[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9fcjR-d-7M]
I must have been living on the Moon the past few days but I was not aware that Florida safety Tony Joiner kissing quarterback Tim Tebow Saturday was as big of a deal as it is. The gay blog Towleroad linked to at least three Florida papers that talked about it.
The Kiss has apparently caused quite a stir, the Florida Times-Union said.
The quick peck that Florida safety Tony Joiner planted under the left ear of quarterback Tim Tebow on Saturday following Tebow’s touchdown run in the Gators’ rout of Tennessee was still a hot topic on Monday.
Fans were talking about it on the radio and message boards, and Tebow was still receiving questions about it during his weekly news conference.
“I got teased a lot about it [over the weekend],” Tebow said. “When it happened, I didn’t even really think about it. That’s Tony.”
… That’s my roommate. I love him,” Joiner said after the game. “We’ve grown close.”
Uh, what’s the big deal here? Has no one in Gainesville ever seen jocks kiss?
In the past year, we’ve reported on at least four kisses in the NFL: Bill Cowher and Joey Porter of the 2006 Steelers; Jeff Garcia and Jeremiah Trotter of the Eagles; and Chad Johnson-T.J. Houshmandzadeh and Chad Johnson-Willie Anderson of the Bengals. The kiss has also become a staple in soccer, and Isiah Thomas and Magic Johnson kissed on the court all the time during the Pistons-Lakers rivalry.
If kissing a teammate meant someone was gay, then the wow factor would kick in. But in the heat of competition, this stuff does happen and we all twitter about it. But if Joiner and Tebow ever start a Gainesville chapter of Black and White Men Together, then my eyebrows will be raised. –Jim Buzinski
on Sep 19th, 2007 at 2:36 PM
Much ado about nothing.
on Sep 20th, 2007 at 1:43 PM
I agree. Only the truly emotionally repressed would bothered or surprised by it.
Guys shouldnt be afraid to be close.
on Sep 20th, 2007 at 5:25 PM
Sports bring up lots of emotion. Seems like a natural expression of appreciation…whats the big deal?? Maybe we need to see more of this so we can get past it?
on Sep 21st, 2007 at 2:14 PM
This brouhaha is so American–we’re absolutely unhinged about guys kissing. In most of Europe and the Middle East, men kiss each other all the time– the most macho cultures seem to do it the most–and no one bats an eye. I remember watching a men’s gymnastics competition sometime back in the 1980s before the fall of Communism. Bart Conner was a commentator and he was horrified that, on the East German team, each guy, after performing a routine, would receive a congratulatory kiss from each of his teammates (“on the LIPS!!”, as I remember Bart breathlessly remarking). My European friends can’t figure us out, and I don’t blame them.
on Sep 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 AM
The only ones making a deal out of it are the rednecks and the bigots. Average guys like myself didnt even notice till they pointed it out.
on Sep 26th, 2007 at 3:28 PM
I think it was turned into a big deal because 1.) Tim Tebow is the best thing to happen to UF football in decades or something, and 2.) It was a black guy kissing a white guy.
To be honest, I thought it was adorable. And I loved the way the men handled it–saying that they kiss all the time, and that they love each other very much. They didn’t have to hold press conferences to assert their masculinity and their heterosexuality. They’re best friends, that’s all.
on Oct 6th, 2007 at 9:32 PM
Agree. Much ado about nothing. If I had a dime for every time one of my SAE fraternity brothers planted a kiss on my cheek, I’d be a bit more well off. It always made me weak in the knees but that was because I was gay and they were not!
on Oct 24th, 2011 at 1:41 PM
He shouldn’t be so anti-gay and then do something thats perceived as gay and it wouldn’t be a problem.