Outsports' red carpet interviews: Rob Gronkowski and Cedrick Ceballos

Outsports' Cyd Zeigler Jr went to the ESPY's, the awards of cable sports network ESPN, where he did some great interviews. Here are snippets of two of them:

American football player Rob Gronkowski
I was taken aback a bit when Gronkowski stepped away from me upon hearing I was “with Outsports, we call it ESPN for homos.” The man who had quickly become one of my favorite athletes on my favorite team was about to be the first pro athlete to refuse an interview with me about gay issues in the NFL.

[...]

“How would you feel if one of your teammates on the Patriots came out of the closet this season?”

This time he didn’t pause.

“If that’s how they are, that’s how they are,” Gronkowski said. “I mean, we’re teammates so, as long as he’s being a good teammate and being respectful and everything, that’s cool.”

And with that, Gronkowski added his name to the growing list of professional athletes who would welcome a gay teammate. Because of the way we treat celebrities in our culture, it nearly didn’t happen. As a fan of the player and his team, I was proud he got past his fears of the potential backlash and gave me a minute of his time.


And...

Former professional basketball player Cedric Ceballos
Former NBA All-Star Cedric Ceballos told Outsports he played with a gay teammate in college and looks forward to a day when homophobia is in our distant past. We caught up with Ceballos at the ESPY Awards on July 11, where the former Cal State Fullerton star told us about his gay former teammate and roommate.

There's lot more of each interview, so make sure you read them in full!