Hotlanta Classic officials expect about 20 teams and 160 jocks next weekend, down from previous years thanks to a souring economy, expensive air fares and a new rule that tinkers with how teams can use elite players.
The event, which runs July 25-27 at Emory, is open to the public.
“Feel free to come watch,” says Duc Nguyen, the tournament director and captain of the Mojo, which finished fourth at NAGVA last May. “There’s no fee. It would be great to have people out there.”
My Southern Voice sports column this week focuses on the Hotlanta Classic and includes an interview with Nguyen. Read the full story.
What is it with newscasters and soccer stud David Beckham?
The latest round came Thursday when Fox morning show host Brian Kilmeade got a little tongued-tied when Gretchen Carlson called him on his burgeoning man crush over Beckham. He was on “Fox & Friends” to promote his three-part interview with Beckham.
“It is impossible not to notice that he is a good looking man,” Kilmeade allows in the chatter after the first interview segment aired.
Kilmeade was caught off guard when Carlson outed him for calling Beckham “gorgeous” off air. He stumbles, laughs and – when the teasing continues – jokingly walks off the set in a huff. (Hat tip to Gawker.)
It’s OK, Brian. It’s easy to get flustered when talking about Beckham. He does have a penchant for baring nearly all for the sake of selling underwear for Giorgio Armani and looks great when he does it.
Anderson Cooper, the openly closeted CNN star, held his tongue in better check for his segment on “60 Minutes.” The piece first aired in March and aired again last Sunday. The amusing part comes when a newly-buff Cooper, dressed in jeans and a not-so-loose t-shirt, plays goalie and attempts to stop Beckham’s shots. Watch that video after the jump.
It might seem a little early to ponder plans for Labor Day and beyond. But it’s not and here’s why: Planning is already underway that will be of interest to tennis players and golfers.
Registration recently opened for the Peach International Tennis Championships, an annual event that draws more than 200 gay and lesbian tennis players to Atlanta over Labor Day Weekend. This year’s event, the 21st rendition, is set for Aug 29 to Sept. 1. Entry fees range from $96 to $132.
On Aug. 16, the Atlanta Team Tennis Association, which stages the Peach, is holding its annual variety show to benefit the tournament and AIDS Survival Project. Last year, more than 200 athletes from 21 states and three foreign countries took part in the Peach.
It’s a guilty pleasure and not one I’m proud of. But John Rocker is sexy. He comes off as dumb, racist and homophobic with rage issues. That last one’s probably a result of the juice. But he’s a big beefy jock and who doesn’t like at least looking at those? Come on, admit it.
So when there’s a chance to blog about two beefy jocks and include some celebrity gossip, all the better.
By now, A-Rod’s taste for strippers and singers has permeated every crevice of every media outlet in the country. (Recap for those with their heads buried in the sand: A-Rod likes strippers. Wife looks the other way. A-Rod likes Madonna. Wife files for divorce. A-Rod goes to the All-Star Game and flirts with Cheryl Crow. Wife still filing for divorce.)
So, you might ask, how are Rocker and A-Rod connected? They both favor top-heavy models and favor the same one – Alicia Marie. Turns out A-Rod, slugging sexy manwhore that he is, visited her Chelsea apartment a few years ago to lend a sympathetic ear after her divorce. No, really. That’s what she said. He lent no other body parts to her and nothing tawdry took place. She insists.
After that Marie somehow hooked up with Rocker and they dated. Until recently, when that fling ended. This after Rocker put together a wonderfully romantic Valentine’s Day evening for Marie last February. With that relationship hitting the skids, I wonder if A-Rod stopped by again to “console” her? Maybe she’s consoling him, now that he’s grappling with a divorce. After all, what are friends for?
Yup, it’s true. The Atlanta Dream notched its third win of a very long season on Wednesday. They downed the Indiana Fever 81-77, avenging a nine-point loss from June.
That puts the Dream at 3-19 on the season, but 2-2 on their current six-game road trip and 3-2 in their last five games. See, numbers can be parsed to make things look positive. But seriously, the Dream continues to gel, making progress and coming together as the WNBA’s newest franchise.
“We played good team wise,” coach Marynell Meadors said after the game on Wednesday. “Our defense was really good. It was a great game to watch. It was a game of runs. We rebounded the ball well.”
The Dream returns home on Tuesday to play the Sacramento Monarchs. It’s an early game, with the tip set for 11 a.m.
Historic night. Longest All-Star game ever. AL gets home field advantage – again.
Yeah, yeah. Nice and touching moments from MLB’s All-Star game last night, which really didn’t end until this morning. But I’m more interested in the tidbits that didn’t take place on the field. You know, those special moments when sport crosses celebrity and even hits on gay. Or at least gay-fav celebs like Sarah Jessica Parker and Madonna.
