Thanks to a reader for this. Click here to see the full image, including some impressive biceps.

The truth is, I’m not so sure that someone hasn’t already come out to his teammates and they just keep it in the family. Some gay people believe that every person of note who is gay should hold a press conference to announce their orientation. I don’t. I just believe in living an authentic life. I never wrote an “I’m gay” column in the newspaper. I just brought my boyfriend to the Super Bowl and let folks who gave a damn draw their own conclusions. John Amaechi stated in his book, “Man in the Middle”, he came out to some teammates long before he came out more publicly and officially became an activist. That situation is hardly unique.

We’ve long talked about the definition of “out athlete” on this site. Many people want an athlete to hold a press conference, but I think, like Granderson, that a big announcement is so unlikely. Why would an athlete do that instead of just taking a boyfriend to team events or speaking engagements? It’s so important to have the backing of the team, and that alone would probably take years to develop. I like LZ’s thinking here: It is happening, we’re just not seeing it. And yeah, LZ thinks we’re a long way from seeing someone hold one of those press conferences.

“I did not see them play [in the regular season],” Bobby Aillet said.

“I didn’t see any live games,” Lance McIlhenny said. “I just [saw] highlights.”

“I don’t recall if I saw them play specifically during the regular season,” David Housel said. “I don’t remember a specific game. … I wouldn’t say I probably was wrong. I was wrong,” said Housel, a former Auburn athletic director who had the Utes ranked 10th.

That is amazing and proves that this Thursday’s Oklahoma-Florida game will not determine the national champion and is more of a popularity contest. There is no way a Sooner fan (whose team lost by 10 to Texas on a neutral field) or a Gator fan (whose team lost at home to Mississippi) can argue otherwise; just accept your gift and stop trying to justify it with illogical arguments. Unbeaten Utah has more claim to the title than anyone else.

I’ll let Dan Wetzel of Yahoo have the last word:

How did a team this good wind up a lowly sixth in the final BCS standings?

The answer speaks to the illogical way college football crowns its champion, a system where perception, reputation and media hype can mean more than touchdowns and tackles.

Utah could do the latter as well as anyone. It was non-competitive in the former - suffering from tired stereotypes, a lack of television exposure and the mind-numbing power of group think.

Even by the absurd standards of the BCS, having voters not bother to watch an undefeated team play a single game is a new low.

Whether Utah deserved to be ranked No. 1, 2 or 25 isn’t the point of this argument. The Utes deserved to have voters at least see them.

So if you’ve got a video camera, some funny friends and some editing software, head over to ESPN.com and get on it. And please do send us your entry as well: We’d love to support it on Outsports.

I’d been pursuing Mauresmo for an interview for the better part of 20 months, so I was pleased and somewhat surprised when word came that she’d finally agreed to do it - she rarely talks about her sexual orientation anymore. But as it turned out, my request had been miscommnicated: She thought the interview was for another publication, not The Advocate. As we sat down in the players’ garden at the U.S. Open in August and I asked why she’d decided to chat, she looked confused and startled. When the tan, fit Frenchwoman, dressed in shorts and a sleeveless athletic top, finally understood what was up, she leaned forward in her chair. I figured she was about to stand, politely decline, and leave.

“So what do we do?” she asked. I said it was up to her. She sat back and barely hestitated. “Yeah, whatever.”

Mauresmo’s reticence to talk about her personal life is clear in the article; She actually refuses to answer the interviewer’s questions about whom she’s dating. What does come through is that she really doesn’t want to talk about being a lesbian pro tennis player. Unlike Martina Navratilova (who’s certainly had plenty of time to adjust to the idea), it seems Mauresmo is still building her legacy as a player and doesn’t want her sexuality to deter that. Hopefully she’ll open up a little more once her playing days are over.

You can watch Mauresmo in the Australian Open starting Jan. 19.

