"Then I hit another second serve, huge. And that ball was on the line, was not even close. And that guy, he looks like a fa**ot little bit, you know. This hair all over him. He call it. I couldn't believe he did it." - Former Wimbledon men's champion Goran Ivanisevic
*
"Let's see how much Parcells wins this year. I'll make him pay when we play them. The homo." - New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey
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"No. I mean, if I knew there was a gay guy on my college football team, I probably wouldn't, you know, stand for it. You know, I think, you know, they're going to be in the shower with us and stuff, so I don't think that's gonna work." - New York Giants tight end Jeremy Shockey
*
"Fucking fruitcakes. You're nothing but a fucking freak. I hope you get AIDS and die." - Failed pitcher John Rocker (to a gay couple at a Dallas restaurant)
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"I don't like gays. Write that down in your little notebook." - Pro Wrestler Brock Lesnar
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"You fa**ot! Yeah, you heard me. You fa**ot!" Detroit Lions President Matt Millen (to Kansas City Chiefs receiver Johnnie Morton)
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"Aw, hell no! I don't want any fa**ots on my team. I know this might not be what people want to hear, but that's a punk. I don't want any fa**ots in this locker room." - San Francisco 49ers running back Garrison Hearst
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"I wouldn't want a gay guy being around me. It's got nothing to do with me being scared. That's the problem: All these people say he's got all these rights. Yeah, he's got rights or whatever, but he shouldn't walk around proud. It's like he's rubbing it in our face: 'See me, Hear me roar.' We're not trying to be closed-minded, but then again, why be confrontational when you don't really have to be?" - Colorado Rockies Pitcher Todd Jones
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"Why should I care about the fans? They're a bunch of assholes and faggots here." -Chicago Cubs pitcher Julian Tavarez (on San Francisco's fans)
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"Imagine having to take the 7 train to [Shea Stadium in New York] looking like you're [in] Beirut next to some kid with purple hair, next to some queer with AIDS, right next to some dude who got out of jail for the fourth time, right next to some 20-year-old mom with four kids. It's depressing." - Failed pitcher John Rocker


Professional sports have long been a breeding ground for homophobia and intolerance. Many who are protective of the sports world argue that athletes aren't more homophobic than the general population, but that the media looks for any opportunity to create a story about an athlete's controversial comments. Realistically, there isn't more homophobia in the NFL or MLB than in, say, Texas or Washington DC. Despite the recent advancement of gay culture via such pop culture vehicles as Will and Grace and Queer as Folk, homophobia is still rampant in the United States. Homophobia thrives in sports because of the pressures put on athletes by themselves, teammates, and the public. When professional athletes make comments such as those above, any athletes with dissenting opinions are typically forced to remain quiet for fear of being ostrasized. In today's society, the only people working to defend gay rights are women and gays; straight males simply can not defend gay rights without having their own sexuality questioned. And so, unfortunately, the only voices that are heard are the ones that are not afraid to be heard.

Enter the Boston Red Sox. Once a club known for it's despicable treatment of African Americans and other minorities, the Sox have recently made sincere efforts to diminish their poor reputation. This week, five members of the Red Sox are filming an episode of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy in what is a huge step for professional sports. Perhaps with Kevin Millar, Tim Wakefield, Jason Varitek, Doug Mirabelli, and Johnny Damon showing that they aren't afraid to spend time with 5 very famous homosexuals, the impressionable youth who idolize athletes will learn that there are opinions other than those expressed by John Rocker.

The Boston Red Sox, in recent years, have shown evidence that the majority of the team does not worry about being ostrasized simply because they show their affection more than the average athlete. There was Manny and Millar arm-in-arm in the dugout. There was Ortiz giving a bearhug to anyone that crossed his path. The handsiness reached an all time high last year in the playoffs, and you'd have been hard-pressed to find a Sox fan, male or female, that didn't love the close bond that obviously existed in that clubhouse. This year, by agreeing to happily appear on Queer Eye, they are taking their new identity one step further and teaching an entire generation of sports fans that it's possible to be cool and masculine and still to treat people equally, no matter what their sexual orientation.

Sure, defeating the Yankees in Game 7 was sweet. And of course, winning the World Series in 4 games was something we'll never forget. But this, a groundbreaking era in the age of the new Boston Red Sox which was described by Larry Lucchino as "not your grandfather's spring training," is truly the best time to be a Sox fan.

With Spring Training underway, Opening Day can't be far behind. This year, Opening Day has more meaning than just the first game of the season. There's the ring ceremony, the raising of the banner, the first game against the Yankees since The Choke, and the Sox first game as defending World Champs.

There's also the release of Fever Pitch.

The Farrelly Brothers film based on a novel by Nick Hornby has been the center of much debate amongst Red Sox fans since the Sox won their first World Series in 86 years. As the Sox celebrated their triumph over the St Louis Cardinals on the Busch Stadium field, Fox's cameras panned to the right and focused on the film's stars, Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon, who were on the field kissing, filming a brand new ending to the movie about a hopelessly obsessed Red Sox fan.

Legions of Sox fans have not forgiven Fallon and the Farrelly Brothers for thrusting themselves into the middle of such an important and personal moment, insisting that they will not see Fever Pitch.

