Recently in Out in Sports Category

John Amaechi, the first British player to have a career in the elite American basketball league the NBA, has been named an Olympic ambassador for Amnesty International.

John, who will be in Beijing for the Olympics, came out last year in terrific his book "Man in the Middle." He said in a statement: "I welcome the opportunity to work with Amnesty International and invite others in the sports community to join me in giving voice to the millions who remain oppressed in China. As we celebrate the pride of our Olympians, let us not ignore those who are executed, tortured and ill-treated as they fight for their freedom of expression and fight against the restrictions placed upon them as individual people by their own government. Those with influence must not sit by idly as atrocities are committed by the powerful towards the oppressed. Let us join together in giving voice to the people of China until they can speak without reprisal for themselves."

John played on the England team that won bronze in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne He is also only the sixth professional athlete from the four major American sports to come out as gay, and the first in the NBA.

I caught last night's episode of "Law & Order: SVU" about a closeted football star's boyfriend who ends up murdered. Handsome Bailey Chase played the pro quarterback who we think did the killing because the dead boyfriend wanted to go public. Turns out it was his slimey agent who did the deed.

Anyway, AfterElton.com has done a nice recap and I'd like to direct you there after I give you some of my impressions. I really did not like the character of the famous model who refered to the football player as a "homo, ass-bandit" etc. just because he didn't put out for her. Somebody needed to seriously rip out her vocal cords.

Chris Meloni's character disappointed me because I thought me was more evolved, maybe because he did so many guys on "OZ." When he finds out Chase's character is gay he laments: "But he's my son's hero."

So, Meloni and Mariska Hargitay think they have outed the footballer while investigating the case and he quickly gets bashed, gets a fractured skull by a group that yells "get the faggot." He ends up in a coma. A radio shock jock called Sportsman Larry was tipped off and outed him to 5 million viewers. Please tell me this is not how things would go down if a real NFL player were to come out. It really made me sick.

Mariska's character it is revelaed is dating a newspaper editor played by Bill Pullman and she gets suspended because they think she leaked the information about the gay footballer to the press. Pullman, one of my longtime crushes, is aging wonderfully, looks as handsome as ever. But he was largely wasted in the episode. Maybe he'll be back for a return visit!

...the great Greg Louganis who turns 48 today!

Greg is the greatest diver the U.S. has ever had. In 1976, while still in high school, he won the silver medal at the Olympics and Montreal. The U.S. boycott of the Moscow games kept him from competition in 1980 but at the Los Angeles games in 1984, he took home two gold medals then repeated the feat four years later in Seoul, Korea.

It was in Seoul that Greg hit his head on the diving board during preliminary rounds and cut his head. What the world did not know was the he had recently found out that he was HIV-positive. To be dealing with that and trying to compete against the best, I am still in awe of how he came through that situation and went on to win the gold..

Greg is also a six time World Champion and has held 47 National Championship titles.

But even more than his diving accomplishments, there is nothing more important, in my opinion, than when Greg publicly came out at the Gay Games in 1994. This was the year before he released his superb autobiography, "Breaking the Surface." I was struggling with how public to be with my own sexuality at that time and I was so inspired by Greg and his story - particularly an appearance he made on the "The Oprah Winfrey Show" where the reception was so enormous, so warm, and the look on his face was one of such happiness and joy at being out. It was so inspiring. It was still a really big deal to come out in 1995 - Ellen didn't do it until two years later.

I remember thinking how sad it was that he had reached this point but probably would not live to enjoy it much longer. In an interview with Barbara Walters, he had said that he was not just HIV-positive, but had AIDS. And here we are, 13 years later, and Greg is still with us - thank God.

He's been more private in recent years but you still hear about him now and then and it is always a wonderful thing...

P.S. Greg's book was made into a TV movie starring Mario Lopez. It's available on DVD!

Will the United States finally win the Davis Cup after more than a decade of coming up short? If it does, much of the credit must go to top-ranked American Andy Roddick who won both his matches this weekend over Sweden in the semifinals. It would help salvage a subpar year for Andy who won some tournaments, but came up short in the majors.

