The author of a new book on the 1990s Dallas Cowboys rips a sportswriter at the time who speculated that then-Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman might be gay.
Jeff Pearlman is getting a lot of pub for his new book, “Boys Will Be Boys,” which deals with the 1990s Cowboys that won three Super Bowls and partied as well as they played. In an interview with the New York Times, Pearlman rips former Dallas columnist Skip Bayless for speculating on Aikman’s sexual orientation in his 1996 book “Hell-Bent.”
Dave Smith, the former Dallas Morning News sports editor, said of Skip Bayless: “His gay take on Aikman was the most unfair thing in my forty-five years of journalism.” Can you explain your feelings about Bayless?
Well, as a pure writer I think Bayless is an amazing talent; one of the best of this generation, skill-wise. But what he did with Aikman was truly wrong, and I think Smith’s characterization is right on the money. First off, he couldn’t have been sure Aikman was gay, because everything he was dealing with was speculation and gossip. Second, even if he knew, for a 100% fact, that Aikman was gay, you only write it if the man wants his sexuality out there. We do a lot of questionable things in this business-make tough choices every day of what to go with, what not to go with. But outing someone? And he’s not even gay? Evil. Absolute evil.
News flash to Pearlman: You can’t out someone who is not gay; it’s nonsensical. (From Webster’s on outing: “The public disclosure of the covert homosexuality of a prominent person.”) Speculation does not equal outing. Bayless was not the only one who speculated about Aikman back then; even his coach Barry Switzer mentioned it (some say as a vendetta against Aikman) and it was a common topic of conversation among NFL fans. Gay researcher and professor Eric Anderson has told Outsports that the most-asked question he used to get from his students was, “Is Troy Aikman gay?” Journalists speculate freely about drug use and the sex-capades of jocks and that’s OK. But suggesting someone might be gay makes them “evil?”
As I wrote two years ago:
Aikman denied he was gay, but his PR team at the time went through some elaborate lengths to prove his heterosexual bona fides. It seems that every few months Aikman was linked to some actress or another. And in the strangest story I ever read in Sports Illustrated, the author detailed Aikman’s quest for love and how he just couldn’t find the right woman.
Titled “Mr. Lonelyhearts” (Jan. 15, 1996), the story was a 5,417-word personal ad, with a sub-headline that read: “SWM, TALL, HANDSOME, 29, PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL PLAYER, SEEKS BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT YOUNG WOMAN TO HELP DESIGN DREAM HOUSE AND CREATE FAMILY EQUIVALENT OF AMERICA’S TEAM. MUST LIKE QUIET EVENINGS AT HOME, EITHER CRUISING AMERICA ONLINE OR ADMIRING TROPICAL FISH TANK. MUST SPEND SUNDAYS IN CROWDED STADIUMS ROOTING FOR DALLAS COWBOYS. DISLIKE OF 49ERS AND REDSKINS A PLUS, BUT NOT REQUIRED.”
Aikman has since married and has three children and is the lead analyst on Fox’s NFL coverage. So it is clear these rumors had zero effect on the quarterback’s ability to raise a family or earn a living.
But to Pearlman, what Bayless did was “absolute evil.” To me, this is misplaced moral outrage that is supposed to pass for tolerance.
What helps perpetuate homophobia is this idea that to merely speculate someone might be gay is wrong, as it equates homosexuality with something terrible. In 2004, a federal judge ruled that “stating that someone is homosexual does not amount to libel or slander, particularly in light of new court decisions granting gays more rights.” Is this ruling also “absolute evil?”
As the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Discrimination said at the time about the Bayless-Aikman flap: “Speculation about Troy Aikman’s sexual orientation is not the problem. The problem is homophobia perpetuated by the NFL and biased journalism.”
on Sep 19th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I remember the same rumors about Joe Montana and Dwight Clark; George Brett and Jamie Quirk; and Mike Piazza. They are still around to this day. I agree with your statements. Are these rumors based on fact or wishful thinking? They perpetuate homosexuality as being something to be ashamed of, especially with the veracity of the athletes’ denials of same. Perhaps one day more professional athletes will come out while actively playing and not retired or trying to sell a book after their careers are over.
on Sep 19th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
How about the idea that a man is not hetero or homo, just a man who has sex with men and women? What is gay? What is straight? We only limit ourselves when we limit our imagination to the boxes “straight” and “gay.”
on Sep 19th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
I agree with Darren’s comment above. What about Joe Doe, the athlete who has sex with women and men, might wanna marry a women and raise a family, might wanna marry a man and raise a family. And either way, John Doe still wants to be able to satisfy his sexual desires for both sexes (perhaps even with the spouse’s approval and participation).
