1992 Super Bowl halftime

While this may be the “gayest Super Bowl ever,” especially with Madonna as the halftime entertainment, Deadspin’s Tom Scocca’s reminds us that the big game has had a gay influence for a long time.

In fact, a survey of Super Bowl halftime history reveals that, pace Madonna, these splashy, highly choreographed song-and-dance theatrical routines have often owed a debt to gay culture. The early shows may have featured old-fashioned university marching bands, but by Super Bowl V, Carol Channing was headlining. By Super Bowl XXVI, Brian Boitano was figure-skating onstage, with music by Gloria Estefan.

Scocca has put together an inspired and brilliant chart placing all 45 Super Bowl halftime shows on the Kinsey 1-6 scale. Disney’s New Mousekeeters of 1977 are a 1, an “exclusively heterosexual” act, while I loved him putting the 1972 Carol Channing, Ella Fitzgerald and U.S. Marine Corps Drill Team as a 5.5 on the gay scale. Last year’s Black Eyed Peas were rated “asexual.” Comedy gold.

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Hot players of the week

The Patriots and Giants hold on to reach the Super Bowl as the Ravens and 49ers make crucial game-deciding errors.

How I saw the AFC and NFC championships games:

Wow. That was the best Sunday ever for conference championship games. The 49ers-Giants game came down to the last play, with the Giants winning 20-17 in overtime. The Ravens-Patriots came down in essence to the last play, with the Patriots holding on, 23-20, when Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a chippy 32-yarder. “A miracle,” Cyd texted me after the game. Being a Pats hater, it was more a nightmare for me. My pregame picks, though, were pretty spot-on – Patriots 24-20, Giants 23-20. Patriots-Giants II in the Super Bowl in two weeks.

This is the first time that both Super Bowl teams easily could have – and probably should have – lost in the conference title games. If Lee Evans of the Ravens hangs on to a Joe Flacco pass in the end zone for a split second longer, Baltimore wins. And if Kyle Williams does not fumble two punts for the 49ers, the second in overtime, San Francisco almost certainly wins. Such is life in the ultra-competitive NFL, where one or two plays can decide a season.

I will write my annual Super Bowl for the clueless next week, but my first take is the Giants to win. I know New England is a 3-point favorite, but my money is on the Giants. I think they match up well with the Patriots and know they can beat them since they’ve done it the last two times. Is Eli Manning Bill Belichick’s Kryptonite?

The Ravens have to be sick about their loss since they did everything except score more points. If you had said before the game that Flacco would outplay Tom Brady (he had a QB rating 40 points higher) and that the Ravens would gain 398 yards and have the ball for seven more minutes, you would have assumed a Baltimore win. This was a case of one team losing it more than another winning. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good and this win harkened back to the early Patriots’ Super Bowl runs when they would not play their best and still win; that’s the best thing they have going for them heading into the Super Bowl.

Cundiff’s field goal miss was the shortest ever to tie or win a playoff game. I had a feeling he would miss since the whole attempt was rushed and the ball was snapped as the play clock hit zeros (here’s a great analysis of why the kick was missed). The Ravens had a timeout and it’s baffling they did not call one to make sure everything was in order with the game on the line.

And the Evans drop was hard to swallow since he had the game in his hands. It’s true Sterling Moore knocked the ball loose, but Evans had it in his hands and simply needed to secure it for one more second (there is a debate over whether the NFL should have reviewed it, though it was not a catch) and it’s game over. Vernon Davis got drilled by a Saints’ player the week before and he held on. The pass from Flacco was the best any of the four QBs threw Sunday, but in the end it didn’t matter. The Ravens ran off 24 plays on their final three drives for 127 total yards and got zero points. During the same stretch, the Pats ran four plays.

Finally, don’t get me started on the Ravens’ play-calling by offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, running when they should have passed and passing when they should have run. They survived similar head-scratchers a week earlier against the Texans, but the Patriots ain’t the Texans. Cameron is rumored to be on his way out, so that’s addition by subtraction. Maybe Flacco wasn’t the problem all along.

In the NFC, the Giants should award their game ball to the 49ers’ Williams for his two fumbled punts. The Giants’ 10 points in the second half and OT all came after the Williams’ fumbles and negated a heroic effort by the 49er defense, which was on the field for 95 plays.

The key, besides the fumbles, was the 49ers being unable to mount consistent drives. They had three big plays – two TD passes to Davis from Alex Smith and a Smith pass to Frank Gore that set up the second Davis TD. San Francisco was 1 of 13 on third downs and that kept the Giants within striking distance all game. A week after playing lights out against the Saints, Smith was a pedestrian 12 for 26 and the 49ers’ last four drives with the game on the line were three plays, three plays, three plays and three plays and zero first downs.

