The Baltimore Sun. ''We're in talks with a handful of players who are considering it. There are up to four players being talked to right now and they're trying to be organized so they can come out on the same day together. It would make a major splash and take the pressure off one guy. It would be a monumental day if a handful or a few guys come out.

''Of course, there would be backlash. If they could share the backlash, it would be more positive. It's cool. It's exciting. We're in talks with a few guys who are considering it. The NFL and organizations are already being proactive and open if a player does it and if something negative happens. We'll see what happens.''

The treatment of gays and athletes is a hot topic. Rutgers basketball coach Mike Rice was fired this week for pushing, shoving and throwing balls at players in November, and addressing players with homophobic slurs. Athletic Director Tim Pernetti resigned after criticism for only suspending and fining the coach after the video was brought to his attention.

Ayanbadejo, 36, was cut the Ravens earlier this week. A strong advocate of gay marriage, he initially suggested the roster move stemmed from his controversial stance.

He backed off that position in an interview with The Sun.

''If they didn't like what I was doing, they would have cut me a long time ago,'' Ayanbadejo said. ''I'm a special-teams player and you can find somebody to do what I did for less than half that value.''

Ayanbadejo spoke openly about his belief in gay marriage in the days leading up to the Super Bowl. That echoed a stance he took in November, before Maryland voted to pass a law approving gay marriage.

''It's something I've been passionate about a long time,'' he said after the election. ''Even though it doesn't affect me directly, it affects a lot of my friends. It affects my family. It affects Ravens fans. It affects Marylanders. I've worked very hard on it; I'm especially proud of the Marylanders who went out and voted and made a difference".

 

[mikeyank]

Robbie Rogers

See post #11 where I included two pictures of handsome young Robbie, America's first openly gay athlete during his playing career!

 

[mikeyank]

First NCAA Men's College Basketball player comes out

This recent undated photo provided by Benedictine College shows basketball player Jallen Messersmith. Messersmith of Benedictine College in Atchison, …


By ERIC OLSON (AP Sports Writer) | The Associated Press
It didn't take Jason Collins for Jallen Messersmith to come out as gay.

Messersmith is a 6-foot-7 shot-blocking specialist from tiny Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan. He also is believed to be the first openly gay active player in U.S. men's college basketball.

Messersmith told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he revealed his sexual orientation to his coach last summer and his teammates before the season. He later told his story to Outsports.com, a website that covers gay issues in sports, and its story was posted Tuesday - a month after Collins, a Washington Wizards reserve, came out in a Sports Illustrated article as the first openly gay active player in the NBA.

''He wasn't a buffer for me,'' Messersmith said, adding that just about everyone at 2,000-student Benedictine knew his sexual orientation months ago. He said he had not corresponded with Collins.

''It's awesome to have another person in my sport to come out (nationally) beforehand,'' Messersmith said.

Messersmith said he was interviewed by Outsports.com in March. He said he's received nothing but positive feedback since the story was posted.

Though he acknowledged he felt anxious about the reaction, he said he wanted to come out to help other gay athletes feel comfortable about who they are.

''The big thing for me, why I wanted to do it, before the whole Jason Collins thing, is there weren't a lot of basketball-related stories like this,'' Messersmith said. ''When I started coming out, I didn't have anyone to look to for advice or to see how their story went. People can look to see what happened to me - and there are positive things going on.''

Benedictine is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, which condemns homosexual acts but teaches that gay individuals should be treated with respect, compassion and sensitivity.

Messersmith said he's not a practicing member of any religion now. He said he was raised as a Mormon and, even though that religion also disapproves of homosexual acts, he enjoys the full support of his family.

Benedictine athletic director Charlie Gartenmayer and men's basketball coach Ryan Moody declined comment, referring to a statement the school released Wednesday.

''We support Jallen as a Benedictine College student and as a member of the Raven basketball team,'' the statement said. ''Obviously, it would be inappropriate for us to discuss the private lives of students. As an institution we treat all students with respect and sensitivity.''

Brett Fisher, a starting guard and one of Messersmith's best friends on the team, said Messersmith came out to teammates individually. Fisher said some were shocked and others didn't blink.

''I think it takes a lot of courage to come out to everyone you know,'' Fisher said. ''He sort of feels like he had a thousand pounds lifted from his shoulders when he came out.''

Messersmith said he couldn't have hoped for a better reaction from teammates.

''A couple came up and told me if I have any issues with anybody, they've got my back,'' he said.

The 20-year-old from Blue Springs, Mo., will be a junior for the Ravens next season. He appeared in 28 games this past season, starting the last eight, and averaged 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds. He blocked 53 shots, and his average of 1.89 a game ranked third in NAIA Division I.

Messersmith said he comes from a basketball family. He also plays piano and likes to draw in addition to playing video games and listening to music. He's an accounting major who is involved in student government and serves as manager for the Benedictine women's lacrosse club team.

Messersmith said he's received more than 100 texts, emails and messages through social networks since Tuesday, one from as far away as South Africa. He said he couldn't imagine what the public's reaction would be if he played in a major-college basketball program.

''For sure it would be a bigger story, and this seems pretty big,'' he said.

Kerri Kos, a fellow Benedictine student and Messersmith's best friend, said she was scared for him when he told her he wanted to come out to the basketball team.

''He doesn't want his teammates to live in the dark about it,'' she said. ''The basketball team is incredibly close. To be part of the team, he needed to be completely honest about it. He took a huge leap of faith, and people responded positively. I'm so happy about it because it shows progress".