Does all this make John Doe queer, evil or a good or bad role model? Should he be marching in gay pride parades? What if some tale about his private life becomes public? Does that mean the public knows every angle to the story? Does the public need to know? Does a player have to be “gay” and out and proud, or “straight” and out and proud? Or can a man play sports and keep his private life private, no matter his sexual tastes? Conversely, can a man play sports and choose to be open about his private life, no matter his sexual tastes?
For me, the ultimate goal is not to have openly gay athletes. The ultimate goal is that all levels of society, including athletics, accept the fact that men have sex with men, and it’s not about lifestyle or values, and all men, regardless of their sexual tastes, deserve respect and equal treatment.
That’s what matter most to me. What can we do to make all men equal in sports?
on Sep 19th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
As to Randy’s & Darren’s lines of thought, well, they seem to me to make some sense but also seem to me to be a tad tainted by discomfort at being labeled by others as gay. When I started playing organized football as a pre-teen kid, the cheerleaders even then seemed to be Jon Benet Ramsey wannabees, shaking their nascent booty in flagrantly heterosexually influenced gyrations. Figure out when that will end deep in the heart of Texas or Ohio or California, and then I’ll predict when labels about someone’s sexuality become irrelevant.
on Sep 20th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Well, of course gay men would have loved if Troy was gay.. Oh well! But the fact a journalist who have the nerve to do this, a journalist who did not work for a tabloid, is unacceptable. But of course, if this is what Skip Bayless did, I can see it. Watching him on ESPN2 in his debates, I want to scream he is such a jerk. Now I will always think of this.
on Sep 20th, 2008 at 11:45 am
Hi, Dave!
If Troy is actually a closeted gay, the unfortunate thing is he will have to remain that way until he is no longer a sports broadcaster. If he admits to it now, rest assured, he will be fired. No sports network would dare put an openly-gay commentator on it airwaves.
on Sep 22nd, 2008 at 12:11 pm
I disagree with the previous comment. No way would a network fire an announcer because he or she came out as gay. Hello? Gays have become way too empowered in the entertainment and legal industries to let someone get fired because they’re openly gay. Moreover, the networks would never do such a thing in this day and age. Gays might not be marriage material in America’s mind, but gays are green enough to withstand the Sarah Palins of the corporate world. If a gay man came out in sports or the sports booth, the Land of the Free would have no choice but to suck it up, like it or not, Jackie Robinson style.
on Sep 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 am
I don’t really care if Troy or any other sports star is gay or not, unless they are making public anti-gay statements. If a gay athelete wants to keep his life private, for the variety of reasons they might want to, starting and ending with the unfortunate reality of homophobia in sports, that is their business. Idle speculation is one thing, but if an athelete crosses the line and make anti-gay statements or positions, he is subject to outing as a hypocrite, and is fair game.
on Sep 23rd, 2008 at 4:22 pm
So agree with Randy Boyd
If we lived long enough everyone would get around to sleeping with someone of the same sex
Definitely, no need for there to be out athletes
Amazing thing to be with a man who does it for the time & what he experiences is so completly all of the blue no matter what the feeling
Makes me believe that we are all not so strongly identifying with the notion “I am gay” which is a neat thing
on Sep 26th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
as we all know, just because he’s married and has children, it doesn’t mean he’s straight.
in due time, aikman will come out if he truly is gay. is he even in the hall of fame yet? it would be a shame for the panel to exclude him from the hall of fame just because he was gay, which i could imagine happening if he came out “too soon”
on Sep 27th, 2008 at 11:44 am
What the hell is the difference if Troy Aikman is gay or straight? It does not change the obvious fact that he was a successful quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys and made them superbowl champions in the 90s. I wish all this gossip and speculation would just die out permanently. I am sick and damned tired of it. Furthermore, Troy Aikman’s personal life is nobody’s damn business. Enough of this nonsense, there are more important issues out there in the world.
on Sep 27th, 2008 at 5:27 pm