Me? I'll be at the theater on opening night.

I discovered Nick Hornby when I was in high school. A friend recommended I read High Fidelity and after much procrastination, I finally got around to buying a copy. Immediately, I fell in love. I always felt different in high school, as very few of my friends shared my passions for music, books, and sports. But here was a writer putting my thoughts so eloquently on paper. Over the next couple of years, I read every book Hornby ever wrote, edited, or coauthored. I saw the three movies based on his books, all of which I enjoyed thoroughly. When the news broke that another version of Fever Pitch was being made, I already knew I'd be first in line to see it.

Then I found out it was being made by a Red Sox fan - about a Red Sox fan - and my excitement reached a new level.

Fever Pitch, which has become somewhat of a bible for overzealous sports fans, is the confession of a man whose obsession with Arsenal's football team is both a blessing and a curse. Despite its damaging effect on his personal life and the amount of stress it causes him, he realizes that abandoning his passion for sports is simply not an option. There's no telling how true the movie will stay to the book, but even if the dialogue changes, the theme will not: sports are more than a hobby or a pasttime - they are a way of life.

As for altering the script to focus on a Red Sox fan in Boston instead of an Arsenal fan in England, well, it makes perfect sense. What fan base is so loyal and passionate despite such pain and suffering? The Red Sox are the Arsenal of the MLB. Hasn't every Red Sox fan said this (though not nearly as eloquently) at one time or another?

Football teams are extraordinarily inventive in the ways they find to cause their supporters sorrow. They seduce you, half-way through the season, into believing they are promotion candidates and then go the other way...always, when you think you have anticipated the worst that can happen, they come up with something new.

The fact is this: Hornby just gets it. He feels our pain. He understands our blind faith. He celebrates along with us. Just like us, he has superstitions that he follows strictly, even though he realizes how ridiculous they are.

We invest hours each day, months each year, years each lifetime in something over which we have no control; is it any wonder then, that we are reduced to creating ingenius but bizarre liturgies designed to give us the illusion that we are powerful after all, just as every primitive community has done when faced with a deep and apparently inpenetrable mystery?

So while some may hold strong to their beliefs that Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore should be punished for celebrating on the same field as the Red Sox, I'll be at the theater on opening night, enjoying the story of a man who is just like me.

I have always been accused of taking the things I love - football, of course, but also books and records - much too seriously, and I do feel a kind of anger when I hear a bad record, or when someone is lukewarm about a book that means a lot to me.

If there was any doubt that Jeremiah Trotter would go down in Philadelphia sports history as one of the most beloved Eagles of all time, that was erased yesterday when Trotter signed a 5-year, $15 million Eagles contract.

Five years, fifteen million dollars. For a guy with knees so bad he can't pass a physical, that's sounds about right. Why the love?

In signing that deal, Trotter violated all the codes of his Professional Athlete Handbook and turned down a deal worth more years - and more money - from the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Eagles have a history of letting players go if they are unable to strike a deal before free agency. Fans figured the same would happen with Trotter and were angry about his apparent change of heart. Trotter is the same guy who came back to the Eagles last season for the league minimum after a failed stint with the Redskins because, as he claimed, Philadelphia was where his heart was. All season long, he talked about how happy and relived he was to be back with the Eagles, and how he never wanted to make the mistake of leaving just for money again. Yet, here was Trotter meeting with the Chiefs and scheduled to meet with the Bengals as fans all over the cty were left to scratch their heads and wonder if they had been conned.

And then, yesterday afternoon, those fears were put to rest as news of Trotter's signing broke. As the story goes, Trotter was in a Kansas City hotel room on Thursday night when he was overcome with lonliness. He had gone to Kansas City hoping for a big-money contract offer, which would have made leaving the Birds easy. Or so he thought. In that hotel room late at night, he realized he was hoping for the opposite.

So he picked up the phone, called Andy Reid, and told him that his heart was in Philly. Or, in Trotter's words, "If we can get a deal done, I'll be on the first thing smokin' headed back to Philly."

The next day, a deal was done. It ended up being less years, and less money, than what Kansas City offered. But as Trotter will tell you, sometimes there are more important things than money.

"I was worried about putting the fans through that whole ordeal again," Trotter said. "For some crazy reason, they love 'The Axeman.' I don't know why, but they do. The fans definitely weighed heavily in my decision."

These things happen once in a while in sports. But they never seem to happen in Philadelphia. The pressure of playing in a city so passionate, demanding, and frustrated typically wears on athletes - especially star athletes. But finally, to the relief of fans, someone actually gets is. "This city has the same attitude I have. I play with a passion," Trotter said yesterday after arriving at Philadelphia Airport to a loud applause.

Legendary status: achieved.

Tonight is Allen Iverson night at the Wachovia Center, where the new-look Sixers with host the New Jersey Nets. What sort of activities does the team have planned?

The first 5,000 fans attending tonight's game against the New Jersey Nets will receive an Iverson bobblehead doll with a piece of a game jersey worn by Iverson.

Fans also may get airbrushed tattoos and cornrow hairstyles on the 11th Street mezzanine level of the Wachovia Center.

Please tell me someone else finds that as funny as I do.