Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots … Your team has just lost the Super Bowl … What are you going to do next? “I’m going to dance shirtless on stage during a LMFAO set at a party!” Gronkowski, who played with a high ankle sprain, danced at the Patriots postgame party, along with a [...]
Posts under ‘Athletes Being Cool’
5 Indianapolis Colts dress in drag for “Real Housewives” Super Bowl spoof
This is pretty funny — Five members of the Indianapolis Colts dressed in drag for a skit on Jimmy Fallon’s NBC show spoofing the “Real Housewives” franchise (video below). How rare to see any American pro athlete do something like this. And there was even a Tim Tebow reference. Dallas Clark was ‘Sherry.’ Dan Orlovsky [...]
Brian Burke tells PFLAG: My son Brendan was my hero
Brian Burke, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, was honored by PFLAG as an “ally” at a dinner this week. Burke’s son Brendan was an assistant on the Miami of Ohio hockey team and died in a car crash on Feb. 5, 2010. Brendan’s coming out story was told just months prior on ESPN.com. [...]
Baltimore Ravens’ Brendon Ayanbadejo flexes his muscles for gay rights
One of the coolest and most gay-supportive pro athletes in the world is Brendon Ayanbadejo, linebacker and special teams player for the Baltimore Ravens. He has been a vocal supporter for gay marriage in Maryland and gay rights in general. He also has an awesome body that he showed off for the NoH8 campaign (see [...]
St. Michael’s College athletics teams combine for awesome It Gets Better video
This is cool — players from the men’s and women’s basketball teams, men’s hockey team and tennis team have combined to produce an It Gets Better video for St. Michael’s College in Vermont. One of the editors of the video is Brian Healey, captain of the Purple Knights men’s tennis team, who says this: I’m [...]
Rob Gronkowski says he’s sorry for posing with a porn star
New England Patriots Rob Gronkowski spent part of his bye week hanging out with porn star Bibi Jones. They had so much fun that Gronkowski posed shirtless (photo below) while Jones was wearing his #87 jersey. It seemed rather harmless to me, but now he has issued the obligatory apology. “I was not intending to [...]
Aussie rugby star David Pocock won’t legally marry until gays can
Australian rugby star David Pocock has a real sense of justice, supporting equal right and the fair trade movement. He’s also passionate about the rights of gays to marry, so much so that he and his partner, Emma, won’t legally marry until gays Down Under can. In a profile in the New Zealand Herald, Pocock [...]
Rangers drop Sean Avery, assign him to minor league club
The NHL career of Sean Avery is in limbo after he was cut by the New York Rangers and assigned to the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League. His agent said Avery was considering playing in Europe if he did not join the Whale. We’ve been big fans of Avery for all the stands [...]
High school swimmer, 16, starts blog as part of coming out process
“Sam I Am” is a new blog written by Sam, a 16-year-old high school junior in Pennsylvania. In ninth grade he was on the school swim team, but he quit his sophomore season, feeling inadequate and lonely, which he chalks up to wrestling with his sexuality. Sam now intends to rejoin his swim team this [...]
Outsports It Gets Better video: Brenner Green, collegiate runner
The latest video in Outsports’ partnership with the It Gets Better Project comes from Brenner Green, who is starting his senior year at Connecticut College. Brenner became known to Outsports readers after he wrote about how coming out gave him more confidence as a runner. I like Brenner’s use of humor in the video, especially [...]
Photo: Michigan rowers have some fun
We posted a column by Charley Sullivan, associate head rowing coach at the University of Michigan, where he talks about how being openly gay has helped make him a better coach. It’s obvious from the contact I had with Sullivan that the Michigan rowing team is a cohesive and successful group and, being college students, [...]
Philadelphia Phillies release anti-bullying video for It Gets Better project
Thanks to Joe in Philly for alerting us that the Philadelphia Phillies have released a video for the It Gets Better project featuring Chase Utley, Roy Halladay, Hunter Pence, John Mayberry, Jr. and Michael Stutes. The Phillies, with the Major League’s best record, join the growing list of baseball teams that have produced the anti-bullying [...]
Kansas college suspends golfers after they pose naked for team photo
The 15 members of the Bethany College Fighting Swedes golf team have been suspended for three tournaments after posing naked for a team photo (with golf clubs hiding the naughty parts). From KAKE: The men posed with the head of their golf club covering their private parts. The picture was then posted on facebook with [...]
Tim Hardaway, once anti-gay, stands up for gay rights in El Paso
This is one of the most positive stories I’ve seen in a long time: Former NBA player Tim Hardaway, who in 2007 said he “hates” gay people, is now campaigning in El Paso, Texas, against the recall of three city officials who restored domestic partnership benefits after they were stripped in a ballot referendum. Hardaway [...]
Jets QB Mark Sanchez likes “Glee,” Justin Bieber and show tunes
Time to dig out the gay stereotypes. New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez hits the trifecta in an interview and photo spread in GQ Magazine that is making the rounds. Maybe the most striking thing about Sanchez’s home is what’s on the DVR. Holding a white towel around his waist, heading for the shower, he [...]
British track athletes bare all in ad campaign for heart research
Four British track athletes have posed nude for an ad campaign by Alfa Romeo to raise money for heart research. Said sprinter Harry Aikines-Aryeete (full photo below): “I’ve actually been in a few photo shoots before but nothing to this degree. This is the most revealing I’ve been for a shoot and it really was [...]
Phillies to say “It Gets Better” (finally)
In the end, it seems DeSean Jackson’s stupidity helped do some good after all. I was pleased to see that MLB teams began to create their own “It Gets Better” videos to help combat bullying. The San Francisco Giants were the first to complete theirs, followed by the Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox. In [...]
French rugby player Alexis Palisson poses for cover of gay magazine
Add Alexis Palisson to the list of gay-friendly rugby players. The 23-year-old French star poses for the July-August cover of the gay magazine TETU. There is also a making of video (below) that is typically French in its bizarreness. The article is in French, but an online translation finds Palisson being cool with gay fans [...]
Chivas USA’s Justin Braun and Michael Lahoud become first pro teammates in NOH8 campaign
In recognition of the team’s Equality Night on July 23, Chivas USA players Justin Braun and Michael Lahoud are the first professional teammates to appear in the NOH8 campaign together. They join teammate and goalie Dan Kennedy in publicly opposing homophobia. Chivas USA is one of two Major League Soccer teams based in Los Angeles. [...]
Video: Ben Cohen, Dave Kopay panel discussing homophobia in sports
Rugby star Ben Cohen, who has just retired to focus full-time combating homophobia in sports, finished his U.S. tour where he spoke on his new StandUp foundation at several stops. One was at the University of Washington where he was joined on a panel by Dave Kopay, the former NFL player who came out as [...]