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Feb. 16
action
 Asking
the question:
Memo to the news media: Grow up. There is nothing wrong with
asking an athlete about his sexual orientation, though the
timing does matter.
A stir was
caused at the men's figure skating when in the
post-competition interviews, American Johnny Weir was
questioned about an online Chicago Tribune poll that asked
if people cared if he was gay or not (93% said no).
"I think
it's funny that people care," Weir said. "I don't have a
problem people saying anything. People could say let's poll
about Bode Miller, let's poll about Michelle Kwan being a
lesbian or something like that. It's not a big deal. Who I
sleep with doesn't affect what I'm doing on the ice or what
I'm doing in a press conference."
A great
response, especially since all the stories I saw said that
Weir was not fazed by the question. But several columnists
wrote in a state of indignation that the question was even
asked (one weirdly said the poll was homophobic). It was the
old "who cares about their private lives" angle.
Except
these same columnists regularly write about a male athlete's
wife or girlfriend or a female's husband or boyfriend, let
alone all the profiles we read or see involving their kids.
Doing such stories clearly says, without using the words:
This athlete is a heterosexual. They aren't called "human
interest" stories for nothing.
But when it
comes to the orientation of a possible gay athlete, these
same journalists get all hot and bothered about privacy. I
agree that asking Weir a question about the Tribune poll
right after he skated was bad timing since his performance
on ice was the issue. It was like asking a pitcher in a
World Series about his married life right after Game 7.
However, I could find no record of anyone asking Weir in the
days and weeks leading up to the event: Are you gay? It's a
simple question and one that, given Weir's high profile and
visibility, is appropriate (and one I will ask if Weir
consents to an interview). I would bet that 99% of the
public who saw Weir in an interview would assume he's gay
anyway, so why avoid the pink elephant in the center of the
room?
He could
decline to answer or say it's private, and that's a
perfectly acceptable response. He certainly seems
comfortable with the question, since he answered a similar
query on his blog (where he controls what questions get
printed). Inquiring about it is not stepping over some kind
of line, and that reaction by some shows the
uncomfortableness that still exists in the mainstream over
the issue.
There was
at least one exception, Dan Wetzel of Yahoo, who
wrote a charming column about Weir (disclosure: I was
quoted in the column). I imagine that Weir would get a kick
out of it. "I am less convinced Wilt Chamberlain was
straight than I am that Johnny Weir is not," wrote Wetzel,
who managed to address the issue with humor and an obvious
affection for Weir. "Perhaps, we will have gotten to the
point where closets, if there are any, no longer matter.
Although, judging by the Weir phenomenon, I think mainstream
America is closer than ever," Wetzel wrote. "Either way,
here's hoping Johnny Weir, whatever he is, hasn't changed
one single bit."
When I do
interviews with mainstream outlets I almost always ask the
reporter if he or she is gay. I have never been denied an
answer or had someone respond with indignation. Their answer
allows me to understand their depth of knowledge about the
issue of gays in sports, and is not invading their privacy.
Asking a question is not offensive; after all, a cardinal
rule of journalism is: never assume. (Jim
Buzinski)
Here's
my take on Johnny Weir's sexuality. My guess is, he's
gay as balloons and he keeps coming out to us in just about
every media interview he does. To come out, you don't have
to call a press conference and say to the world, "Yep, I'm
gay." I think if you got Johnny to talk off the record he'd
probably say, "Are you an idiot? Did you not see the outfits
I've been wearing? Did you not see me on NBC? What, do I
have to spell it out for you?" Just because he hasn't said
the words doesn't mean he hasn't told us.
Weir seems completely
comfortable with everyone else talking about his sexuality.
He just isn't interested in talking about it. He's much more
interested in shopping, listening to Christina Aguilera and
trying on sunglasses. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Weir
falls short: Johnny Weir is a diva, after all. How else
to explain Weir’s drop from second to fifth and medal-less
at the men’s figure skating? Weir blamed his performance on
the bus schedule being changed, causing him to get to the
arena later than he wanted. Then he flopped.
"I missed the bus. They
changed the schedule," Weir said. "It was every 10 minutes.
Today it was every half-hour. I was late getting here and
never caught up. I never felt comfortable in this building.
I didn't feel my inner peace, I didn't feel my aura. That’s
why I was so scared. Inside I was black."