We all know that tennis stud Novak Djokovic of Serbia likes to take his shirt off after or a win or during practice. We like it! But this is a first: during a Davis Cup match against Australia Friday in Belgrade, Djokovic (seen here with fellow player Boris Pasanski), Novak lifted his shirt to support teamate Janko Tipsarevic who ended up losing to Lleyton Hewitt.

It's Davis Cup weekend. Does that not mean anything to you? It's the annual tennis competition that pits teams from various countries against each other. The USA dominated in the days of John McEnroe then again in the Agassi-Sampras era. But it's been more than 10 years since we've won the cup.
American hearthrobs Andy Roddick and James Blake are competing starting today in the semifinals to try and put an end to this long Davis Cup drought...
Good luck guys!

If this had happened in Europe, no one would have thought twice. But a Florida Gator football player kisses his teamate (and roomate) on the cheek after a touchdown pass completion and it's caused something of a furor. The kisser, Tony Joiner, didn't freak out when he was asked about giving Tim Tebow a congratulatory smooch: "That's my roommate. I love him. We've grown close," he told the Florida Times-Union.
Said Tebow: "I got teased a lot about it [over the weekend]. "When it happened, I didn't even really think about it. That's Tony."

It's still so silly how homophobic the sports world remains in this day and age. If these guys were gay and they wanted to kiss each other, they'd have plenty of opportunity behind closed doors. That such a sweet gesture - a peck on the cheek - would become such a big deal is just plain stupid.
Grow up football fans.

Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic didn't win the U.S. Open on Sunday but the number three player in the world won a lot of fans not only for himself, but for tennis as well. He's fun and appealing and cute. He received a hero's welcome this week at the Belgrade airport. Meanwhile, the man who beat Djokovic, Roger Federer, posted with his fourth U.S. Open trophy on a street in Manhattan. He looks terrific in tennis attire butr cleans up pretty damned well too.
Hopefully, we'll see lots more head-to-head matches between these two...

I should have known better. I felt that Roger Federer was ripe for a loss today in the finals of the U.S. Open with Novak Djosovic primed for a major breakthrough. But Federer fought off tons of set points in the first and second sets to prevail 7-6, 7-6, 6-4. He has now won four consecutive U.S. Opens to go along with the five consecutive Wimbledons. It just doesn't get any better. Still, Novak established himself as a legitimate challenger to the throne and a popular player with the fans who gave him a bigger ovation that they gave Federer during the awards ceremony. My friend, Henry, is very happy right now and never lost faith in his Roger...

Roger Federer (above) reached another U.S. Open final Saturday and Sunday afternoon, will face Novak Djosovic (below) as he tries to win a fourth straight men's title...If he wins, it will give him 12 grand slam titles - two short of the all-time record set by Pete Sampras.

Not only is Novak one heckuva player, he is also an exhibitionist who has made a tradition of taking his shirt off after a win...MORE AFTER THE JUMP...

Could there be a better way to lead up to a ladies final? The great Carole King, whose "Tapestry" album I could still listen to all damned day, performed for the crowed at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center Saturday night. And speaking of Bille Jean, she took in the final with former doubles partner Martina Navratilova. Each of the ladies won four U.S. Open singles titles in their careers and teamed up to win the 1978 and 1980 doubles crowns together.

...and finally, here is the 2007 ladies champion, Justine Henin. The world's top-ranked player won her seventh grand slam title and on her way to the final round, beat both Serena Williams and Venus Williams. It was a well-deserved win for this small but mighty battler from Belgium...

This kid, this Novak Djokovic, is a force to be reckoned with. A tennis force on the court, and a comic force off of it. First things first. The Serbian is ranked third in the world and reached his third grand slam semifinal of 2007 on Thursday night when he defeated Carlos Moya (below) in straight sets at the U.S. Open. If he and Roger Federer both wins their matches on Saturday, as expected, it is very possible that Djokovic could beat Federer. He did it last month in the final of the Canadian Open and is the real deal. My friend, Henry, might kill me, but I'm going on the record saying I think Djokovic will win the men's title on Sunday.


I love this picture (above) of Novak consoling his drop-dead gorgeous victim, Moya, who still has plenty of game left at 31. Then, posted below is a video of Novak in the locker room doing impersonations of players ranging from Andy Roddick to Rafael Nadal to...get this...Maria Sharapova! He's brilliant at it.
Enjoy!
p.s. I have no idea who the guy in the towel is. If anyone does, please lemme know...