So far, the 2011 season is playing out like the 2007 season for the Giants. Given up for dead in December both years, only to make the playoffs. In their first playoff game they beat an NFC South team (Tampa in 2007 and Atlanta this season); in their second they beat the No. 1 seed (Dallas and Green Bay) and in their conference championship they win at the No. 2 seed in bad weather (cold Green Bay and rainy San Francisco) on an overtime field goal by Lawrence Tynes following a turnover. We’ll see if the Super Bowl makes this a perfect case of deja vu.

Hot players of the week: If the Super Bowl was a bodybuilding contest, the Giants would crush the Patriots. I’ve featured punter Steve Weatherford before for having the best body of any kicker maybe ever. He made a great play in handling a bad snap on the game-winning field goal by Tynes. And it’s hard not to notice the Devin Thomas, who loves going shirtless and who Sunday recovered both fumbled San Francisco punts.

Devin Thomas, left, and Steve Weatherford of the Giants

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At least one person, Santa Barbara-based bartender Emmett Bentley, has already accepted the challenge and executed said tattoo (picture above). Times are indeed tough. We hope Shaq pays up…with Barkley in attendance. Video coverage of Bentley’s tattoo after the jump. 

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LSU and Houston are the only major unbeaten teams and Houston has zero shot of making the title game (it’s not fair, it just is). If LSU wins out, the Tigers will get one slot in the title game. But who will get the second?

There are a bunch of one-loss teams, led by Alabama, Oregon and Oklahoma — one of those has the inside track simply because they rank higher in the standings. But what about Clemson or Virginia Tech or Arkansas (which plays LSU next week), or Stanford or Boise State for that matter? (Note: Oregon, Oklahoma and Clemson all lost Saturday). It will be impossible to say that any of the one-loss teams is clearly better than the others. And if LSU should lose, the BCS might as well draw two names out of a hat. It couldn’t happen to a more screwed-up system.

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It’s something he’d been thinking about for 13 years. One of the impetuses for producing the video this year was a sports initiative from the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission. The program, titled “Fair go, sport,” is designed to promote sexual and gender diversity in field hockey. With an advertising background, Johnston felt the program was a little lacking.

“Part of me doing this video was a response to that campaign, which I found a little frustrating because I saw how limited it was and how little it was scratching the surface of what needed to be talked about,” Johnston told Outsports over the phone from Melbourne.

The YouTube video in which he came out was titled, “The reality of homophobia in sport.” Yet Johnston says he never faced overt homophobia in all his years playing field hockey.

“I would be lying if I said I was the recipient of direct, aggressive acts of homophobia,” Johnston said. “It’s about this kind of fog that spreads through the sporting culture that is there. It’s almost this unwritten idea of masculinity and machoism and all those things that exist around it. Being a homosexual, in a cliched sense, contradicts those ideas.”
Johnson says he never experienced homophobia on the field. It was largely what he calls the “ingrained attitudes in sport” and his own personal, emotional struggle coming to terms with his sexuality, that kept him closeted for so many years.

“Although people don’t actively discriminate, they also don’t actively create an environment that’s inclusive,” Johnston said. “And that’s not just about homosexuality, but it can be in relation to race and gender as well.

“There wasn’t homophobia directed at me personally, but I was still witness to that behind-the-back sneering and rude remarks directed at other people. And that’s why I felt complicit in that, because I hadn’t actively stood against that. If I were a young gay guy and in the closet and my mates were making jokes about somoene wh owas gay, then that would be enough to scare me, to make me think, ‘I don’t want people talking about me behind my back.’”

When he made the video during the summer (rather, his winter), he doubted whether anyone would notice, whether anyone would care. Johnston, a field hockey goalie, isn’t exactly a household name, even in his hometown of Melbourne. While Aussie Rules Football, cricket, soccer and swimming dominate the sports pages, field hockey is likely akin to lacrosse in the United States.

Still, Johnston played at the most elite level of his sport within the state of Victoria at the southern tip of Australia; Victoria is the country’s second most populus state with about 5.5 million people. He was on scholarship with the Victoria Institute of Sport for seven years. And while he didn’t make a living from his sport, he spent about 20 hours per week practicing and competing during the season, which runs during the Australian winter from March to September.

Hockey Victoria’s CEO Ben Hartung was effusive in praising Johnston’s decision:

My personal respect for Gus was elevated even further on Monday of this week when he contacted me to notify me that he had produced a video to highlight his personal challenges and experiences in relation to his sexuality and that he would like me to watch the video. I am very grateful for the opportunity that Gus provided me because the video that I watched was extraordinarily powerful and thought provoking. In the video, Gus declares that he is a gay man and courageously he relates his personal journey in reaching this declaration.

