The ever-opinionated politico David Mixner talks jock this morning, chatting with OutSports about the strained relationship between the athletic and lavender worlds. Mixner, who's a Bill Clinton chum, hypothesizes that endorsements prevent sports stars from embracing social progression:

Outsports: Few athletes seem to embrace social activism. Why do you think that is?

David Mixner: The clear answer to this question is just one simple word - endorsements. I also believe that many professional athletes skipped college,where they might have gained access to more social activism, and went directly into a sports league.

We're going to indulge our cynicism and put more weight on the endorsement side.

There's a speedo-clad spoiler running around UNC. A basketball loving student continues a once-banned school tradition of distracting the opposing team with a different kind of basket.

Finally, a reason for us to care about college sports!

Sports-minded homo LZ Granderson found himself on the receiving end of some anti-gay hits at last week's NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans. While he wasn't seriously hurt, the incident spurred Granderson to speak out against a seemingly apathetic sports world, particularly with relation to this month's Brady Quinn scandal. Writes Granderson:

As long as we as a culture continue to make incidents like the one involving Quinn a news brief, then we as a culture will continue to give credence to the barbaric caste system that has led to several violent attacks and even deaths of people just because they are gay. Contrary to the mistaken notion that brings us comfort, this branch of hate crimes didn't stop once the nation eulogized Shepard. Some of us just stopped paying attention.

That's certainly a possibility, but our cynical selves suspect some of 'em just don't care.

We're not really sure where the following video originated (Brazil?), but these boys can do amazing things with balls.

CONTINUED »

Britain's Rochdale Football Club enjoys tarting it up in thongs while getting felt up by getting felt up by game show contestants. Why did our forefathers revolt!?

CONTINUED »

Gay folk are always calling for "straight" athletes to come out of the closet. Though rare, a few athletes have come out, like John Amaechi. Amaechi, however, followed a common path: revealing his true identity only after reaching retirement.

Yeah, it would be super if some quarterback or short stop or whatever came out as a cocksucker, but ESPN's LZ Granderson doesn't think you should hold your breath:

Many of us are so obsessed with closeted athletes and their possible effect on sports that we ignore the gay athletes who are already out and creating change.

Too quickly we dismiss the thousands of openly gay men and women who participate in rec leagues…every weekend, interacting with folks who may not have been around gay people before.

It seems to us that gay folk pay these jocko-homos no mind because they don't fulfill the straight-worshiping some find integral to their love of sports. We know plenty of people who want only the fantasy, not the fag.

This isn't true for all gay sports fans, but we've encountered more than a couple. And, quite frankly, it's depressing.

Alright, so this blind item isn't exactly "gay," but it's a bit queer:

Which hero-athlete, who has had two recent forays onto the small screen, has a private thing for cross-dressing? It is said to be the reason for his first divorce, although the current wife doesn’t know.

We're assuming it's not Oscar de La Hoya.

Bent b-baller John Amaechi's taking a trip to Nashville this weekend.

The gay former Orlando Magic player will participate in the NCAA's diversity conference, specifically a session called "Time Out! A Conversation About Including Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Student-Athletes”. Sounds like quite the time.

The session will address homophobia and the Association’s commitment to an inclusive culture that fosters equitable participation for student-athletes and career opportunities for coaches and administrators.
…
Jaime Fluker, NCAA assistant director of diversity and inclusion, said people walk away from the diversity education sessions realizing that they “didn’t know what they thought they knew” about sexual orientation.

Lesson one: homos can shoot hoops.

Former German Olympian Yvonne Buschbaum's making some big changes this new year:

Buschbaum announced this week that she is retiring from track and field and that she will become a man.

"I feel as if I am a man and have to live my life in the body of a woman," Buschbaum said in a statement… [She continued] "I am aware of the fact that transsexuality is a fringe issue, and I do not want to be responsible for it remaining on the fringe."

Congratulations, Buschbaum! May you and your soon-to-be transformed bush have a good run!

Last month we passed on the very good (looking) news that Australian athletes stripped to stop Breast Cancer. Today we came across some shots from the Naked For A Cause calendar and now we're passing them on to you.

David Beckham knows you want him - and he loves it!

CONTINUED »

While we're on the subject of male objectification, we recently came across a video of men oil wrestling.

We're not sure whether the men are straight or gay, but we do know it's truly a piece of cinematic genius. We also know that penis makes some cameos, so it's probably best that you don't watch this at work.

CONTINUED »

• Australian athletes get naked for a cause: fighting breast cancer. And, of course, they help our testicles, too.

• Hillary Clinton talks AIDS with the Evangelicals. Peter LaBarbera hopes she talks about gay bathhouses.

• Uganda's clergy blast gay rights. This is news?

• Queer cartoon breaks gay ground:

Us2 LLC, headquartered in Omaha, NE has announced that it has developed the first children's animated cartoon series starring a character with two parents of the same gender. Buddy G - My Two Moms and Me, featuring sate of the art 3-D animation, will premiere with the release of a DVD just in time for a holiday delivery this year.

So will social conservative backlash, we're sure.

CONTINUED »