With the Super Bowl only days away, it’s time to revive a classic that has long been forgotten: An academic paper from 1978 by Cal-Berkeley anthropologist Alan Dundes called “Into the End Zone for a Touchdown: A Psychoanalytic Consideration of American Football.” I can sum it up with this opening line from a 1978 Time [...]
Posts under ‘Academia’
The day Joe Paterno cursed me out, or why I am glad he is gone
I am a graduate of Penn State University and yet have never been a fan of football coach Joe Paterno. So I am not saddened that he is out, effective immediately. His actions – and rather inaction – in the child molestation case against former assistant Jerry Sandusky made it impossible for him to continue. [...]
Openly gay college athlete needs other athletes for honors thesis
We have featured Brenner Green before, a college runner in Connecticut who did a great It Gets Better video and also wrote about his coming out experiences. He has a great idea for his senior honors thesis and needs the help of other athletes. I’ll let him explain: Hi, my name is Brenner Green and [...]
Expert panel debates the homophobia that confronts lesbians in sports
When you get Pat Griffin, Lisa Howe, Lauren Lappin, Sherri Murrell and Mechelle Voepel together to discuss the problems facing lesbians in sports, you know the subject will be addressed with honesty, great insight and clarity. The five were on the “Rainbow Ceiling” panel recently sponsored by the Association for Women in Sports Media. Moderated [...]
Eric Anderson’s latest study shows increasing acceptance of gay athletes by teammates
Eric Anderson (aka Coach Gumby) has long been one of the world’s leading academics on gay-sports issues. Recently his research revealed an increasing trend of young straight men kissing one another. Now comes an update on his research into the treatment of gay athletes. Previously explored in 2002, Anderson has brought his analysis into 2010 [...]
Majority of NCAA trainers are gay-positive
A majority of athletic trainers at NCAA college and universities hold a positive view of of gay and lesbian student-athletes, a first-of-its-kind survey has found. Trainers also dealt with a much higher percentage of lesbian athletes than gay athletes. The conclusion of the survey of 964 heterosexual athletic trainers, published in the current issue of [...]
Athlete Ally launched to fight homophobia
Hudson Taylor, the former University of Maryland wrestling star and now assistant wrestling coach at Columbia University, has launched a new project aimed at making sports a safe place for gay athletes. Athlete Ally is a website paired with a YouTube channel with the goal of getting pledges from athletes, coaches, administrators and fans (regardless [...]
Gay, straight teenagers more alike than not
While this is not exactly sports-specific, a recap of new research contradicts some long-held beliefs about being a gay teenager. Basically, according to this excellent article by Jane Brody in the New York Times, gay teens aren’t much different than their straight counterparts. The good news is that recent research finds more similarities than differences [...]
Study: Straight men kissing more often
Eric “Coach Gumby” Anderson, the cross-country-coach-turned-sociologist, recently released a fascinating study showing that homophobia among British teenage boys has become so mellow in many areas that straight boys think nothing of making out with one another. The trend toward male same-sex smooches has skyrocketed in recent years, Anderson said. It began on the professional soccer [...]
Colorado urged not to hire coach over gay views
A group of employees at the University of Colorado are opposed to the school hiring Bill McCartney as its football coach because of his past actions that they deem homophobic and sexist. From a CU podium in 1992, McCartney referred to homosexuality as “an abomination against almighty God” in support of Amendment 2, which prohibited [...]
Gay coach seeks other coaches for thesis
Jeff Thomae, a graduate student at Minnesota State University in Mankato, and himself a diving coach, is seeking gay male college coaches for his thesis. He said he has three coaches already but needs more to be able to do the research. All respondents are promised confidentiality. Thomae describes what he is looking for: I’m [...]
Take the sports participation survey
My friend Evan Brody, a doctoral student at the USC School of Communication, is doing some research into getting a better understanding of why people choose to participate in recreational sports. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete and is anonymous. It would be great if a lot of you took the time take [...]
A gay athlete’s “It Gets Better” video
We wrote yesterday about Eastern Michigan starting a group for gay athletes and their allies. One of the board members is Austin Hendrix, 21, a runner on the school’s cross-country team. Hendrix also has done a video for “It Gets Better,” the online project started in reaction to suicides by gay teens who have been [...]
Roses Are Red… And So Are Fields?
Boise State is going into the season ranked #5 in the Coaches’ Poll. And the first thing many people think about when they say Boise State is that insane blue field they’ve got up there. Well, someone at Eastern Washington University saw that pretty little 5 by Boise State’s name and a light bulb turned [...]
Gay volunteers needed for UCLA study
As a public service, we are posting this after being contacted by the UCLA School of Medicine: Researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine are exploring gay men’s experience with gender roles. To participate, you will be asked to complete several psychological questionnaires online. It will take approximately 25–30 minutes to participate. All will be [...]