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Amaechi will be first publicly gay NBA player
NOTE: This is not funny news but i can't put it in wired,
technology or science news. Former NBA center
John Amaechi, who spent five seasons with four teams, on
Wednesday became the first NBA player to publicly come out.
John Amaechi averaged 6.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in five NBA
seasons.
His admission comes three years after his playing career ended,
making him the sixth professional male athlete from one of the
four major U.S. sports — basketball, baseball, football, hockey
— to openly discuss his homosexuality.
Amaechi details his life in his autobiography "Man in the
Middle," which will be released Feb. 14.
"He is coming out of the closet as a gay man," Amaechi's
publicist Howard Bragman said.
Martina Navratilova, perhaps the most famous openly gay athlete
in the world, praised Amaechi's decision and said it's
imperative for athletes to come out because of what she called
an epidemic of suicides among young lesbians and gays.
"It's hugely important for the kids so they don't feel alone in
the world. We're role models," she said. "He will definitely
help a lot of kids growing up to feel better about themselves."
Orlando's Grant Hill, who said he didn't know Amaechi when he
was with the Magic, also applauded the decision to go public.
"The fact that John has done this, maybe it will give others the
comfort or confidence to come out as well, whether they are
playing or retiring," Hill said.
NBA commissioner David Stern said a player's sexuality wasn't
important.
"We have a very diverse league. The question at the NBA is
always 'Have you got game?' That's it, end of inquiry," he said.
LeBron James, however, said he didn't think an openly gay person
could survive in the league.
"With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay
and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not
trustworthy," James said. "So that's like the No. 1 thing as
teammates — we all trust each other. You've heard of the
in-room, locker room code. What happens in the locker room stays
in there. It's a trust factor, honestly. A big trust factor."
Injured Philadelphia Sixers forward Shavlik Randolph
acknowledged it's a new situation.
"As long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine,"
Randolph said. "As far as business-wise, I'm sure I could play
with him. But I think it would create a little awkwardness in
the locker room."
News that Amaechi had come out surprised some players.
"For real? He's gay for real?" said Philadelphia center Steven
Hunter. "Nowadays it's proven that people can live double lives.
I watch a lot of TV, so I see a lot of sick perverted stuff
about married men running around with gay guys and all types of
foolishness."
Even so, Hunter said he would be fine with an openly gay
teammate.
"As long as he don't make any advances toward me I'm fine with
it," he said. "As long as he came to play basketball like a man
and conducted himself like a good person, I'd be fine with it."
Orlando's Pat Garrity acknowledged reaction was bound to vary
throughout the league.
"They would have teammates that would accept them for being a
good person and a good teammate, and there would be people who
would give him a hard time about it," he said. "I think that's
true if you're playing basketball or in an office job. That's
just how the world is right now."
In his book, Amaechi describes the challenge of being gay in a
league where it's assumed all players are heterosexual. He
describes the blatant anti-gay language and attitudes he
experienced in NBA locker rooms.
"We're all insensitive at times. There's no taboo subject in the
locker room," said Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who coached Amaechi
in Orlando, where he said he had one of his strongest locker
rooms. "I think if he would have come out they would have got on
him jokingly. ... And I actually think that when guys do come
out, when that day happens, it will make it easier."
Amaechi also writes that while playing in Utah, coach Jerry
Sloan used anti-gay innuendo to describe him. Sloan said
Wednesday that although his relationship with Amaechi was
"shaky" because of the player's attitude, he didn't know Amaechi
was gay. Sloan had no comment about Amaechi's contention that
Sloan used anti-gay innuendo when referring to him. Amaechi said
he found out about it in e-mails from friends in the Jazz front
office.
Asked if knowing Amaechi was gay would have mattered, Sloan
said: "Oh yeah, it would have probably mattered. I don't know
exactly, but I always have peoples' feelings at heart. People do
what they want to do. I don't have a problem with that."
Former NFL running back David Kopay came out in 1977; offensive
lineman Roy Simmons and defensive lineman Esera Tuaolo came out
more recently. Glenn Burke, an outfielder for the Los Angeles
Dodgers and the Oakland A's in the 1970s, and Billy Bean, a
utility player in the 1980s and 1990s (not the current Oakland
general manager), also have come out.
Each did so after retiring. Burke died of complications due to
AIDS in 1995.
Amaechi, 36, who was raised in England, writes in the book that
he never touched a basketball before the age of 17. A quick
study despite being a "terrible athlete," he found his
confidence in the game and made it his goal to play in the NBA.
He competed for Penn State, then played in 301 NBA games over
five seasons. The 6-foot-10 center averaged 6.2 points and 2.6
rebounds. He began his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers in
1995-96, then spent a few years playing in Europe. He rejoined
the NBA to play for the Orlando Magic from 1999-01, then played
two seasons for the Utah Jazz.
The Jazz traded him to Houston, which traded him to the New York
Knicks. When the Knicks waived him in January 2004, he retired.
Amaechi came out of retirement to help England's men's
basketball team win the silver medal in the 2006 Commonwealth
Games in Melbourne, Australia.
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