Towleroad’s Brandon Thorp called Johnston’s video “emotional” and “erudite.” The Good Men Project’s Kile Ozier called it “a powerful conversation and exploration of manhood / masculinity / sexuality / sport…and gripping; for me, at least.”

As the overwhelmingly positive Internet response grew, and the hundreds of lauditory emails filled his inbox, Johnston realized his story was hitting home.

“It doesn’t matter that I’m not famous, it doesn’t matter whether I’m a superduper professional athlete or not,” Johnson said. “What matters is that I’ve got a story and I want to share it. And if people find value in it then fantastic. The most important thing to me is that young people who are in a similar situation to me see my video and think maybe they can be who they want to be. Every time I think that a young person might be pushed away from sport because of their homosexuality, it breaks my heart.”

You can follow Johnston on Twitter.

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A complete gallery is here, but he sent Outsports these of Russian decathlete Artem Lukyanenko, an up-and-comer who had some personal bests this season. He thought Lukyanenko, 21, looked a bit thin to be a decathlete but I imagine he’ll fill out as he gets older and more experienced.

Click on image for larger view and on that for full-sized view:

Here is Lukyanenko winning his heat in the 110 meters:

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“When you’re closeted and you’re not truly who you are, you’re not operating at 100 percent,” Pryor said. “If you could be free to be who you are, not only will you find people appreciate what you bring to the table because now you’re operating at 100 percent, but people will respect you more. At 100 percent, there’s no telling what you can accomplish.”

Pryor is a rare football player who has come out, let alone been out to his team while playing. He is a perfect example of it getting better.

Resources:

• It Gets Better Project
• GLSEN sports project
• Outsports coming out stories

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The Resource Center Dallas, an LGBT advocacy group, sent a letter to NBA Commissioner David Stern and union head Billy Hunter asking that similar language be added to a new contract. Both sides are far apart and the start of the regular season is in jeopardy, but this request is a no-brainer that they can agree on. The letter:

Commissioner David Stern
The National Basketball Association
645 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10022
VIA EMAIL AND FAX, (212) 832-3861

Billy Hunter, Executive Director
National Basketball Player’s Association
310 Lenox Avenue, New York, NY 10027
VIA EMAIL AND FAX, (212) 655-0881

Dear Commissioner Stern and Mr. Hunter,

My name is Rafael McDonnell, and I am the communications and advocacy manager for Resource Center Dallas. Since 1983, the Center has been a leader in North Texas and across the state advocating for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities, and all people affected by HIV. Our primary facility is located a couple of miles northeast of the American Airlines Center, home of the 2010-2011 NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks. On a personal note, I’ve been a Mavericks fan ever since Don Carter established the team in 1980.

I’m writing you because I’ve read that the NBA, the team owners and the NBPA are holding last-ditch talks in New York starting Friday to salvage the 2011-2012 season. There are a variety of issues that must be worked through before a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is reached. But I would ask as an LGBT fan that both of you please add sexual orientation nondiscrimination provisions to the new CBA.

You may have heard that the National Football League added a provision that the league would not discriminate against a player based on his sexual orientation to the collective bargaining agreement approved earlier this summer. The National Hockey League added similar protections for its players in 2005, as did Major League Soccer in 2004. I have included as an attachment the specific language used by the other sports leagues.

I am proud of the steps that the NBA has taken to embrace the LGBT community. Several teams have held LGBT fan nights. The “Wordplay/Think B4 You Speak.com” PSA that ran during last spring’s NBA playoffs show the league and the players association understand how words can be used to dehumanize LGBT people. Furthermore, recent penalties assessed against players show the league is serious about cracking down on disrespectful language.

By adding the sexual orientation nondiscrimination language, the NBA not only joins the NFL, NHL and MLS. It joins nine of the Fortune 10 companies and 89% of the Fortune 500. It also sends a strong signal to the league’s LGBT fans that they are supported and affirmed, since professional sports have been described as one of the last bastions of homophobia. If I can be of further assistance, of if you and your staffs have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Best regards,
Rafael McDonnell

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Part of Outsports’ series on our 100 most important moments in gay sports history.

Rugby league, 1995: Ian Roberts was a top-level professional player in Australia’s rugby league. And he came out openly as gay to a gay magazine while still playing. He is one of the very few players from a major world team sport to come out publicly while active. Roberts has always been a standup guy who never went along with the BS stereotypes involving gays in sports. He said this to Australian radio in a 2005 interview about finally deciding to come out:

When I came out officially it was probably by that stage one of the worst kept secrets, you know, in rugby league. Anyone who knew me within rugby league, within the fraternity, knew that I was gay. It, it was just something that wasn’t spoken about, so when I came out it wasn’t like it shocked a great many people. But, it shocked a few in the public, yeah, but, but by that stage I, I must admit, it was so a non-issue for me, and I mean that with all my heart, it was, you know, now, I look back now, my God, nowadays I get reminded that I’m gay.