The outcome was somewhat expected with three-time defending champ Roger Federer beating 2003 champ Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open last night. But what was really cool was that both players showed up in cool black clothes...I love Federer's look because, like his play, it is very elegant. Meanwhile, all Andy has to do is lift up his shirt and the photogs kn0w they have their Out In Hollywood money shot!

Came in from the pool late yesterday afternoon and flipped on the U.S. Open. My timing was perfect. There was a tribute to the late Althea Gibson, the great black player who broke the color barriers in tennis back in the 50s winning the U.S. Open for the first time exactly 50 years ago. It was an amazing ceremony which included words from my hero, Billie Jean King, who broke quite a few barriers of her own. They had a parade of black women who had accomplished firsts including the evening's hostess Phylicia Rashad, the first to win the Tony Award for best leading actress in a play. After a few dozen of incredible women like Roberta Flack and Jackie Joyner-Kersee walked onto the court, out strolled the Queen, Aretha. She launched into "R-E-S-P-E-C-T" and everyone boogied. I wished I were there. After the ceremony, the resurgent Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, each played a match on Arthur Ashe Stadium...and won.

And finally, even though he had nothing to do with the evening festivities, I love this picture (below) taken of top-ranked Roger Federer who won his 22nd consecutive match at the U.S. Open on Monday...

Look at the beautiful head of hair Brady Quinn used to have...below is Brady with his new look. I miss the locks!

If I can't be in New York City watching the U.S. Open, I'm cool with watching some of it on this giant screen TV in my air conditioned room at La Dolce Vita Resort in Palm Springs.
I love vacation.
Anyway, some of the top players were at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York today for the annual Arthur Ashe Kids Day. It's always fun to see the top seeds relaxed and interacting before they shift into tennis playing assassins. Serena Williams (pictured above with fellow players) cannot be counted out - ever. She is gunning for a third U.S. Open but trying to stop her will be her sister Venus who is the reigning Wimbledon champ as well as top seed Justine Henin and defending champion Maria Sharapova.

There is much hope for a Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal final. They've already met in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon the past two years and are 2-2 so this would be a good tie-breaker. Says Federer of the rivalry: "We're totally different types, you know? He's a lefty, I'm a righty. He's got a double-handed backhand, I've got the one-handed backhand. Two different characters -- that always works well in the game of tennis. The dress code is different: He's got that long hair, mine is a bit shorter. He's young, I'm kind of, you know, the experienced type. So I think it's got great potential."

Andy Roddick, now ranked fifth, will have to beat Federer in the quarterfinals if he is to win his second U.S. Open. It's a tall order but Roddick (above) has the desire and the game.
Meanwhile, you cannot count out the chance of Novak Djokovoc (right) who is widely considered to be tennis' next superstar. He beat Federer, Nadal and Roddick in a row to win the Canadian Open earlier this month. This could be his breakthrough.
I don't see anyone other than these four players winning the men's title.

TOMORROW: Greg's list of the top 10 hottest guys competing in the U.S. Open. (photos too, of course)...

I'll be rooting for Tim Henman to do well at the U.S. Open which starts Monday.
The British tennis player, long one of my favorite players, announced this week that he is retiring from the game at the end of September. Henman was the top-ranked male player in the Britain for ages. He is a great sportsman and a joy to watch with that wonderful serve-and-volley game of his that got him to the semifinals of Wimbledon four times and once at the U.S. Open and the French Open.. He won 11 tour titles overall and achieched his highest ranking of number four in the world in July 2002.
It was at Wimbledon where Henman came closest to becoming the first British male since Fred Perry in 1936 to win. He reached the last four at Wimbledon four times from 1998 to 2002, and also reached the quarterfinals four others times. Each time Henman made the semifinals he lost to the eventual champion. Seven-time winner Pete Sampras was his opponent in 1998 and 1999, Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, then Lleyton Hewitt the following year.
He was good...but not quite good enough to knock off the champs.

Roger Federer is a champion in his prime. The world's top-ranked player won the ATP tournament in Cincinatti, Ohio today over ninth-ranked James Blake of the USA. Federer next heads into the U.S. Open where he is the three-times defending champion. The competition is getting tougher all the time but Federer seems to rise to the occasion on tennis' biggest stages winning this year's Wimbledon and Australian Open titles.