So here goes:
Parker joined MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and Sheryl Crow in a pre-game ceremony to promote “Stand Up to Cancer,” a campaign to raise money for cancer research. That led to speculation about Parker’s famous mole. Really. Ever-present on her chin, it was gone from photos snapped at the All-Star Game.
Yogi Berra had this to say about Parker: “She wasn’t bad.”
We’re not one to succumb to the temptation of creating a post around a hot jock just as a way to post some eye-catching photos. This blog is much too serious for that.
Who am I kidding? This blog’s about sports. And with sports comes muscled jocks. That gets us to Paul Bester, a 19-year-old South African who plays rugby on the club team at Life University, that chiropractic college in Marietta. Apparently, he and the team play pretty well, winning the 2008 USA Rugby Men’s Division I National Championship last month. That’s a mouthful and so is Bester.
The hunk, all 6-foot 3-inches and 215 pounds of him, recently surfaced on the gay blog Towleroad after appearing in a photo shoot for Bruce Weber, the iconic gay photographer. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Turns out Bester’s a model as well as a college student and athlete. He says on his Model Mayhem profile that he’s also appearing in a new Calvin Klein catalogue campaign. (There’s a bunch more photos there, too.)
Seems like a road trip to Marietta might be in order. Rugby anyone?
The indie league baseball team from Texas is trying to capitalize on the A-Rod and Madonna “friendship” to put butts in their seats on Wednesday. If fans come to the game claiming to “share an agent” – Madge and the slugging manwhore share agent Guy Oseary – they’ll gain admission for a buck. Wear an A-Rod jersey, get in for $1. Same for dressing as Madonna from any era.
But “A-Rod and Madonna Night” gets better. There’s a between-inning contest to settle the divorce between A-Rod and his wife, Cynthia Rodriguez, complete with look-alikes. There’s also a Madonna dance contest, clips from “A League of Their Own” and highlights of A-Rod’s career.
Admittedly, blogging is an imperfect practice. On occasion, we miss things and that’s the case with the Hotlanta Volleyball Association.
Five HVA teams traveled to the championships of the North American Gay Volleyball Association in Miami in May and they did so quietly, flying under our radar and without much public attention. We’re addressing that oversight now.
Of the HVA teams that took part in the championships, the Mojo racked up the best finish. The team captured fourth place in the B Division, one of four tiers of competition. Teams from New York captured the top two places in the B Division, while the Baltimore Rave took third place.
Across all four divisions, the Mojo was the only team from the South to finish in the top four. (For complete results, go here.)
“We wanted to take third place,” says Duc Nguyen, the Mojo’s captain. “Because it was nationals, fourth place got a trophy as well so we got to bring home a trophy.”
The Mojo finished in the middle of the pack at the event in 2007, but an additional year of competition helped improve the team, he says. The team played at least 10 games over the three-day competition this year.
“The more we play together, the better we get. It’s about being able to gel with your teammates,” Nguyen says.
Two Mojo players – Nguyen and Jim Grina – joined three others from Baltimore and New York on the B Division All-Star team. Nguyen also serves as HVA’s tournament director and is busily preparing for the Hotlanta Classic XVII, set for July 25-27 at Emory. More details on that event later this week.
The new face of the Atlanta Falcons – to the tune of a six-year, $72-million contract – Matt Ryan picked up the ice moniker in high school for his calm under stress. It’s a reputation that will serve him well as he begins his NFL career with the troubled franchise.
But the nickname apparently carries a different connotation. When it comes to musicals and dancing, Ryan plays it cool, too. In fact, frigid would be the word.
Ryan and teammate Sam Baker are featured in a video caught standing stiff while the cast of “Oklahoma!” signs around them at the Fox Theatre. Maybe the hunky actor to Ryan’s left makes him a little uncomfortable. But the two would make quite a duo.
View part one of “Matt and Sam Meet Atlanta” after the jump. It starts with Freddie Falcon picking the two up at the airport. It’s not nearly as fun – or gay – as the musical.
Planning is in high gear for the Hotlanta Classic XVII, the annual event of the Hotlanta Volleyball Association that will bring a few hundred gay athletes to the city next weekend. The tournament serves as the informal start to the gay volleyball circuit that culminates next May with the championships of the North American Gay Volleyball Association.
My Southern Voice sports column this week focuses on the Hotlanta Classic and includes an interview with Nguyen. Read the full story.
We’re not one to succumb to the temptation of creating a post around a hot jock just as a way to post some eye-catching photos. This blog is much too serious for that.
Admittedly, blogging is an imperfect practice. On occasion, we miss things and that’s the case with the 