Unfortunately, this is how
divas react -- change one thing and they can fall apart. To
be clear, Weir did not arrive late. He arrived at the
arena 40 minutes before his skate; he usually gets there 30
minutes earlier. "A half hour means putting my outfit on,
peeing twice and adjusting my skates," he said. "The costume
is hard to get into. I have to squeeze myself in like a
sausage." This is why I love Weir; the guy's hilarious even
when explaining a screwup.
In the end, though, Weir was
like many 21 year olds who can make mistakes by careless
inattention. I would have thought someone in his position
would have an army making sure everything was taken care of,
especially the bus schedule. “It was never brought to my
attention [the bus schedule] would be changed,” Weir said.
“I guess it’s my fault because I didn’t bother to ask.”
Weir said the only lesson he
learned at the Games was to stay in a hotel the next time.
(Jim
Buzinski)
He'll
be back:
Too bad Johnny didn't medal, but fourth or fifth is what I
predicted for him before the Games started. I did let
myself get my hopes up after Tuesday, but Johnny is not yet
at the level of Stephane Lambiel (although this was far from
Stephane's best, and Stephane's program totally does not
showcase what he does well -- his short was better for
that).
On a good
day, Johnny's mental strength gives him the edge over Jeff
Buttle, but yesterday was not a good day. Johnny's got more
developing to do as a skater and I am confident that all
good things will come to him in time. Alexei Yagudin, too,
was fifth in his first Olympics and he won his next ones. (Lorrie
Kim)
Men’s
free skate:
I
overestimated my understanding of the new scoring system
heading into Thursday’s Free Skate. I know, Johnny Weir
wasn’t at his best, he didn’t feel his aura, and he was
black inside, but at least he stayed on his feet. “The
program was just down,” said NBC’s Dick Button. Weir
two-footed a jump and skipped the double part of a
triple-double combination, but other than that the worst
that could be said was that he lacked the spark that was
present in Tuesday’s short program. Meanwhile, the both the
eventual silver and bronze medalists fell during their
programs and ended with a much higher score than Weir. I’m
not suggesting a bias in the judging, but it seemed that
Weir’s downfall was not a routine that fell apart but one
that included elements that didn’t even give him a chance.
“I don’t deserve a medal tonight. I don’t expect to get
one,” Weir said after he skated. As for talk that missing a
bus from the Olympic Village was to blame for his mediocre
performance, I think that’s crap, and I’d bet Weir does too.
He wasn’t late for anything. And anyway, it’s the Olympics,
there’s a lot going on. It’s a rare thing when a
pre-competition routine goes perfectly. That’s something
you’ve just got to adapt to.
My
thoughts on the other top competitors:
Evgeni
Plushenko (RUS)
– He owns the new scoring system. Plushenko frontloads his
programs with jumps, his specialty, and then fills the
remaining time with relatively easy spins and footwork
elements. This is not a criticism. Plushenko is a smart
skater and knows his strengths and weaknesses. After all,
this strategy yielded him a gold medal by a previously
unthinkable margin. In four years I think we’ll see a lot
more of the “artistic” skaters showing up with programs
modeled after Plushenko’s.
 Stephane
Lambiel (SUI)
– Awesome spins! But, honey, what were you wearing? Orange
and blue sleeves under a tiger print vest? At what point did
you decide that was a good idea? Lambiel attacks the
artistic elements in a way that is fun to watch, and it was
great to see his show of emotion on the podium.
Jeffrey
Buttle (CAN)
– I thought Buttle’s short program was a little silly, but
he went big tonight and it’s fun to see that this new
scoring system allows for big comebacks.
Evan
Lysacek (USA)
– Speaking of big comebacks. Lysacek came back from crushing
disappointment in the short program to set a personal best
score in the free skate. I agreed with Dick Button’s comment
immediately after Lysacek’s program. “Good for him. Good for
him. Good for him.” Now go eat something! Lysacek is
potential hottie material, he’s just little on the skinny
side.
Brian
Joubert (FRA)
– Thank God 007 didn’t show up tonight. Joubert’s free skate
was infinitely better than his short program. But whatever
the judges thought, I rank him the hottest skater.
(Ryan
Quinn)
NBC
dubs Weir a diva.
I loved the chyron at the bottom of the TV screen as Johnny
Weir skated out onto the ice: "NBCOLYMPICS.COM / PHOTOS:
Fashion diva Johnny Weird and his outrageous style".
