A double life: Sex, Aaron Hernandez and the limits of culture

April 24, 2017

Now it all makes sense – the drug-taking, the trigger macho culture and, perhaps most important, the revelation of bisexuality.

Suicide, as I wrote about the hanging death of former New England Patriots’ tight end Aaron Hernandez, always begs the question, Why? But those of us who believe passionately in reason – that there is an answer for everything, no matter how unknowable it may seem at the moment – knew there had to be more to the murder of Odin Lloyd, and Hernandez’s life in prison sentence for it, than the company they kept and any perceived disrespect within their gang culture. ...

More Michael Sam meshugas, and the beginning of the end of the (Fab) Big Four

September 8, 2014

Is there a better sports weekend than the one we just experienced? (Well, yes, you say, what about the second weekend in June, with the Belmont and the French Open final?)

This year, though, we had not only Super Saturday and the women’s final at the US Open but Derek Jeter Day at Yankee Stadium and the Royal Salute Cup at the Greenwich Polo Club, both on Sunday, Sept. 7.

Patience, dear readers, let us pace ourselves. This week there will be in-depth posts on Jeter, Royal Salute and a fascinating new book on Nole.

But right now we must address two things. The first is more Michael Sam meshugas, with the Dallas Cowboys now saying that they weren’t pressured to put Sam on the practice squad. But AP’s Paul Newberry isn’t buying it. ...

Sam, I am

September 7, 2014

As we might’ve predicted, the presence of Michael Sam in the NFL is bringing out the worst in humanity.

First, the NFL, according to NBC’s Peter King, asked around if any team had interest in putting Sam, the league’s first openly gay player, on its practice squad after the St. Louis Rams cut him, basically to avoid a PR disaster – not because the guy’s good and deserves a chance or even because the league is standing up for what’s right.

Meantime, the Dallas Cowboys bit and now a group calling itself American Decency will protest the Cowboys’ home opener against the San Francisco 49ers Sunday, Sept. 7. Gee, wonder if American Decency is going to protest spousal abuse, gun possession, drunk driving, dogfights and any of the NFL’s other little extracurricular activities.

I’ll be rooting for my Niners but go, Sam.

Michael Sam’s out (of the NFL) – for now

September 1, 2014

So in the end after all the hoopla, Michael Sam – the first openly gay player in the NFL (almost) – didn’t make the cut with the St. Louis Rams.

There are just so many ways to look at this. How convenient for the those who can sigh with relief and say, “Hey, we tried but he just wasn’t good enough.” How vindicating for the skeptics, who will say, “He was such a lightweight to begin with. The only reason he got a shot was because he’s gay.”

But how sad for those of us who’d like to see the Sams and the Tim Tebows of the world find their places in the NFL sun regardless of the imperfections of their (still considerable) skills and their sexual or religious persuasions.

Some day, we won’t have to judge people by anything but those skills and what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called “the content of their character” – which in Sam’s case seems to be class all the way, and which is more than you can say for the Ray Rices of the game. ...

The vagaries of fame: For NFL commish, teen tennis star

August 30, 2014

In the Gee, Ya Think? Department, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has decided that perhaps he was a tad too lenient in the recent Ray Rice domestic abuse case.

Now those who commit assault of any kind, battery or an act of domestic violence will be suspended for six games without pay. A second offense will result in at least a year suspension.

Clearly, Goodell has seen the handwriting on the wall, and no, I don’t mean the evil of Baltimore Raven Ray Rice dragging his fiancée (now wife) Janay Palmer unconscious out of an Atlantic City elevator after beating her or the blame-the-victim farce of the Ravens’ press conference, in which Palmer also apologized for her role in the incident.

No, the penmanship Goodell has seen in his mind is on all those credit card receipts for season tickets. With fans up in arms over the assault, Goodell can’t afford a defection, no matter how popular football is. So let’s not hand the NFL any humanitarian awards just yet. ...

(Michael) Sam to the Rams and May madness

May 12, 2014

Kudos to Michael Sam and the St. Louis Rams, who’ve decided to take a chance on one another. Sam, the University of Missouri defensive end who came out before deciding to test the NFL Draft, was the 249th pick overall, with just seven left before the final round. But hey, he got in, celebrating with tears and a kiss for his partner that went viral. (I, of course, have been following this story with great interest as my upcoming novel “In This Place You Hold Me,” the second in my series “The Games Men Play,” is about a quarterback’s search for identity – sexual, racial, familial and national – in the beautiful, brutal world of the NFL.)

Sam asked to be judged on his merits, and, to their credit, the NFL and the Rams have done just that. Let’s hope his teammates and opponents, the press and we fans can do the same.

And forget March Madness. They should call this merry month May Madness.

Jason Collins, the gay Jackie Robinson

February 25, 2014

Jason Collins has rejoined the Nets with a difference: He becomes the first openly gay athlete in any of America’s four major sports.

There’s lots of symbolism here: The team now plays in Brooklyn, where Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball. The Nets are owned by Mikhail D. Prokhorov, from Russia, which has taken a tough anti-gay stance. And Collins will wear his regular No. 98, in honor of Matthew Shepard, the college student who was murdered for being gay in 1998.

Collins may soon be joined in pro sports by Michael Sam, who’s just come out and is on-target to be drafted by the NFL.

All of which makes me look prescient for publishing “Water Music,” a novel about four gay athletes and how their shifting rivalries color their personal relationships with one another.