The real Thorpedo

July 14, 2014

In 2012, swimmer Ian Thorpe published his memoir, “This Is Me.” Except it wasn’t. Well, not entirely.

In his memoir, Thorpe denied rumors that he was gay, said he dated only women and added that he looked forward to marrying and having children.

He may still be looking forward to marrying and having kids but it will be with a man: Thorpe recently revealed in a TV interview in his native Australia what many of us have long suspected – that he’s gay.

Jason Collins, the first openly gay player in the NBA, was among the first to tweet support. To those who are inclined to withhold such encouragement, pointing to Thorpe’s hypocrisy and deception, I say, Walk a mile in the guy’s size 17 shoes.

Jason Collins, the gay Jackie Robinson

February 25, 2014

Jason Collins has rejoined the Nets with a difference: He becomes the first openly gay athlete in any of America’s four major sports.

There’s lots of symbolism here: The team now plays in Brooklyn, where Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. The Nets are owned by Mikhail D. Prokhorov, from Russia, which has taken a tough anti-gay stance. And Collins will wear his regular No. 98, in honor of Matthew Shepard, the college student who was murdered for being gay in 1998.

Collins may soon be joined in pro sports by Michael Sam, who’s just come out and is on-target to be drafted by the NFL.

All of which makes me look prescient for publishing “Water Music,” a novel about four gay athletes and how their shifting rivalries color their personal relationships with one another.

Mountain Men: The Sochi downhill and the uphill battle of Michael Sam

February 11, 2014

The Caucasus are a long way from the gridirons of America, but they both yielded big news Sunday, Feb. 9 that spoke to the allure of male power and its limitations.

Matthias Mayer of Austria took gold in the men’s downhill – one of the most glamorous, thrilling and dangerous of Olympic sports – ending a 12-year Austrian drought in the event.

The men’s downhill is two minutes and change of pure testosterone. It’s men against a mountain and a clock. Hemingway couldn’t have scripted a crisper, cleaner, crueler narrative. And while the women ski the same disciplines as the men, I don’t know, they’re not as exciting.

“It’s just in my mind, for lack of a better word, kind of a manly sport,” veteran American skier Marco Sullivan said of the downhill in The New York Times. And it demonstrates what’s so attractive about men – their speed, their power, their abandon, for no one wins the downhill without combining technique with risk-taking. Veer too much to the former and you’ll ski too cautiously. Stray too close to the latter and you’ll crash and burn. (American favorite Bode Miller, anyone?)

The dark-horse winner Mayer said he eliminated his final training runs to conserve power for the race. That comment conveys the truth of power, which is as much about retaining as it is attaining. Read more

Mr. Rodgers’ neighborhood

January 1, 2014

So I’m Googling Aaron Rodgers to give him a shout-out on Twitter for having the guts to come back from a broken collarbone and maneuver the Green Bay Packers into the playoffs when up pops this stuff about him being rumored to be gay and how the personal assistant (code for boyfriend) left him after he reneged on coming out.

Rodgers addressed the issue Tuesday on his weekly radio show.

"I'm just going to say I'm not gay," he said on 540 WAUK-AM in Milwaukee. "I really, really like women. That's all I can really say about that."

Here’s what I’ve learned from life thus far: No one ever really knows anyone. He could say he was gay, straight, bisexual, neither and we still wouldn’t know any more than we do right now. So I figure as long as people aren’t hurting others, they are entitled to their privacy.

Which brings up an interesting question: When does truth trump privacy? Read more