According to the Daily Star:

The hearing was told [Boland] was dismissed from his £32,000-a-year job in 2007 and the rumors [that he was gay] - allegedly spread by management - led to unwanted advances from a male colleague. Mr Boland is claiming unfair dismissal, discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, victimization and post-termination discrimination against Ron Dennis and three of his companies.

The complaint also alleges that Dennis made anti-Arab remarks, namely that he needed to wash his hands after meeting with so many Arabs on a business trip. Oh the irony of calling a man who hired the sport’s first black driver a racist.

Peyton Manning up close was just one of the great sights as I went to San Diego to see the Colts-Chargers wild card playoff game this weekend. I had a field pass, a police escort to the stadium and a memorable day with Dave Kopay. I was shocked, though, by all the gay slurs uttered by fans the entire day. A recap of my trip down the coast, with some more photos.

The Utes are the only unbeaten team (13-0) and they whipped a Bama team that one-loss Florida struggled to beat in the SEC title game. And after watching Mississippi put up 47 points against Texas Tech, Oklahoma’s 65 against the Red Raiders looks much less impressive. Tell me again why OU and Florida are playing for the title? After watching Utah and USC roll the last two days, it makes even less sense than it originally did.

It wasn’t a terrible pick, but it was terribly uninspired. If the voters were set on picking someone who didn’t have great numbers, why not Miami’s Chad Pennington? He took a team that was 1-15 last year and won the AFC East; He even had a better QB rating than Manning. Instead, the voters put him second. If his name was Chad Manning, he would be the League MVP.

For my picks, I use a few criteria. First, the player must have been on a team with a winning record; You can’t be the MVP of the League if you couldn’t lift your team over .500. Second, you have to have personally had good numbers; While there are plenty of intangibles in football, the numbers in the stats book are a strong measure. Third are the intangibles: Leadership, team exceeding expectations. Things like that. This those things in mind, these are my MVP rankings:

1) Michael Turner, RB, Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons were supposed to be mired in the swamp at the bottom of the tough NFC South for years to come. Instead Michael Turner, in his first year as a starter, led the team to the playoffs with the second-most rushing TDs, second-most rushing yards and most converted first downs in the League. What makes it more amazing is he did it against defenses putting lots of guys in the box trying to stop Turner, given the rookie QB in the Falcons’ backfield.

2) Larry Fitzgerald, WR, Arizona Cardinals. Only twice did he have less than 50 yards in a game this season, he caught for 150 yards seven times, he caught at least three balls in every game, he led the league in receiving touchdowns, and he led his team to its first division title since long before they moved to Arizona.

3) Adrian Peterson, RB, Minnesota Vikings. Possibly my worst prediction of the year was that this man would have a sophomore slump this season. Peterson led the League in rushing and returned the Vikings to the top of the NFC North. He ran for 100 yards in 10 of his 16 games; Only his low TD number (10) kept him from my No. 1 spot.

4) Chad Pennington, QB, Miami Dolphins. The numbers weren’t good, but what a turnaround. While experts were making excuses for Brett Favre’s slow start to the season because of his late arrival in training camp, Pennington quietly led the Dolphins to the greatest turnaround in NFL history. Pennington finished second in the League in QB rating throwing only seven interceptions on the season, and only one in his final five games.

5) DeAngelo Williams, RB, Carolina Panthers. If the voters were handing out the award based on second-half performance, I don’t know how Williams didn’t get a single vote. In just his final eight games, he recorded 15 TDs, he ran for 993 yards and had over 100 yards in six of those games. On the season, he averaged 5.5 yards per carry; No one with over 200 carries had more.

6) Ed Reed, S, Baltimore Ravens. Another team leader who took a team with no expectations to the playoffs. When the games matter the most, Reed excelled: In his team’s final six games Reed made eight interceptions, a category he led the League in.

