Jim Buzinski

“Top Shot,” the History Channel reality show about marksmen, is seeking new contestants for its fourth season. The deadline to apply is May 20. This is the second time the show's producers contacted Outsports, since they would like a gay or lesbian marksman to make the cut, and they got a good response the last […]

Brandon Stoneham College soccer player Brandon Stoneham writes a terrific coming out story for Outsports and opens with about how he told his coach at Adelphi University. The coach, Carlo Acquista, knows something about the difficulty of coming out through the experience of his younger brother Paolo. “I totally know where [Stonerham’s] coming from because […]

Brandon Stoneham, a Division 1 college soccer player at Adelphi University, struggled with his sexuality and thought about giving up the sport. But with the help of his family, close friends and music that touched his soul, he realized that true happiness lies in being himself. Related story: Stoneham’s coach has a gay brother. By […]

The U.S. Olympic Committee has named Peter Vidmar, a 1984 gold medalist in gymnastics, as its chief of mission for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team in London. In this job, Vidmar will be the liaison officer for the U.S. team in dealing with the International Olympic Committee and London organizers. Vidmar, a Mormon, is an […]

Nick Clark is the assistant men’s volleyball coach at Siena Heights University in Michigan. I wrote a profile about his journey from a closeted young man who tried his best to fit in to his flirtations with religion to his acceptance of who he is. In talking to Nick, I found the religious angle fascinating […]

April 29 update: The royal wedding is today and Gareth Thomas is on the guest list. He knows Prince William from William’s role as vice patron of the Welsh Rugby Union. William’s name is also on a trophy for an annual match between Wales and South Africa. I was watching the "Today" show here in […]

Nick Clark denied for years that he was gay and threw himself into sports, especially volleyball. He then found religion but finally came to the realization that there was nothing wrong and is now out and proud.

Jake Shields is fighting Georges St. Pierre on Saturday for St. Pierre’s UFC welterweight title. This prompted my friend DJ to send me a note saying mixed martial arts fans are always questioning the sexual orientation of both fighters. DJ is right. Start typing in "Jake Shields" into Google and the second recommendation is "Jake […]

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 […]

L’HOMO, a special edition of the Dutch women’s magazine Linda, features seven shirtless athletes on its cover in an issue dealing with gays in sports. The catch is that only two of the athletes are gay, with the rest showing their support for the subject. The athletes show a lot of skin in the magazine […]

Eric Decker of the Denver Broncos withstood a late surge from rugby’s Nick Youngquest to win the 2011 King of the Hardwood contest, 50.5% to 49.5%. I imagine it’s the only thing a Bronco will win this year. Both men were very deserving, and I wonder if these Eric Decker stripping photos made the difference. […]

The Associated Press ran a detailed feature on gays in sports, with the focus on Eastern Michigan runner Austin Hendrix. I had spoken to the writer, Nancy Armour, and she had found Austin’s terrific coming out story on Outsports that ran in December. His journey was used in the AP story to illustrate the struggles […]

In a first, an athlete in the King of the Hardwood is soliciting votes. The voting ends Thursday and rugby player Nick Youngquest trails the NFL's Eric Decker, 55% to 45%. Youngquest just heard about the contest and sent us messages via Twitter, including this one: I think its cool the Youngquest gets the spirit […]

Thursday is the deadline to vote in the final round in the 2011 King of the Hardwood contest, pitting Eric Decker of the Denver Broncos (top) and rugby player Nick Youngquest. In voting so far, Decker has a 54.5% to 45.5% lead. If the lead holds, it would break a three-year run by rugby players. […]

Openly gay college swimmer Kevin Rohle finds that humor and perseverance have a gone a long way to fitting in on his team at Adelphi Unversity on New York’s Long Island. Rohle is the subject of a terrific profile in Garden City Patch, where he talks about his career goal of being a nurse. “People […]

The Brazilian volleyball team Sada Cruzeiro was fined $30,000 after 3,000 of its fans chanted “bicha” (faggot) at Michael, a gay player for Volei Futuro, during an April 2 playoff match. The story became huge news in Brazil after the crowd's action, which led Michael to come out publicly. In the second game of the […]

Friday was the national Day of Silence, where students across the country took a vow of silence to bring attention to bullying and other harassment of LGBT youth. Craig Cassey, whose blog, Craig’s Gay Word, we have featured before, has an excellent post up about what the day meant for him, now that he is […]

$100,000. That’s the new baseline for yelling “faggot” in the NBA, based on the fine issued to Kobe Bryant. (Does this mean that “fag” gets you 50K?) As far as I can gather, that’s the largest fine in American major pro sports for someone uttering a gay slur. True, it should have been more and […]

Last week we told you about the awful incident where 3,000 fans at a Brazilian pro volleyball playoff match taunted a gay player, Michael, with “faggot,” which caused him to come out publicly after the match. On Saturday, Michael’s team, Volei Futuro, played host to Sada Cruzeiro in Game 2 of their best-of-three series and […]

Voting is now open in the Final Four of the King of the Hardwood contest, and the winner will either be a soccer player, a football player, a hockey player or a rugby player. In one bracket, soccer's Cristiano Ronaldo faces off against rugger Nick Youngquest and in the other, Eric Decker of the Denver […]