Just as priceless was Weir wearing a teal Mickey Mouse
sweatshirt before he skated. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
 Hot
jock of the day. How could you not love the first-ever
gold medallist for Snowboard Cross? From Farmington, Maine,
a four-square-mile town of 7,000 people two hours north of
Portland I visited many times as a kid,
Seth Wescott seems
incredibly genuine, incredibly patriotic and it was such a
pleasure to watch him take the stadium and listen to the
Star-Spangled Banner. What a neat, and cute, guy. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
 Ice
dancing's sex symbol.
Bulgarian
Ivan Dinev's unofficial fan site claims: "This is a site
dedicated to the one and only Ivan Dinev - the S E X S Y M B
O L of the ice dancing!" I'm not sure about THE sex symbol,
but he's up there. For my money, THE sex symbol would have
to be France's
Brian Joubert (right). There are pics of Brian flying
all over the Internet –
plenty shirtless (and some wet and shirtless) and even at
least one nude! (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Mr.
Roboto.
Watching gold medal skater Yevgeni Plushenko was like
watching a robot go through the motions on the ice. He was
good to watch, no question. But, just a little dull. As Bode
Miller and Johnny Weir have proven, you don't have to be fun
and engaging to win a gold medal. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Almost
a gay character.
Michal Novotny, a Czech snowboard-crosser, is one letter off
(Michael) from the character that Hal Sparks played in Queer
As Folk. (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
I
hope you didn't miss snowboard cross.
When I first heard about Snowboard Cross I thought, "Oh God,
here's another lame sport with no business in the Olympics
simply designed to attract young viewers." I was wrong. The
sport is one of the few timed events in the Winter Olympics
where you actually have a mano-a-mano race. It's exciting
and fitting to watch athletes racing side-by-side, not
simply against a clock, as they race for the gold. I say
kudos to the IOC for including this sport, and I look
forward to watching it going forward. My bet is, NBC will
start airing this sport throughout its winter-sports
coverage going forward.
Bob
Costas kept touting the sport all night. His funniest line
wasn't meant to be. With a tone as dead as Michelle Kwan's
Olympic hopes: "We head back to Bardonecchia for more of the
spectacular adrenaline that is snowboard cross." (Cyd
Zeigler Jr.)
Passion
lives here:
Snowboard Cross is awesome! The elimination format, crowded
heats, banked turns and big bumps make this event very
spectator friendly. And now the USA is 3 for 3 in
snowboarding. Friday the ladies look to make it four.
While
other venues have been stuck with empty seats, the outdoor
stands overlooking the snowboarding courses are jam packed.
Snowboarding got off to a shaky start when it debuted at the
Winter Olympics in 1998 and was overshadowed by the
distraction of a medalist’s positive marijuana test. For
eight years there has been no shortage of detractors trying
to make a case that snowboarding is a bad fit for the
Olympics. But that argument has run out of steam. The
popularity of the Winter Games in general seems to have
dipped, but snowboarding thrives. In many ways, snowboarding
is a perfect Olympic fit. It’s accessible to anyone, the
Olympic gold medal represents the pinnacle of achievement in
the sport, and it’s internationally popular. The USA might
be dominating the medals in Torino, but interest and talent
in snowboarding is not concentrated in North America. Among
the top 16 finishers in the Snowboard Cross, twelve
different nations and four continents were represented. Not
only is snowboarding here to stay, it might just be the wake
up call that the IOC needs to adapt the Olympic games to the
21st century.
(Ryan
Quinn)
Losing
my religion: With NBC's constant harping on "family
values" around the athletes, I wondered when the network was
going to do the God thing. After all, Torino (Turin to the
Anglos) is the home of the famous Shroud of Turin.
For many centuries this artifact has been hyped by the
Catholic Church as the actual piece of linen that was
wrapped around Jesus for his burial -- allegedly it retains
a ghostly imprint of his corpse. Scientists who examine
it are deeply divided over its authenticity, with some
insisting that it is a hoax dating from the 14th century.
Others insist that the linen is really 2000 years old, with
an image on it that can't be explained. Many Christians --
Protestants as well as Catholics -- believe in the Shroud.
Wednesday night, amid the men's luge doubles and women's
downhill, NBC finally did the God thing. The network aired
an entire segment about the U.S. bobsled team's visit to
the Roman Catholic cathedral where the Shroud is kept. The
push man on the bobsled, Brock Kreitzburg, is a Protestant
minister, and the team was supposedly there as a spontaneous
demonstration of support for him. They looked very
impressive in their big red team jackets.
