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!

LeVar Arrington says the first out NFL player will be a hero

Via Outsports: On his Washington DC-based radio show with Chad Dukes, former NFL Redskins player LaVar Arrington discussed an NFL player coming out of the closet, in response to Outsports' article highlighting 12 NFL players who wouldn’t care. Arrington retweeted dozens of responses he got, and he said that player would be held up as a “national hero”. Listen below:

Segment 1: says he will support a gay teammate

Segment 2: Teammate support

Segment 3: Callers talk about the topic of gay players and coming out

Segment 4: Gay athletes in the locker room

Segment 5: Discussion of gay athletes in sports

Segment 6: More on the discussion of gay athletes in sports

Outsports finds that younger NFL players are open to gay teammates

Thought-provoking reporting from Outsports:

Football players have long been cast as some of the most homophobic men in our culture. Sports, and in particular the NFL, is branded as the last closet because of that perception. Looking in from the outside, the evidence seems to be prevalent. We’ve never had an openly gay player in the NFL, and only a handful of former players have come out after they retired. Various football players over the last decade have shared anti-gay thoughts in the media. Even allies in the sport have said an athlete would have a very hard time coming out in the NFL because of the environment.

Yet when Outsports attended the NFLPA Rookie Premiere events in Los Angeles last week, we were met with a gay-positive attitude from every player we talked to; And some warmly welcomed us with open arms. A dozen different men from various teams, both rookies and recently retired, each expressed support for gay athletes. Many shared personal experiences involving gay friends, family members, and even a gay former teammate. These aren’t third-stringers we talked to. These men are NFL stats leaders, national champions and high draft picks. They are the past, present and future leaders of the NFL.


Keep reading HERE.

Outsports: Former NFL player Ahman Green talks about his gay brother and lesbian sister

Outsports' Cyd Zeigler goes hunting for pro footballers willing to talk about gays in their sport, and comes up with a great story:

Ahman Green was about 10 feet away, kneeling as he changed out of his cleats. He had just made some former NFL players look silly as he juked his way toward the end zone in the NFLPA’s Premiere League flag football game last Friday at UCLA. His team lost that day, but he looked like he hadn’t lost a step since he led the NFL in rushing almost 10 years ago.

I went to the event on a mission: Talk to NFL players about gay athletes and homophobia. I’d been credentialed to attend the event by the players union. But the players didn’t know I was coming. They didn’t know a gay guy would be roaming the field looking to talk about gay issues.

As I watched Jesse Palmer, Eddie George and “The Freak” Jevon Kearse ready for their game, I was intimidated. My head spun reason after reason to not talk to them. This wasn’t the place. These questions were too out-of-left-field. And most loudly: These guys didn’t want to talk about this shit.

As Green finished lacing his street shoes and rose back to his feet, I was overwhelmed with my own words: I’ve said for years that reporters should ask these questions. There was no reason not to. What were they afraid of? In that moment I knew what they were afraid of. That’s exactly why I approached the four-time Pro Bowler.

“I’m from Outsports. We cover mostly gay issues in sports, and homophobia in sports,” I told Green. “Have you ever had a gay teammate?”

There. Phew. I threw it out there. Now I just had to watch for his hands swinging at my head. Surely he’d try to slug me. Maybe I was hinting that he was gay. Maybe I was coming onto him. Whatever was going through his head, I was ready to duck.

“In our sport, to be honest, I think it would be hard for any guy to come out while he’s playing,” Green said. “And that’s not a happy thing to say. The gay community is just like everybody else, but they’re treated differently. It’s a double standard. If a guy was gay, he wouldn’t come out while he was playing. He knows the possibility of the scrutiny he might face from the locker room, which would be unfair. I am very open-minded. It is what it is. People are born that way. You can’t control it. Just like you’re white, I’m black. But a lot of people don’t think my way. I wish they did, because then there wouldn’t be guys who wanted to stay hidden.”

Keep reading HERE.

Outsports exclusive interview with former NFL player Wade Davis, now an advocate for LGBT youth

Cyd Zeigler of Outsports has written a fantastic profile of a fascinating man, Wade Davis, his career in pro football, his discovery of LGBT sport, and his work with youth at the Hetrick-Martin Institute. And watch the SBNation video interview with Davis:


It’s still dark in his small Upper East Side apartment when the alarm clock introduces Wade Davis to this Thursday morning in late May. His partner, Steven, sleeps while Davis slips into his regalia: A checkered shirt, slick pants and a bright tie. He kisses Steven and says good-bye. He’ll be back in a few days.

He leaves the apartment as the sun rises, headed for Penn Station. It’s a welcome couple days out of the office for Davis, a staff member at the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which serves lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning youth. Ten years ago, Davis had never heard the term “LGBTQ.” While a closeted cornerback struggling to make a roster in the National Football League, he was as far from the gay community as Ryan Leaf is from the Hall of Fame. Now, as assistant director of job readiness at HMI, Davis prepares these youth for the workplace. He wrangles corporations to run workshops and counsels his students on career opportunities. It’s the closest role to “coach” he could find at the Institute.

Keep reading HERE.

Advocate reports that disgusting NFL coach is even more disgusting than thought

From Advocate.com:

NFL Coach Calls Missed Play an "AIDS Convention"
A Washington Post reporter reveals on Twitter that he's confirmed Gregg Williams's history of using antigay slurs while coaching, but the alarming details didn't make it in print for "taste reasons."
By Lucas Grindley


Missing from The Washington Post's coverage of Gregg Williams, an NFL coach accused of putting a bounty on opposing players' limbs, is any mention of a particularly alarming antigay comment its sports reporter discovered.

