I was young, and I needed the money.
Might give new meaning to “choke up on the bat.”
Google the name Dave Kopay…an NFL football player who came out and wrote a book about it.
Despite the myth of Gay men not into sports (like myself), I have met quite a few Gay men who really are fanatical sports fans. Because of these friends, I have heard stories of many professional athletes who are Gay, and go to Gay bars and have lovers but few, if any, recognize who these guys are.
But let’s be honest…would the average hetero dude in a bar cheer on his team if he knew some fag was the reason his team was winning? Sorry, but I think the answer at this time is still a resounding NO. And considering the life span of a professional athlete is about the same as a fruit-fly, can you blame them for staying in the closet and raking in the bucks for as long as they can?
I’m just curious- is there ANY homophobe who’s going to be assuaged Tadano’s proclamation that he isn’t gay?
I don’t expect ANY homophobic fan is going to say, “What? You’re not gay? You only gave that guy a BJ for the money? Ohhhhhh! That’s different! Never mind.”
I think, in Boston at least, if you were teh most flaming man in the universe, they wouldn’t care as long as you could beat the Yankees in the playoffs.
I also think it’s not the fans that people worry about as much as the teammates. I remember when Tuaolo came out after he stopped playing and the analysts were talking about it. The former players were having a tough time being PC about the fact that “they don’t approve of his lifestyle” but that if he wanted to put up with all the crap he’d have to from his teammates, he was more than welcome to try it out. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.
I think it’s like anything else. The more you’re exposed to it, the more you get used to it and realize other people’s sexuality is as boring as your own is.
As a side question, anyone want to bet on the first major american sport to have an openly gay man on an active roster? My guess would actually be baseball, followed by football, then basketball, and finally hockey.