Actually, according to a
wire-service story in the Akron Beacon Journal, Kreitzburg
is a rising TV star and this visit was a scripted job to
enhance his image. The script called for Kreitzburg
to tutor his buddies on the Shroud.
To the cameras, Kreitzburg testified glowingly to the
Shroud's authenticity. One of the team, being
interviewed, said he felt much better knowing that the rear
guy on the sled was a man of God who was praying for them to
win.
So NBC is reminding us (in case any Americans had
forgotten) that God is always on our side, in war and peace
and definitely at the Olympics. God's performance in Torino
is mixed, though. He's doing OK for our women. But our
highly touted men continue to disappoint, with Jeremy Bloom
and the luge doubles team stumbling out of the medals. In
men's ice hockey, the best the U.S. could do was tie
Latvia. Bobsled events are still ahead. If we don't take
the men's gold there, America had better forget about God
and start praying to other deities.
Meanwhile, Catholics and Protestants are one up at the
Games. Indeed, NBC informed us that local church
authorities briefly considered the idea of displaying the
Shroud during the Games, but finally decided they
wouldn't. In other touristic segments, NBC also contrived
to mention the old synagogues in Turin -- a big Jewish
ghetto was located there in medieval times. So all the
basic religions that matter to U.S. TV viewers have gotten
their strokes.
With this kind of U.S. media spin on the Winter Games, it's
not surprising that any GLBT athletes on the slopes of
Torino are either ignored by the news crews, or
are compelled to keep a discreet profile. It's possible
that the spectacle of 11 out athletes at the Summer
Games became something that the U.S. conservative
establishment doesn't want to repeat.
(Patricia Nell Warren)
Returned
Medals Table:
Congratulations to Russia for being the first country to
lead the Returned Medals Table, a new feature I’ve
created to track tarnished medals. Russian biathlete Olga
Pyleva became the first athlete in Torino to test positive
for a banned substance and will be stripped of the silver
medal she won in Monday’s 15K. Pyleva won both a gold and
bronze medal in the Salt Lake City Olympics and was
considered a medal favorite in today’s 7.5K competition. In
2002 seven athletes were caught doping, including two
Russian cross-country skiers, also female. The IOC has upped
the number of samples being tested at these Games by 72%.
(Ryan
Quinn)
Skeleton:
The
bodies from the luge events were cleared from the track to
make way for the next event at the $93 million track in
Cesana Pariol -- Skeleton! I used to defend all Olympic
sports simply because they were in the Olympics and I think
the Olympics are cool. But I find myself less sympathetic to
the plight of these so-called athletes. In the context of
modern sports, luge and skeleton are wasteful. Not only are
competitions held at venues that are astonishingly expensive
to build and maintain, but access to these venues is
limited. Vancouver is building just the fourth track in all
of North America. Furthermore, the purpose of the sport is
unclear. The competitors push off at the top, get into an
aerodynamic position and hold it to the finish at the
bottom, where they are timed to the thousandth of a second.
Do I care who makes it down a few thousandths faster than
the next guy? Nope.
But I do
care about the future of the Olympic Games. I worry that the
Olympics, especially the Winter Games, are losing their
relevancy in the eyes of potential athletes and spectators.
Luge and skeleton are not legitimate sports and therefore
jeopardize the legitimacy of the Olympics in general. Get
‘em out of there!
(Ryan
Quinn)
XC
Skiing:
Kristina
Smigun of Estonia, who I did not expect to dominate these
Olympic races, distanced herself from a trio of Norwegians
to claim gold in the Women’s 10K classic. Smigun is now 2
for 2 and Norway is still without gold in their strongest
winter sport.
Canada’s
Sara Renner had a strong 8th place finish but
Beckie Scott, a Canadian medal favorite, was disqualified
for leaving the course and not re-entering at the same
point, an honest but uncommon mistake. To be spectator
friendly and to allow for starting lanes, lap lanes, and
finish lanes, the layout of a cross-country ski stadium
often requires the careful study of a map just to figure out
where you’re supposed to be. Scott, already a silver
medalist at these Games, accidentally skied into the finish
lane instead of taking the lap lane two-thirds of the way
through the race. Realizing her mistake, she cut back over
to the proper lane and was on her way. Although she gained
no shortcut advantage, the rule states that she should have
backtracked to the start of the lanes before cutting over to
the lap lane. She didn’t find out that she’d been
disqualified until she finished the race.
(Ryan
Quinn) |
Weir,
Media and the Gay Question