While writing today's story about the pro athletes gay men love for the Daily News' "Sex Appeal of Sports" package, it reminded me of a long ago crush I had on former pro baseball player Kevin Elster. He played for the New York Mets, Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Dodgers, among others teams, during his career.
As you can see by the photos, Kevin was movie star handsome during his playing days. But I met him before he made it to the big leagues: we were in the same chemistry class at Golden West College in Huntington Beach. He was. easily, the cutest guy in school with a body that took your breath away. He was pretty quiet and I was too shy then to even try and talk to him. I had a break between classes after chemistry and would sometimes walk behind Kevin on the way to his next class. He would often wear shorts and the view just could not be beat. It wasn't stalking in my mind then but seems kinda like it now.
Still, I have no regrets!

I knew Kevin played baseball but I didn't know how good he was until I got a press release from our sports information department (I was editor of the school newspaper at the time) which said Elster had been drafted by the New York Mets. My sports editor was quite surprised when I, who had never written a sports story, announced that I would writing a profile of Kevin! I called his coach, got some quotes and Elster's phone number. Called him up and we agreed to meet at the dugout at school the next day. I did a crash course on the New York Mets and Kevin's college career to get ready for our interview and wondered what the heck I had gotten myself into. The interview went smoothly and what I remember so well was how confident and excited Kevin was about his future. I got caught up in the enthusiasm and the story ran in the next issue with the headline: "Kevin Elster's Story Has Just Begun."
And it had. within two years of our interview, he had made it from the minors to the Mets and was part of the 1986 World Series winning team. A shortstop, he later set a record for the most errorless games in a row.
I followed Elster's career throughout the years as he had high highs and low lows that included injury and amazing comebacks. During one injury stretch, he actually appeared in the feature film "Little Big League" as, you guessed it, a pro baseball player. Hey, the cast also included Jason Robards so Elster was in good company.
When he was with the Dodgers, I saw him play several times but I was older now, and not about to pitch our sports editor a story. They had REAL sports writers for that. Besides, he woulda been onto me right away!

The LA Daily News features a series of stories on "The Sex Appeal of Sport." I was asked to contribute a story looking into the appeal of pro athletes to gay men. This was an assignment I gladly accepted. CLICK HERE to read my piece.
Among those I interviewed was Outsports.com CEO Jim Businski whose site runs a "King of the Hardwood" contest each year which has twice been won by former NFL player and Olympic skiier Jeremy Bloom.
“We did an interview with Bloom and he was flattered, but wanted to be thought of as more than a pretty face,” Buzinski says.
Still, Bloom’s website has a wide array of photos of the athlete and plenty of them feature him shirtless.
“He showed a lot of skin and was not bashful about it,” says Buzinski. “That is what is happening right now with Brady Quinn. It’s the guys who are well-known and the European and Australian athletes who tend to be less hung up. Beckham has said he is honored to be a big gay fan favorite. It’s the guys who show off their body, are
visible and in the public eye who get the attention.”
This seems like a good excuse to post a buncha pics of some of these hunky dudes we love to look at including football's Brady Quinn and tennis' Andy Roddick.
There are even more after the jiump! Enjoy...

Basketball stud Wally Szczrbiak

Sexy soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo

The one and only...Beckham!

Nice abs Andy! This is the summer hardcourt season in pro tennis and American hearthrob Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and 2006 U.S. Open runner-up, is supossed to be one of the best players in the world on the surface. With the Open less than two weeks away, Roddick suffered what has become routine this season: an early round loss - this time at the ATP tournament in Cincinatti, Ohio where he was the defending champion.
He was beaten by the 15th-rankied David Ferrer of Spain 7-6, 6-4 (left) who, like Andy, is pretty easy on the eyes. But it's good for the game when telegenic, articulate players like Andy win or at least stick around until the final days of a tournament. Let's hope he's into the mix at the Open even if he doesn't go into the tourney riding a wave of confidence.
But Spanish stud Carlos Moya, who achieved a tough three-set win to reach the quarterfinals, remains in the hunt and is looking oh-so gorgeous during every win.