7) Jon Beason, LB, Carolina Panthers. He was a beast all season, finishing third with 138 tackles and three interceptions. No one with more picks had as many tackles. And while the resurgence of Julius Peppers got most of the attention on the Carolina defense, it was Beason who locked up the middle of the defense.

Peyton Manning, QB, Indianapolis Colts. Manning had great numbers in his final nine games, throwing 17 TDs and 3 INTs in those games. He slips some for his incredibly slow start that put his team in jeopardy in the first place, and also because he has a strong team around him that was expected to contend for the Super Bowl.

9T) Matt Ryan, QB, Atlanta Falcons and Roddy White, WR, Atlanta Falcons. Few tandems have had a more surprising season than these two. With defenses playing one-on-one on the outside, these two took advantage with big play after big play. White’s 88 catches were ninth in the League, and no one with more catches equaled his 15.7 yards/reception. His 88 receptions were the most by a Falcon since 1995.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 3
– International Bowl: UConn vs. Buffalo (ESPN, 12pm) - The advertising surrounding this game makes it sound like they’re playing this in Monte Carlo or Rio or some place really exotic, alas, it’s just a game in Skydome in The Center of the Universe (that’s Toronto, for those of you not from Toronto).  Two offense oriented teams should make for a fun match up, I’m giving the edge to Buffalo since a) this is pretty much a home game for them, b) having a 3000+ yard passer in Drew Willy and a 1300+ yard rusher in James Starks will trump the Huskies one-man-wrecking-crew name Donald Brown (1800+ yards and 17 TD’s).

MONDAY, JANUARY 5
– Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Texas (FOX, 8pm) - Poor Ohio State.  Every year, a seemingly good team gets obliterated in a bowl because the other team is pissed… and Texas has a very good reason to be pissed.  If it weren’t for a tough loss to then-#6 Texas Tech, they’d be playing for the title.  And a lot of people consider them to be the best team in the country, and it’s hard to argue with Colt McCoy passing for about a mile a game and a stifling defense that allowed 14 points or less seven times.  tOSU isn’t going to lay down and die though, and true-freshman Terrelle Pryor is going to try to win this game by himself.  But it will not be enough.  This one may get ugly.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 6
– GMAC Bowl: Tulsa vs. Ball State (ESPN, 8pm) - Oh god, let’s just end this season already.  Ball State was the team that was the sporting blog universe’s “this year’s Boise State” until they randomly lost to Buffalo.  They’ve got an absolutely ridiculous offense led by Nate Davis (and pay attention to that name, you’re going to hear it alot in the 2010 NFL draft talk) and a pretty decent defense to boot.   But Tulsa’s offense is going to make you say wow.  They average 565 yards per game(!) and score 47.4 points per game(!!).  Tulsa QB David Johnson is like a mini-Brett Favre,  he’s passed for 43 touchdowns and had 18 INT’s.  But that’s where the impressiveness ends….  their defense is suspect to say the least.  They’re one of the only teams in NCAA history to win a game by scoring 70 points and lose a game by allowing 70 points. And Johnson ended the regular season by allowing 5 picks to a decent, but not great East Carolina team.  BSU should win this one handily, but they do not want to get into a shootout.  It’s anyone’s game then.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 8
– National Championship: Florida vs. Oklahoma (FOX, 8pm) - And this is it.  The Sooners fought and clawed their way to get in and curbstomped a good Mizzou team to get into this game.  The Gators have averaged nearly 50 points in their nine game winning streak and have an absolutely deadly special teams unit.  And frankly when you’ve got two teams as evenly matched as these two, special teams usally makes the difference and that’s where UF should take this game over.  OU has awful special teams coverage and UF has Brandon James.  James makes (college) Ted Ginn look like a kid,  he makes Devin Hester look terrible.  He’s going to crack off a couple of big ones against OU and give Tim Tebow the ability to circumcise the Sooners… whether they want to be or not.

Well that’s it.  Goodbye college football.  Until next year when we can all debate the horridness and terroristic nature of the entity known as the BCS.