I’m glad Dan posted on hoopster John Amaechi. I’d been wanting to but almost felt like I just had too much to say about his coming out to stuff into a post. As a big NBA fan, I was thrilled at his self-outing. I just wish that Amaechi, who had a lot of potential as a player and some quality spurts (no fun intended) of good play, had had at least one big season, so that jackasses like Steve Luhm at the estimable (or, rather, predictable) Salt Lake Tribune wouldn’t have had crap like this to write:
“Let’s be clear about one thing. This isn’t about John Amaechi’s sexual orientation or his decision to write about being a gay man in the NBA in a soon-to-be-released book. This is about John Amaechi, basketball player with the Utah Jazz from 2001-03. Because it is, there’s little to tell. That’s because John Amaechi remains one of the worst players in franchise history. I’m not Amaechi-bashing here. I’m just stating a fact.”
Gee, Steve, if you’re not “Amaechi-bashing,” (how’s that for a euphemism), and there’s “little to tell,” than why bother to write that piece?
I also, as usual, and as regrettably as ever, found myself listening to sports talk radio in the car the other morning after Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made the statement about how an active player who decided to come out could make history, a name for himself, and huge marketing dollars. The doofuses, it doesn’t matter which ones – okay, if I recall, it was the FoxSports morning guys, JDub and Craig Shemon (hmm, *interesting* name, She-man, actually, especially re this conversation, eh, Craaaiiiig? Wow, homophobia is fun and easy! Maybe that’s why it’s so popular.) spent about twenty minutes sophomorically joking and arguing about gay jock marketability and, after being stumped, themselves, as to what products that a gay player could possibly sell, asked callers and emailers to contribute suggestions. Hosts and audience couldn’t come up with anything beyond skin products and pink shirts – oh, and Preparation H and KY jelly, har-dee-fucking-har-har – that a gay athlete could promote.
The Fox crew didn’t even conceive of an athlete’s gayness making him (And we’e definitely talking about the “him” style gays, here; lesbians have been rather astoundingly if still far from completely accepted, especially in basketball.) a viable shill for a non-sexuality associated product for the general public; I’m pretty sure it never crossed their minds. The boys were too busy changing the locks on that ornery closet door.
It was painful, infuriating stuff, and proof positive that as far as America’s tolerance of gay men by straight men has come, there’s a thousand times that far to go. The fear of all things homo- (aside from "-geneity," that is) is just too great – and listening to the radio goons, it’s apparent that it really is fear that fosters the hatred, as it does with most hatreds – it really is a “phobia.”
But just when it seems that all hope is lost for enlightened masculinity among male athletes and sports fans, a great man weighs in. When he is good, he is very very good; I speak of course, of Charles Barkley (check him out covering Michael Jordan in that top left photo), who had this to say:
“I got a ton of gay friends and I played with gay guys. I played with two or three gay guys; that’s their business and I could care less.”I know he’s nowhere near perfect, but I can’t help but love that man. Why aren’t more male professional athletes – more men in general, but especially athletes, who succeed ridiculously at being what society deems manly – at least a wee bit comfortable with their masculinity?
