Tonight’s episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel features a segment called “The Big Switch,” about three transgender sportswriters: Christina Kahrl of Baseball Prospectus; Bobbie Dittmeier of MLB.com; and the late Christine Daniels of the Los Angeles Times. When they came out as transgender, they formed an unlikely sisterhood. And, as Gumbel says in the piece, they ultimately fit a tragic statistic: One in three trans people commits suicide.

We had been contacted by producers of the show a few weeks ago looking for information on Daniels. We introduced them to Daniels’ good friend Suzy Horn, who speaks eloquently about Daniels in the piece. Horn shares about the struggles Daniels went through, the pushing of the Los Angeles Times that led to Daniels’ very public transition, and she and Gumbel talk at length about the funeral of Mike Penner that Daniels’ friends were banned from.

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The NCAA men’s college basketball tournament starts Thursday, and in addition to the great hoops action, it’s also an eye-candy feast.

Let us know who some of your favorites are. I’ll offer, via a reader, Purdue senior guard Chris Kramer: Continue reading →

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The Golden State Warriors held their first-ever gay night last week. Not only were there gay fans, but the Oakland-East Bay Gay Men’s Chorus sang the national anthem and Cheer San Francisco (incorrectly dubbed the “world’s only gay-identified cheerleading team” by the San Francisco Chronicle) performed at halftime. From the Chronicle:

Although no public announcement was made during the game that it was LGBT appreciation night, the audience clapped enthusiastically for the performers.

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Outsports was well-represented at the GLAAD Awards in New York City Saturday night. While we didn’t win in the Outstanding Digital Journalism category in which we were nominated, we were very proud to be nominated with in such a strong category (with so many other sports-focused articles). Not only did we not win, we didn’t finish second either: It was a tie for first. Everyone expected John Buccigross’ article about Brendan Burke to win, and an article over at AfterElton (that also highlighted the sports world) also won.

But the evening wasn’t about whether we won or lost, and it was a lot of fun (even if the ceremony was a little long). I don’t know why it’s still amazing to me that so many people know about Outsports, but it’s great to see so many faces recognize our community here and the hard work that all of our contributors — writers and readers — put in.

Some photos and personal thoughts about the event after the jump.

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Once again we will host an NCAA men’s basketball tournament pool.

The field of 65 is set, with Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Syracuse the four No. 1 seeds. You can sign up any time prior to the start of the first game Thursday.

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This is not sports-related, though who knows in the future. I was just made aware of a new site that is pretty addicting — The Wishing Well, an anonymous forum where men can post their innermost secrets. Love, betrayal, longing, humor … it’s all there.

Such as the one that begins, “i cheat on you every night…” or “Ralph, we used to have great sex in high school. What happened to us?” Or the one that starts, Alex, I’m sorry that I lied to you.” All the posts are very short but make their point effectively.

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The Cleveland Browns traded Brady Quinn to the Denver Broncos, meaning the NFL’s hottest quarterback will now be residing in the Rockies.

Quinn, a 2007 first-round pick who has been mediocre at best, was traded for fullback Peyton Hillis, a sixth-round pick in 2011 and a pick in 2012. Continue reading →

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As the “Johnny Weir family-friendly” story goes viral, it’s interesting to look at the ice-show political background.  Just two years ago, as 2008 came in, Johnny was set to skate for Champions on Ice, the gay-friendly tour where Rudy Galindo skated for an entire decade. Remember Rudy Galindo? Our 1996 U.S. National Champion who was not only out but as OTT as Weir  in his own unique way?  He who wore his own brand of outrageous costumes — like fluttering rainbow flags, and Village People costumes, and a large sequinned star on his butt?

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One of the greatest alpine skiers of the last 4-5 years is Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal. He has won World Championship and Olympic medals (many of them gold) in Slalom, Giant Slalom, Combined, Downhill and Super-G. Born December 26, 1982, the 27-year-old raked in a gold, a silver and a bronze in Vancouver. He got his first pair of skis when he was just 3; His mother died giving birth when he was 8. On his site he lists some of the places around the world that are important to him: New York (he goes every spring to visit friends); Dubai (with the indoor ski slope – I’ve been, there’s not much to it); and Vail/Beaver Creek, which he says is one of the greatest downhill courses in the world.

We have some pics and his video tribute to Michael Jackson (a must-see!). You can follow Aksel on Twitter.

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UPDATE: Johnny Weir (via Access Hollywood, via Towleroad) talks about the snub:

It is for real. I’ve never been invited to do ‘Star on Ice’ before, which is the only figure skating tour in the U.S., and it’s disappointing that I can’t perform for my American fans… all because I’m not ‘family friendly’ enough…. I totally understand that I am a little outrageous in some ways… I’m a little un-P.C., but I really wish I had the chance to perform for the American fans…. Maybe right now, just artistically and creatively, I’d love to have my own show and my own tour and involve some big musical acts, like maybe getting Lady Gaga…. Nobody would be too un-family friendly for my show.

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From a blog at Canoe in Canada, comes this chart from the Edmonton water utility that shows water use during the Olympic gold medal hockey game between the U.S. and Canada:

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Andrew McIntosh

Andrew McIntosh, captain of the Oneonta University lacrosse team in New York state, wrote about his coming out process in a moving piece for Outsports. His story touched a lot people and McIntosh has been deluged with e-mail from athletes, coaches and fans. His local paper, the Oneata Daily Star, has published a story and finds that reaction on campus is also positive.

Several lacrosse players agreed McIntosh’s revelation wasn’t a big deal.

“It didn’t really faze anybody,’’ Tom Kelly, 21, a SUNY Oneonta junior, said after the Red Dragons’ practice on the all-weather field near Hunt Union on Tuesday. “It’s not really looked at, `he’s homosexual,’ _ he’s our teammate. … We’re still all very comfortable together.’’ Continue reading →

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We’ve gotten a couple of e-mails recently from openly gay college athletes wanting to tell their story on Outsports. Over the years, we’ve told the stories of dozens of out college and high school athletes. What makes these young men different from the other stories we’ve read is that they don’t want to use their real names, and one of them doesn’t want to use the name of the college he’s at.

While we’ve written a couple articles about closeted athletes, these are coming-out stories…with athletes who won’t use their names. What do you think of that? If it’s a good story, is it worth telling even if the athlete won’t use his name?

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Tim Joyce writes about ending sports’ Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy for Real Clear Sports. While people talk about sports leading to cultural change in racial equality in the ’40s and ’50s, Joyce points out that it was the military, not sports, that lead the way; And hopefully sports will follow the military’s (hopefully) impending end of DADT:

So if the military indeed follows through and abolishes DADT, will team sports follow suit and allow their athletes to feel free and liberated if they do decide to live openly? After all, the armed forces has played a leading role in advancing the abolishment of discrimination before. After blacks and whites fought alongside each other in the battlefield, the specter of segregated baseball seemed ridiculous and inane following World War II. This helped pave the way for Jackie Robinson’s heroic and historic entrance with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

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Chris Morgan, who has won gold medals at the Gay Games in Powerlifting, has won the “Best Lifter” award at the British Deadlift Championships. Outsports has featured articles in the past about Morgan, known as Chunky.

He was lifting in the British drug-free single-lift championships, held in Horncastle, England, and made lifts of 462 pounds followed by 528 pounds and then 572 pounds to clinch the British Open title in the 181.5-pound class and also win the overall best lifter in proportion to body weight. Continue reading →

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