People mightn’t respect the way you live your life but, you know, everyone respects honesty and truth, and if you’re a decent person on top of that, you know, in the end, it does, it falls away being gay.

Before he made the decision, Roberts tried to pass as straight, saying he always went out with a girl on his arm. Yet at the same time he had male partners and would frequent gay clubs. I love his description of trying to hide and how pathetic it was:

I tried to conceal the fact that I was gay, at that time, and, and still I had a, male partners, boyfriends, trying to conceal that and, and, and work out the right combination, or the right equation, for the general public or even friends and family. Well I haven’t got the right one, or the correct one, because I did it so terribly. I used to go into clubs or bars, I’d, I’d come up with the most fumbling excuses, like it was just for the music. Everyone always seemed to know that I’d been in a gay bar every time I turned up for training, ‘Robbo, you up Oxford Street again, eh?’, and in a way, I mean, I kind of turned it in my own, into my, you know, my favor, that I was a bit out there, you know, I was a bit cool.

Roberts’ coming out was big news in Australia, where rugby league is popular. But he received almost total support, and said the few times he was called “faggot” on the field was just someone trying to get a rise out of him. And any fan taunts bothered him more for how they affected his family:

When the crowd, or opponents would sledge you, or, or whatever, scream things at you, or, I used, I was actually more worried for my parents or my family or my friends in the crowd, not so much me, because they had to endure a lot of that as well and until I was truthful with them, you know, it was, it was hurtful for them as well. It was almost like, you know, ‘How dare you, like, from behind the barrier, you know, have the courage to scream, like, absurdities at me?’. I mean, you know, this is a tough thing to say but, you know, predominately gay people want to be treated as equal but fail to treat themselves as equal. I mean that with all my heart and I, and until you learn what that means, as a gay person, things are never going to change for us, you know, things won’t change if you don’t change.

Roberts retired in 1997 and has gone on to become and actor. But he still gives great interviews and is sought after Down Under whenever gays in sports stories come up. When Aussie Rules Football player Jason Akermanis said some ignorant things about gay teammates and showers last year, Roberts blasted him:

Don’t flatter youself, Aker! That’s all in your own head, man. It was well known in rugby league circles I was gay, long before I came out. Most of my teammates knew I was gay as far back as when I was playing with Souths. The whole locker room thing wasn’t a problem, and nobody behaved any differently to me than any other player. Gareth Thomas [former Wales rugby captain, who came out last year] described how accepting all his teammates were towards him. Not one had a problem with his being gay. And they didn’t start treating him differently once they knew. Every gay sports person should get up and say something if this kind of stupidity is ever raised again. It’s offensive.

I always admired Roberts, 46, for the way he addressed concerns like the shower phobia some straight jocks have. Roberts sees it for what it is — a distraction and non-issue. And he does a terrific job of tying in coming out in sports with helping gay teens deal with their sexuality:

It breaks down stereotypes like nothing else, particularly for young men. There are gay kids in the suburbs and the country who are killing themselves because they see only a limited depiction of gay people that they don’t fit. If you don’t think this is a serious problem look at the statistics – gay teens are about the most likely to commit suicide.

Roberts did not fit the mold of how people perceive gay athletes. Standing 6-5 and weighing a muscular 240 pounds, he was a star in a tough and demanding sport. Yet he showed courage in coming out and being himself, and for that reason is a person to greatly admire.

For more information:

• Transcript of terrific 2005 radio interview with Roberts
• Roberts: The responsibility of gay athletes

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“For several months I have had a boyfriend,” De Falco said in a story I ran through a translator.  “Previously I had a girlfriend, but I always felt attracted to men. I never hid. Since I was 20 I have been in gay circles, but when I played soccer, nobody noticed anything. If my orientation would have been known, there would have undoubtedly problems. The soccer world is not ready for openly gay players. There are still too many prejudices and too little tolerance. “

De Falco, 5-10 and 170 pounds, said he is not ashamed of being gay and that he is out to his mother. He also says he is enjoying being a porn star and has appeared in productions in Europe, England and the U.S. (type “Stany Falcone” into a Google search for some NSFW images of De Falco in his glory). Here is the non-X rated part of a review of one of his films:

Stany is one of those guys who is so incredibly hot, it almost takes your breath away, from his dark smouldering handsome features, to his incredible body, with solid pecs and sculpted chiselled abs, and hairy muscular legs, even his calves are muscular and well built, totally perfect, as are his beautiful feet.

De Falco was not a soccer star, so it appears that the porn world is where he will make his mark.

Hat tip to Finneye for the item.

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