In a conversation Monday on Twitter with fellow reporter Dan Steinberg, Mike Wise reveals that he confirmed Williams "used gay slurs with the best of them," as one player put it. A representative for the Post points out that it mentioned that in its profile of Williams, a former defensive coordinator for the Washington Redskins and New Orleans Saints who is now with the St. Louis Rams and is under investigation for a habit of giving bonuses to players who have injured opponents on the field.

But Wise shares an offensive quote he confirmed with multiple sources but says to his coworker, "Some things don't make it into the family newspaper, you know that." Executive editor Marcus Brauchli is known in the newsroom for his aversion to printing content that might be seen as offensive.

In the incident that was left out of print, a player misses a run-read and Williams barks, "You dumb, stupid [MF], you went in the wrong hole. You went in the wrong, [expletive] hole. We're not running an AIDS convention here."

Keep reading HERE.

LZ Granderson on the progress made by the NFL

LZ Granderson writes in his ESPN column on the progress made by the NFL in the field of homophobia:

It's been about 10 years since former NFL lineman Esera Tuaolo told HBO's "Real Sports" that he was gay. A lot has changed in the game since then.

Back then Tuaolo, who played in Super Bowl XXXIII, said he stayed in hiding for fear he could lose his career. Today, the owners of both the New York Giants and New England Patriots have publicly come out in support of marriage equality.
[+] EnlargeDavid Kopay, Esera Tuaolo
Gregg DeGuire/WireImageDavid Kopay, left was the first former NFL player to come out. Esera Tuaolo was the third.

Back then one-time teammate Sterling Sharpe, in reaction to Tuaolo's news, said an openly gay player wouldn't make it to his next game. Today, Section 1 of the NFL's new collective bargaining agreement reads: "No Discrimination: There will be no discrimination in any form against any player by the Management Council, any Club or by the NFLPA [NFL Players Association] because of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or activity or lack of activity on behalf of the NFLPA."

Over the years I have used my space on this website to chastise the sports world for dragging its collective feet when it comes to the topic of gays and lesbians in sports. But just as I have criticized boldly in the past, I also need to boldly applaud the progress made, particularly in the NFL.

Shortly after the lockout was lifted and the CBA ratified, NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said: "We certainly believe, speaking for the Players Association, that we have a tremendous social and cultural impact. We definitely understand the effect that we have on society and culture, and we feel we have a responsibility to have very high standards. With something like discrimination of any kind, we just want to make sure we are a symbol for good."

Mike Silver's waiting pen in hand for an active NFL player to come out

Gay Games Ambassadors David Kopay and Esera Tuolo,
former NFL players, both came out after retiring

From Michael Silver's "Open Mike" column on Sports Illustrated's website, on his hopes of an active NFL player coming out (preferably via his reporting):

It's true that some fans are never going to be able to tolerate homosexuality of any kind, and judging from the many pieces of legislation that have passed in states banning gay marriage, there are red states in which same-sex love is considered sacrilegious by a significant proportion of the population. Yet I've also talked to plenty of players who, unlike Hearst, are surprisingly enlightened when it comes to such matters. They're used to being in huddles with men whose backgrounds, political and religious orientations and social habits are strikingly different, and they understand that the truly successful teams manage to forge a bond in spite of all this and play football like de facto brothers.

Because of its brutally physical nature, football roots out insincerity like no other team sport. A player who demonstrates his toughness and willingness to sacrifice for his teammates receives a whole lot of slack when it comes to off-the-field matters, more than the casual fan might imagine. Call me crazy, but if a guy were to play like Ray Lewis on Sunday afternoon, he could show up for Wednesday morning's meeting wearing a feather boa and tight leather pants, whip out the latest issue of Martha Stewart Living and brag about the backstage passes he'd received for the upcoming Barbra Streisand concert without receiving anything more than playful grief from his teammates.

I'm not trying to sound superficial. I know there's a lot of hate and fear out there. I realize some people get physically attacked for failing to disguise their homosexuality, and most of the time Shaquille O'Neal isn't there to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Read in full HERE.

No Tebow for It Gets Better

From the Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON -- The Denver Broncos have responded to an online campaign urging the team to make a video for the It Gets Better project, indicating that they won't be jumping on the anti-bullying project anytime soon.

Nearly 8,000 individuals have signed onto a Change.org petition for the Broncos and their high-profile quarterback Tim Tebow to become the first NFL team to create a video for It Gets Better, which was started by sex columnist Dan Savage and his husband in September 2010 in response to the disturbing number of suicides by teenagers who said they were being bullied for being gay or perceived to be gay.

In 2010, Tebow controversially starred in an ad for the right-wing group Focus on the Family, which opposes LGBT rights. In fact, the organization has argued that there "is no evidence that homosexuals, as a class, are discriminated against in the present society."

Petition organizer and Broncos fan Andy Szekeres said an It Gets Better video would help Tebow and the Broncos say, "We may have differences on abortion and gay marriage, but stopping kids from killing themselves is an issue we can all get behind."

But in a statement to The Huffington Post, Broncos spokesman Patrick Smyth gave no indication that the team would be participating anytime soon.

"The Denver Broncos are committed to tolerance, acceptance and respect for all in the community," said Smyth. "The National Football League is currently working with USA Network on its 'Characters Unite' campaign combating prejudice and intolerance, and our organization is in full support of that movement to help raise awareness for this very important cause."

Keep reading HERE.

Outsports looks at the "alternative" proposed by the NFL HERE, while we ask: why can't they do both? Oh, that's why...