Sports

One of the possible breakout stars of these Games is British diver Tom Daley and for one simple reason — he’s 14 and the youngest Olympian. He is tailed by autograph-hunters, makes groups of girls collapse into red-faced giggles and has the world’s media hanging on his every word. He was even picked out by […]

Let the games–er, the stagecraft–begin. The opening ceremony is typically a circus of symbolism celebrating the host nation’s history and culture. Maybe we’ll see a procession of tanks, you’re thinking. Well, probably not. We can only hope the party isn’t so self-consciously scripted that it comes off as a dud. Let the games–er, the stagecraft–begin. […]

Under Armour, the hyper-masculine line of workout gear, might just have muscled its way into an image problem with the same gay men who wear it proudly at the gym. A piece from the New York Times explores the company and its meteoric rise since former college football player Kevin Plank launched it in 1996. […]

It seems the U.S. Olympic Committee is so over Bode Miller (photo). For the first time ever, the group required all of its 596 Olympians to attend its crash-course on etiquette before heading to the Beijing Games. Some athletes dubbed it “the Bode Miller show” after the American skier who showed more of an interest […]

All-around gold medalist from 2004 Paul Hamm bowed out last month with an injury; I guess the family that tumbles together stays together. Brother Morgan (left) said a tearful good-bye to his team today as bone spurs in his leg forced him to withdraw from the team. Team USA just lost another gay-friendly athlete. “This […]

The German magazine Stern has a great online gallery of 17 Olympians and the tattoos they are sporting for Beijing on various body parts. Among them is uber-hottie flatwater canoeist Tomasz Wylenzek (right), who won a gold for Germany in 2004. Check out the tattoo gallery. The German magazine Stern has a great online gallery […]

Number twenty-two in a series. Broadcast: Philadelphia Phillies on Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia, Phillies at Washington, 7/30/08; Announcers: Harry Kalas (play-by-play), Tom McCarthy (play-by-play/reporter), Chris Wheeler (analyst), Gary Matthews (analyst). In April 1971 the Phillies played their first game at Veterans Stadium, their brand new, state-of-the-art facility. (Really. It wasn’t always a dump.) The master of […]

Outsports photog Brent Mullins was able to shoot the late July U.S. diving championships. Among the divers competing were Olympians Troy Dumais (right, click image for larger view) and the pairs team of David Boudia and Thomas Finchum. More shots after the jump. Outsports photog Brent Mullins was able to shoot the late July U.S. […]

Swimmer Mark Foster, 38, will carry the flag for Britain at the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. Yep, he is 38 (with an amazing body you can see in more detail after the jump) and swims in the 50-meter freestyle. Swimmer Mark Foster, 38, will carry the flag for Britain at the Opening Ceremony in Beijing. […]

A tragic story out of Boston, passed on to us by Benoit Denizet-Lewis: I just wanted to let you know that it has been an extraordinarily painful week in Boston’s gay sports community. Dave Hildebrandt, a beloved 29-year-old player in the Beantown Softball League (he also played for four years in the gay basketball league […]

Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis — and that’s over three Olympics — spoke to NPR’s “Tell Me More” today about the Olympics, his success, boycotts, juicing and whether a Carl Lewis could happen today. He also talks about attitude, something a younger Lewis had plenty of. The interview didn't pursue any lingering speculation that […]

Reports earlier this spring suggested that Beijing’s gay scene had become a government target in advance of the Olympics. The Gay Times of London is challenging that notion, insisting that the western media was too quick to jump on the gay oppression story and that the shutdown of popular gay night clubs was infact the […]

As we’ve said many times before, there are surely many athletes at the Olympics who are openly gay with friends and family, and may have even told some of the press, but it just hasn’t gotten much coverage because they’re not a high-profile athlete. While Natasha Kai, who is a forward on the U.S. soccer […]

It's disappointing to see the Beijing Olympics veering back into gender testing — which was supposedly abandoned in 1999 by the IOC. But their move is not surprising. The Chinese are applying "The Art of War" to international sports in a classic way. They want to win piles of medals and prove their superiority as […]

Our long national nightmare is over — Brett Favre has been traded from the Green Bay Packers to the New York Jets. Maybe now ESPN can stop being All-Favre All-The-Time. In return for Favre, the Packers get the Jets’ fourth-round pick in 2009 that will escalate to a first-round pick if he meets certain performance […]

Pepperdine University is just up the coast from where I live and although I can’t say I’m a fan of their religious bent I can say that I was a fan of their volleyball team, the Pepperdine Waves. The school had a great record in the sport, it was well supported by the student body, […]

Here's some fan video from the outfield bleachers at Wrigley Field during last night's Cubs-Astros game. The Chicago region was rocked by severe thundestorms, which stopped the game for over 2 1/2 hours in the 6th inning. Tornado warnings were issued and fans were ordered out of the bleachers and into the concourses. Wind gusts […]

Before a single medal has been won within its walls, the stunning Bird’s Nest stadium, host to Track & Field events as well as the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, is stealing attention in Beijing. The New York Times offers an architecture review, and the NYTimes.com “Rings” blog has posted a not-sticking-to-the-talking-points interview with the stadium’s […]

For those guys-who-like-guys pro wrestling fans (isn’t that all of them? Anyhow…), we’ve gotten wind of a blog called “Pro Wrestling for Bisexuals” with the tagline, “No, this isn’t porn.” Well, maybe the blog isn’t porn, but as a connoisseur of late ’80s/early ’90s WWF, circa Hulk Hogan, Earthquake and Randy Savage, I can tell […]

While half-listening to Brian Williams read the news on NBC last night, I perked up when the chatter turned to the Olympics. I was well rewarded. The piece about the games made mention of Michael Phelps arriving in Beijing and attempting to quietly make his way to the Water Cube for practice. Phelps was sporting […]