If you're not a follower of sports media, odds are you've never heard of Jeff Pearlman. Heck, I'd never really taken much note of him till a link to his column on SI.com showed up on my Google page (yeah, Google's evil but I do like the customizable home page). Intrigued, I decided to click on it...and found an insight rare in the sporting world.
The column in question was about a minor league baseball manager, Brent Bowers, who was suspended for the season, and who later resigned. So, what was he in trouble for? Turns out that in protesting a call, he went into a profanity-laced tirade against the umpires, one of whom, Billy Van Raaphorst, is gay. The tirade was full of the "f----t" word and assorted insinuations about what Van Raaphorst did in bed with his partners. Outsports.com (great site, by the way, even if you're a straight sports fan) acquired a copy of the report Van Raaphorst filed with the Golden Baseball League and quoted from it in its story for those interested; I'm hesitant to repost the language here because of its graphic nature.
To be honest, the league originally suspended Bowers for only two games; they only extended it to the season when the umpires complained (and it was far more likely that it was the abuse rather than homophobia that concerned most of the umpires). The sports world is one of the last bastions where homophobia is not only tolerated, but encouraged in some quarters, especially in men's sports; women have come out particularly in tennis and the WNBA and their careers have not noticeably suffered.
But not from Pearlman. And that I find encouraging.
After posting his summary of the events that led to Bowers' suspension and resignation, Pearlman writes:
At this point, we are supposed to forgive people like Brent Bowers. We are supposed to be open-minded about the whole thing; to accept his apology and believe that -- at heart -- those words were provoked not by any sort of hatred, but by a manager trying to stand up for his team. In the heat of the moment... when a game in on the line... blah, blah, blah, blah.
No.
The year is 2010. Across America, as more and more people come to know and understand and appreciate and love gays, more and more people are shedding the corrosive brand of hatred that once consumed them. Soon enough, gays will openly serve in the armed forces, sans concern of an outing. Soon enough, gay marriage will be deemed universally legal. Soon enough, people will be wondering what all the fuss was ever about.
Times are indeed changing; this year, in the ultra-macho sport of professional hockey, the Chicago Blackhawks sent the league's top trophy, the Stanley Cup, to participate in Chicago's Gay Pride Parade. (I'm still pissed they swept my San Jose Sharks in the playoffs, but I can give them some faint applause for this.) And Brian Burke, general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, marched in that city's Pride Parade in honor of his late son Brendan, a gay young man who was killed with a friend in an auto accident. When Brendan came out to him, Burke promised the two of them would march together, but Brendan died before that could take place.
It may be some time before the sports world truly opens its mind and heart to the gay athletes in its midst. But some day an active athlete will come out as gay in the prime of his playing career. And it just might be folks like Jeff Pearlman, Brian Burke, and others who will help pave the way.