Turn of Phrase - Top WNBA Draft Pick Is Gay

Brittney Griner - #1 WNBA draft pick

"If I can show that I'm out and I'm fine and everything's okay, then hopefully the younger generation will definitely feel the same way."

- From Brittney Griner, the number one overall pick in Monday's WNBA draft. 

The 6-foot-8 Griner, who led the Baylor Lady Bears to a 40-0 season and the NCAA women's basketball title in 2012, acknowledged her lesbian sexuality this week in a Sports Illustrated interview.

According to Griner, public recognition of her sexual orientation "wasn't too difficult," as she has lived openly and never attempted to hide who she was. It also helps that the trail for professional lesbian athletes has already been blazed by women like Sheryl Swoopes, the three-time gold medalist and first woman ever signed by the WNBA, and by tennis legends Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. 

Coming out on such a big stage takes guts nonetheless and Griner should be commended for having the mettle to be open about her sexuality. Gay kids across the spectrum need all the support we can muster, and out gay and lesbian role models in professional sports are still pathetically few and far between, particularly among male athletes.

John Amaechi and Glenn Burke

Gay men have played in the big four professional sports in the U.S., but few have ever publicly acknowledged their sexuality and none have done so before retiring from their respective leagues. John Amaechi, who played in the NBA off-and-on for several years between 1995 and 2003, came out in 2007 and was the first NBA player (albeit a retired one) to do so. Similarly, MLB outfielder Glenn Burke, who had a brief career with the LA Dodgers and the Oakland As, came out in 1982 after retiring from baseball at the tender age of 27.

Can you imagine the hullaballoo that would surround a current top NBA draft pick who came out? Better yet, what if RGIII had announced he was gay just after signing with the NFL's Washington Redskins? I'm not expecting such a revelation anytime soon in mens' professional baseball, football, or basketball, but the world is ready. 

Now, we just have to hope there's a young gay male athlete somewhere out there with as big a heart and as much courage as Brittney Griner.

Gary Oldman Takes On Athlete-Actors

Did you ever see Kazaam starring legendary NBA center Shaquille O'Neal? Apparently, Oscar-nominated actor Gary Oldman did and he's still pissed.

Soccer Star Fined $126K For Underwear Flash, Latest In Series of Sports Misconduct Issues

Danish soccer star Nicklas Bendtner

In the most recent in a string of unsportsmanlike conduct issues to befall professional sports, the UEFA, governing body of European football, has fined Danish player Nicklas Bendtner $126,000 for flashing the name of an unauthorized sponsor on the waistband of his underwear after scoring a goal. Bendtner also received a one match suspension.

Paddy Power, the Irish gambling company whose logo appeared on Bendtner's underwear, is not an official sponsor of the championship.

There is some debate and controversy over the severity of the punishment. Critics of the UEFA decision note that teams whose fans displayed banners with racially abusive language were fined far less than half of Bendtner's penalty.

I don't follow European football, but certainly the harshness of sports fines should correspond to the egregiousness of the infraction, as well as to the player's salary. Consider these recent incidents of misconduct in other sports, both of which are far more serious than showing one's boxers.

This past weekend, in the normally genteel world of tennis, Argentine player David Nalbandian kicked an on-court advertising placard in anger and injured a linesman, drawing blood from the official's shin. For his swift angry kick, Nalbandian was disqualified from the championship match (which he was winning), forced to forfeit $57,000 in prize money, and fined $12,500.

In the more typically violent (and far richer) NBA, Metta World Peace's flagrant elbow to the head of James Harden in April cost him a 7-game suspension and about $348,000 in lost salary.

Not sure what's going on in the sporting world, but perhaps professional athletes need to be reminded of several common childhood lessons.

1. Keep your pants on.
2. Don't break anything that's not yours.
3. Keep your elbows to yourself.

Turn of Phrase - Why LeBron Won't Win

LeBron James and Kevin Durant

"At the end of the day in this series I'm going to play my game and try to do whatever it takes on both ends and make plays. 

Whatever the results, I'm going to be satisfied with that. I'm going to be happy with it because I know I'm going to give it my all."

- From LeBron James, as he and his Miami Heat teammates prepare to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA Finals. 

LeBron James is arguably the most individually talented basketball player in the NBA. Sure, you can make a legit case for Kobe Bryant or Kevin Durant, both of whom are serious game-changers, but LeBron is the guy we've all been measuring against Michael Jordan for the last decade. And yet, after his first eight years in the NBA, LeBron's giant hands sport no championship rings. 

Here's the problem. LeBron James is willing to put the championship hopes of an entire franchise squarely on his shoulders, because he genuinely believes his singular presence on the court makes that much difference. And truth be told, LeBron is a beast, a monster, an absolute stud, or whatever other cliched athletic superlative you can think of, but he is still just one guy. One of five starters, one of twelve guys on the roster. One guy.  

In the NBA, championships are won by those squads where the five starting players, and the half-dozen or so other guys who come off the bench to support them, work well together as a unit on offense and defense toward the shared goal of ensuring they score more points than the opposition. It's simple - teamwork wins titles.

