athletes Page 4 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Openly Gay WWE Wrestler Blasts Company For Abu Dhabi Shows
Today marks the first of three WWE house shows in Abu Dhabi, and Darren Young is very notably not among the wrestlers making the trip. Young (real name Fred Rosser) came out as gay in 2013, and the United Arab Emirates doesn't have the best human-rights record. WWE says it left Young behind for his ...

TCU Got Screwed, And That's The Point
Time for your weekly edition of the Deadspin Funbag. Got something on your mind? Email the Funbag. Today, we're covering LeBron and Kate, toilet coffee, jar monkeys, and more....

Jason Collins Becomes First Openly Gay NBA Player To Retire
It's a milestone! Sure, there have been plenty of closeted gay players who have retired, but until Jason Collins's announcement this morning, there had never been an openly gay player who retired after it became clear that no one wanted to sign him....

Hoop Dreams, Rap Nightmares: Revisiting <em>B-Ball's Best Kept Secret</em>
There's no semblance of a barrier between professional athletes and rappers today, but that wasn't the case in 1994. Long before Ron Artest put out his own mixtape or Damian Lillard dominated #FourBarFridays, the NBA's biggest stars were only just beginning to tiptoe into the studio, with oft-disa...

Sam Agonistes: A Gay NFLer Negotiates A Straight Man's World
Originally published in slightly different form in the August issue of Out Magazine. Reprinted here with permission....

Report: Air Force Football Players Used Date-Rape Drugs At Party
The United States Air Force Academy has called for an Inspector General's investigation of the athletic department after the Colorado Springs Gazette discovered numerous honor code violations among athletes dating back to 2010, including an allegation that members of the football team used roofies t...

Oh No, Some NBA Players Are Collaborating On A Rap Album
This here is a teaser trailer for the forthcoming rap album, Full Court Press Vol. 1, that is set to be released this fall. This isn't just any rap album, though. It's a rap album featuring the hottest bars from Shawn Marion, Big Baby Davis, Stephen Jackson, Carlos Boozer, and Juwan Howard(!)...

Violet Palmer, First Female NBA Ref, Is Coming Out And Getting Married
Do you realize that Violet Palmer has been an NBA referee for 17 years? That's still not as long as her relationship with her partner of two decades, hairstylist Tanya Stine. The two are getting married tomorrow, so Palmer's using the occasion to publicly announce what her friends and co-workers hav...

Tony Dungy Is Sorry You Made Such A Big Deal Over What He Said
Tony Dungy has released a statement on his comments that he wouldn't draft Michael Sam. And wouldn't you know it, we're all really to blame....

Tony Dungy Says He Wouldn't Want To "Deal With" Taking Michael Sam
It's not a shock that former coach and continued insufferable shit Tony Dungy says he wouldn't want anything to do with an openly gay player on his team. It's just surprising it took someone this long to ask him....

Watch This Former Gymnast Tear Up The Course On <em>American Ninja Warrior</em>
Kacy Catanzaro's about 5-foot-nothing and 100 pounds, and somehow she's wrecking shit on American Ninja Warrior....

MLB Finally Acknowledges Glenn Burke, The Game's Gay Pioneer
At tonight's all-star game, MLB will recognize the career and contributions of Glenn Burke, a speedy outfielder who became the first baseball player to be out to his teammates, and the first to acknowledge it publicly after his career ended....

Every FCC Viewer Complaint About Michael Sam Kissing His Boyfriend
In May, Michael Sam became the first openly gay man to be drafted into the NFL. Seconds later, he became the first openly gay man to kiss his boyfriend after being drafted into the NFL. A handful of Americans complained about the latter; you get the sense they were just as upset about the former. ...

Iman Shumpert's New Rap Video Sure Is Weird And Sort Of Great
As we have discussed before, Knicks swingman Iman Shumpert is actually a pretty damn good rapper If this latest music video is any indication, he really does take his music seriously....

A Gay Basketball Player Goes To Bible Study
The Fellowship of Christian Athletes is a nationwide organization that often uses college athletic facilities to host weekly meetings. On the nationally ranked 2003 Colorado Buffaloes women's basketball team, FCA exerted a strong influence, and nearly half of the players attended meetings and Bible ...

How One Gay Athlete's Coming Out Led To An Activists' War
Derrick Gordon wanted to come out on his terms, and that meant controlling the timing. The UMass guard had told his parents, then his coach, then his teammates. Seven days later, he would tell the world, but for the moment he had one request. "Derrick had a long conversation with his teammates about...

No Flops: A Treasury Of Pro Athletes' Vanity Record Labels
Listen, love is love, clap the gat at y'all hatersThe CEO of your label is a basketball player That mean your shit is never coming outSean Price, I'm forever dumbing out, pyrex—Sean Price, "Pyrex"...

"All I Talk Is Money" Fred Davis Raps In New, Terrible Music Video
It's a long offseason for football players who don't make the playoffs, so maybe it's not a total surprise to see the Redskins' Fred Davis popping up on Youtube with a new music video. What's also not a surprise? It sucks....

Will We Ever See Another Two-Sport Athlete?
Seahawks QB Russell Wilson was a college infielder, and was drafted by the Rockies in 2010. After being acquired in the Rule 5 draft by Texas, he showed up at Rangers spring training to take some drills, and said, "I've always had the dream of playing two sports." Well, the quintessential two-sport...