It is fitting and appropriate that Joe Paterno was fired tonight by Penn State. The winning head football coach at one of the nation’s proudest programs simply could not take the field with the Nittany Lions against Nebraska on Saturday. Earlier in the day Paterno tried to cut off the school’s move by agreeing to [...]
Posts under ‘College Football’
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. [...]
LSU beats Alabama 9-6 in a snoozefest, not the “Game of the Century”
The only good thing about LSU’s dull 9-6 overtime win over Alabama in a game the media hyperventilated about all week is that we won’t see a rematch in the BCS title game. At least we better not. College football fans don’t deserve to be put to sleep again. I can appreciate a great defensive [...]
Same-sex pedophilia scandal rocks Penn State football, involving Jerry Sandusky
Penn State athletic director Tim Curley has been charged with perjury in connection with allegations that former football team defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky (right) sexually abused eight young men. According to the Associated Press: The attorney general’s office said Sandusky, 67, of State College, was arrested Saturday. Curley, 57, and Penn State vice president for [...]
Michigan State stuns Wisconsin, 37-31, on last-play Hail Mary touchdown pass
Wow. In what was the best ending I’ve seen in either a college or pro football game this season, Michigan State beat Wisconsin, 37-31, on a last-play throw-it-up-and-hope touchdown pass (video below). The pass was thrown by Kirk Cousins and was caught off a ricochet by Keith Nichol, a former QB. The refs first ruled [...]
Northwestern athletic department says ‘It Gets Better’
Joining the ranks of many Major League Baseball teams, the Northwestern University athletic department has put together an ‘It Gets Better’ video (after the jump) featuring school athletic director Jim Phillips, head football coach Pat Fitzgerald (right) and star men’s basketball player John Shurna, among others. Phillips said: We are excited to join with the [...]
Michigan to show anti-homophobia PSA at Saturday’s football game
Our good friend Howard Bragman has been busy helping to organize the 40th anniversary celebration of the nation’s oldest LGBT center on a campus, the University of Michigan’s The Spectrum. So it was with tons of excitement that he called today to tell us about this PSA that will air during their football game on [...]
TCU’s Vincent Pryor proved you can be an out gay man and play football
I hope people read the article we posted this week on Vincent Pryor, the TCU player who came out as gay to his team in 1994 and then set a school record for sacks in a game. His story is amazing and demolishes the idea that it’s not possible for an openly gay man to [...]
Meet Andrew Luck, former grizzly man
In November, 2009, we highlighted Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck as our weekend hot jock. We said then he was one to watch and that you’d be hearing a lot about him. Certainly his performance on the field has lived up to our hype – but the latest cover of ESPN the Magazine makes us rethink [...]
Moment #69: Ed Gallagher survives suicide attempt
Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history. Football, 1985. Former Pitt Panther standout Ed Gallagher lied down atop the Kensico Dam, asked God for forgiveness, and rolled into the open space 100 feet above the ground. Gallagher had recently given into his gay sexual desires for the first [...]
Outsports partners with It Gets Better to highlight videos shot by athletes and coaches
Outsports is excited to announce a new partnership with the It Gets Better Project™. Together the two organizations will feature videos by out LGBT people in sports. We have begun contacting athletes, coaches and administrators whose coming out stories have appeared on Outsports to make videos, and the response has been enthusiastic. Among those who [...]
Openly gay wrestler Akil Patterson profiled by his hometown newspaper
Last year we ran the story of Akil Patterson, the former University of Maryland football player who is now an elite-level Greco-Roman wrestler. Today his hometown paper, the Baltimore Sun, ran a terrific front page story in sports recounting how Patterson substance abuse and anger issues were related to him dealing with his sexuality. What [...]
Chris Jones, Illinois football player, involved in alleged hate crime, suspended from team
Illinois lineman Chris Jones has been arrested for aggravated assault stemming from an incident last weekend, and some say it was an anti-gay hate crime. Illinois head coach Ron Zook has suspended Jones indefinitely for the incident. Jones has been charged with aggravated assault and not a hate crime because the former carriers a heavier [...]
Former college football linebackers tell of atmosphere of homophobia while playing
Inside Higher Education has a comprehensive look at a research study focusing on seven former college football linebackers, all of whom identify as “non-straight,” and how awful their experiences were while playing. The study by Lawrence J. Mrozek and Elizabeth Burns found: When players were found out, they could become targets. One former student who [...]
Matt Barkley, USC quarterback, Tweets that he is against equality for gay Americans
USC quarterback Matt Barkley has taken issue with the Obama Administration’s decision to not defend the Defense of Marriage Act in court. Last Wednesday he Tweeted that he was shaking his head over the decision; Then he said he isn’t a homophobe, he’s just standing up for his belief that gay people are second class [...]
Did you watch the BullCrap Series game?
Someone lamented that we have not posted about the BullCrap Series game last night, so I’m filling the void. I was in annual “boycott the BCS title game” mode so I didn’t watch it. The system is a sham and I wish everyone would realize that we could get a playoff if we all stopped [...]
BCS hot jocks: Cam Newton, Jeff Maehl
The college football season ends tonight with the BCS title game between Oregon and Auburn. My pick is Oregon, 38-30, but one bonus will be to see some good eye candy on both teams. My picks for the hottest on each team are: Cam Newton (Auburn quarterback) and Jeff Maehl (Oregon receiver). Since we are [...]
Big Ten to reconsider names of divisions
The Big Ten has taken some heat for the new names of the conference’s two divisions: Legends and Leaders. How someone could give the final approval on those names is beyond my understanding. It seems the conference is debating whether to change the names because the response has been so terrible. And if they’re going [...]
Big Ten names award after anti-gay Tony Dungy
Also check out my column on this issue on the Huffington Post. The Big Ten may have chosen the worst division names in history, but they outsunk themselves by choosing to name the conference’s humanitarian award after openly homophobic Tony Dungy. The former Minnesota quarterback has raised money for a rabidly anti-gay organization that has [...]
Outsports at 10: Remembering Ed Gallagher
Outsports is 10 years old. It’s been an incredible journey for both Jim and me. The most fulfilling aspects of the first decade of Outsports has been meeting some incredible people and telling some incredible stories. For the rest of 2010 we’ll revisit some of the stories that touched us and that had an impact [...]