Well, that's it. The Fat Lady has sung. Elvis has left the building. The world of sports is about to come tumbling down like the halls of Jericho. And all because two Toronto Raptors, guard Leandro Barbosa and power forward Reggie Evans, held hands after a win over the Orlando Magic. Sounds like the end of the he-man world of sports, right?
I mean, a finger lock makes the two guys totally (lowers voice and looks around) GAY? Which everyone knows makes you a limp-wristed nancy boy with impeccable taste in fashion AND the last one to be picked for the team in gym class. DUH. Gay boys can't play sports. Just ask Olympic gold medalist and homo Greg Louganis. Oh ... wait. I guess they can ... just check these guys out!
See this video on The Stir by CafeMom.
Did you SEE that? Two guys who just WON an NBA game ... celebrating ... together! They're acting like, well, teammates.
That gay men and lesbians have just as much of a chance of being born with extraordinary athletic talent as the rest of us is actually beside the point in the hoopla that's followed Barbosa and Evans' little hand hockey. Because neither, it will surprise the gay-fraid world, is gay. The Brazilian-born Barbosa was once linked to Brazilian actress Samara Felippo, mother of his toddler daughter, and was more recently the center of a bona fide sex scandal with player Steve Nash's wife ... a red-blooded American WOMAN. Evans is a father of two daughters -- born to a woman named Joy with whom he ostensibly engaged in heterosexual sex.
Imagine! Two men being affectionate who are not gay. Louganis would be so proud.
I don't know about you, but while folks like blogger Terez Owens are shaking in their homophobic boots about how "gay" these guys are being, I didn't see it. I saw two guys who play on the same team, who spend inordinate amounts of time together, away from their nuclear families. Like policemen, like firefighters, professional athletes form a new family with the people they put time in with while on the road. Teammates become more like brothers than their own real brothers.
Real brothers aren't afraid to touch each other, even show affection. True, they're protected by blood from scaredy cats ranting about homosexuality. But a good fan would apply the same rubric to their favorite athletes (a good person would to, you know, ANYONE, but I know that's asking a lot). It's the ties that bind the brothers on a basketball team that make them a good team. Two guys who can't stand each other don't make for good sharers on the court. Stars have been traded for less.
So maybe the Raptors are on to something. After all, nothing says love like a Mom or Dad with their tot's hand in theirs. If you put that kind of love on a court, those guys can work magic ... literally (they did kick Orlando's @ss after all).
What do you think? Should more athletes hold hands or is it "too gay"?
Image via YouTube