I respect and believe in LeBron's commitment and work ethic, but in the two-sentence statement at the top of this post, he uses the words "I" and "my" seven times. Basketball is a "we" and "our" sport, and until LeBron genuinely believes that it will take not his personal best, but the collective and coordinated bests of five starters and a group of talented role players, he and his teammates are not likely to win a seven-game NBA Finals series.

Why Do We Hate the Miami Heat So Much?

Bosh, Wade, and James
Miami's "Big Three"

A popular theory Miami Heat fans propose about why their team is among the most hated franchises in professional sports is that great talent and success often breed petty jealousy and contempt among the less talented and less successful.

While there may be some elements of truth to this notion, especially as it relates to LeBron James, there is just as much evidence against it.

Consider that the history of sports is rife with athletes we loved precisely because of their unexplainable near supernatural ability to execute flawlessly and dominate their sport. Every great competitor has some detractors, but masterful athletes like Roger Federer, Jack Nicklaus, Walter Payton, Wayne Gretzky, and Michael Jordan are overwhelmingly beloved by fans in their respective sporting arenas. Not so for the Heat.

The Heat's extreme unpopularity among NBA fans is also not due to their "success." After all, there are a dozen teams who have been to the NBA finals more often than Miami, and if winning championships spawned haters around the league, no team would be more despised than the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs have won four titles since 1999, and while more than a few NBA fans might say the Spurs team-style of play can be tedious to watch, the team is far more respected than hated.

The real reasons behind the anti-Heat bias among NBA fans are diverse and myriad. To better understand them, let's take a look at something Americans love about sports - the underdog.

- An established older golfer in the twilight of his career shoots three amazing rounds and finds himself in contention for the win on Sunday. We pump our fists wildly when that last putt falls. 
- A young tennis hopeful strings together a handful of wins and finds herself on the sport's biggest stage in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. We cheer for every winner she hits.
- A small-town college basketball team with modest talent but giant desire topples a perennial basketball behemoth and makes their way into the NCAA "elite eight." We leap from our seats when that last second three-pointer drops.

In almost any sporting contest that doesn't involve our preferred team or favorite player, we almost always pull for the underdog - but, why is that?

• Because underdogs often overcome incredible obstacles just to be in contention.
• Because they earn it. Nothing comes easy for the underdogs.
• Because underdogs don't expect to win, but if they do, they don't feel entitled to it. 
• Because we appreciate athletes who perform at the pinnacle of their capacity. 
• Because it's more rewarding to cheer for less talented players who give their all in a loss, than for naturally gifted players who win with a three-quarter effort. 
• Because while underdogs work hard, it's their willingness to dig deeper than anyone believed possible that sometimes pushes them across the finish line first. 

Those are many of our motivations for loving the underdogs, but does that explain why some many of us harbor such intense dislike for the Miami Heat?

The NBA Season Is Back

Kobe Claus

Yes Kobe, there is a Santa.

The NBA announced that a tentative deal has been reached between players and owners, and that a slightly shortened basketball season should begin on Christmas Day.

The season is scheduled to include 66 regular season games, which is 16 less than the normal 82 game season, but still enough to ensure that basketball will feel like it goes on indefinitely.

Ummm...yay?

No NBA Before Christmas - Does Anyone Care?

Derek Fisher, president of the players' association.    
Photo: Seth Wenig/AP

NBA players have rejected a "final" proposal from team owners this week, and in case that wasn't enough to put a dagger in any hopes for professional basketball in 2011, the players also decided to disband their union, the National Basketball Players Association. The move to end the union comes as negotiations have gone absolutely nowhere in recent months, and it allows players to sue the NBA individually under anti-trust laws.

According to David Stern, commissioner of the NBA, a "nuclear winter is coming." I understand this statement, inasmuch as the commissioner is attempting to characterize the move by players to disband the union as the "nuclear option," a devastating decision, the fallout from which cannot be easily undone.

But really? A nuclear winter? Could that be a modest overstatement? I doubt the cancellation of the 2011-2012 NBA season will precipitate months, or years even, of reduced sunshine, and I'm fairly certain that the earth's atmosphere will not be filled with soot and smoke and ash because there won't be professional basketball for a year.

There is, of course, be a significant financial impact to a canceled season, including $4 billion in "basketball income" lost for NBA owners and players. There will also be a dark wintry melancholy in a few smaller NBA markets that don't have other professional sports franchises to rally around. I feel bad for the folks in Oklahoma City and Memphis, and in my beloved San Antonio, where the superstars can hardly afford to age another year. And consider the wretched souls in Indianapolis who will suffer like no others, as there will be no Pacers basketball to erase the memories of the 2011 Colts season.

As for me, I think the NBA season lasts too long anyway. If they insist on dragging the playoffs out through the month of June, then I say, let them start the season sometime around the first week of February. In fact, now that I think about it, that's the perfect time for the season to begin. If there is no NBA in February and March, during the period between football's Superbowl and baseball's Opening Day, I may be forced to watch hockey. Then again, there's always tennis.