Author Topic: First Openly Gay NBA Player!(no homo) (Read 202 times)

Dogg_Pound_Gangsta · « **on:** February 07, 2007, 09:02:11 AM »

Amaechi will appear on a Feb. 13 episode of ESPN's Outside the Lines in which he will acknowledge his sexuality and promote his book, Man in the Middle. The book, which chronicles his NBA career and directly addresses the struggles of being a closeted professional athlete, will be released the following week.
Outsports.com has received a copy of the book and provided excerpts in its report, including Amaechi's admission that he all but encouraged reporters to out him even while he was playing with the Jazz.

"By the end of my second Utah season, I was practically daring reporters to take the bait and out me," he wrote. "But it never happened. My sexuality, I felt, had become an open secret, which was fine by me. I'd left enough open to interpretation that suspicions were gaining momentum."

Amaechi joins an extremely small fraternity of men's professional athletes who have publicly admitted to being gay, including football player Esera Tuaolo and baseball player Billy Bean.

Amaechi, a 6-foot-10 center, retired in 2003 after averaging 6.2 points and 2.6 rebounds during his brief career.

He was born in Massachusetts, but was raised in England, where he is currently a television personality.

Lol at him daring the reporters to ask him if hes gay.

7even · « **Reply #1 on:** February 07, 2007, 09:05:10 AM »

He never really made himself a name as a basketball player, now he tries to make himself a name as a gay basketball player. What an attention-whoring faggot.

Sanford - V. President of the Dangerous Crew Movement · « **Reply #2 on:** February 07, 2007, 09:30:41 AM »

Now_Im_Not_Banned · « **Reply #3 on:** February 07, 2007, 10:27:24 AM »

Dennis Rodman was pretty open with his gayness as well...

Teddy Roosevelt · « **Reply #4 on:** February 07, 2007, 10:30:06 AM »

Quote from: 7even on February 07, 2007, 09:05:10 AM

He never really made himself a name as a basketball player, now he tries to make himself a name as a gay basketball player. What an attention-whoring faggot.

Exactly. You ever think that people just didn't really care about you enough to try to figure out what's going on?

Now_Im_Not_Banned · « **Reply #5 on:** February 07, 2007, 10:37:49 AM »

It was never really a secret. Dude was 6-10 and had a career average of 2 rebounds per game...That can only happen to a fag...LOL.

But for real, this is what happens when what you're best known for is scoring the first NBA points of the year 2000...Come to think of it, that means a gay guy led the NBA into the new millennium...

Now_Im_Not_Banned · « **Reply #6 on:** February 07, 2007, 04:36:02 PM »

So Meech Is Gay? Yawn

Posted on Feb 7, 2007 1:44:02 PM

I knew John Amaechi about as well as anybody when he played with the Magic, as we collaborated on a weekly Magic Confidential feature called "Tea With Meech."

It was just witty insights from Meech, and his take on all kinds of things. Without a doubt, he's one of the most refreshing athletes I've ever been around. He actually read books.

The tea reference, of course, was played off the fact that he's British.

And now he is something else: Gay.

Can't say that I'm shocked in the least that he's come out, nor are some of his former Magic teammates. But Meech wants the world and the NBA to notice.

I don't know why he's making a big deal about it.

Oh, yeah, he's got a book to sell called "Man In The Middle."

Meech was pretty up front --- I once wrote about his aversion to giving respect to the American flag during the national anthem (he'd bury his head in a towel) ---but he never let on to me that he was gay.

Obviously, he couldn't go there while drawing an NBA paycheck.

He couldn't do that today if he were playing. Now that would take guts. But he'd be as unwelcome in the locker room as a process server --- or Jackie Christie.

Can you image the furor, the runaway homophobia, the media overload? If he were still with the Magic, we'd have everyone from Geraldo to Oprah to Ellen Degeneres at practice. Fans, I suspect, would mock him viciously.

And he was never even a star. I'm not sure that Meech's outing will have more than a few days of shelf life in the states. Unless some tabloid rag digs up something else on him.

A young friend of Meech's that he mentored while in Orlando --- Meech worked with lots of troubled teens --- tells me today that John never did anything untoward. Never.

Now Meech is the first NBA player to ever come out.

My reaction is . . . . whatever.

It's not like leaping out of the closet hasn't been done. It's so '90s, isn't it? Of course, we've never quite come to grips with it in the testosterone-charged sports world and never will.

Hope you sell some books, Meech.

Sikotic™ · « **Reply #7 on:** February 07, 2007, 04:39:56 PM »

I bet anyone who ever posted him up feels like shit right about now.

J$crILLa · « **Reply #8 on:** February 07, 2007, 04:48:40 PM »

Quote from: 7even on February 07, 2007, 09:05:10 AM

He never really made himself a name as a basketball player, now he tries to make himself a name as a gay basketball player. What an attention-whoring faggot.

word to that