Outsports Radio

The NFL season kicks off Thursday, and we'll take a look at the teams we think are on the rise and which are headed for a decline. There are some great storylines to watch as the season approaches - we'll hit on some of them. Plus, it was a big week for Michael Sam. Yet with the NFL season finally underway, Sam's story will take a backseat until he makes the Dallas Cowboys' active roster and plays in a game. After months of intense scrutiny, it will probably be a good break for Sam to play in the background of the NFL for a while. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ESPN's report by Josina Anderson this week about Michael Sam's shower habits in the St. Louis Rams locker room has stirred quite a controversy about how the media should report on gay athletes, with seemingly everyone from Sam's teammates to his coach to countless members of the media taking ESPN to task. Why is it not an appropriate topic for a report? We'll discuss. Also joining us will be former Nebraska kicker Eric Lueshen and former Augsburg College linebacker Scott Cooper, both of whom will share their thoughts on the story and what it's really like in a football locker room. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Sam will take the first for the St. Louis Rams for the first time on Friday in a preseason game against the New Orleans Saints. It will be an historic game as Sam will be the first openly gay player to play in any NFL game. The game will be broadcast on NFL Network. We talk with St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports writer Jim Thomas about what we can expect to see from Sam in this game and where he sees the gay NFL rookie fitting onto the Rams' regular season roster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NFL officials are making it crystal clear to teams this week that gay slurs will not be tolerated on the field. While officials have had the ability to determine various actions "unsportsmanlike conduct," this new policy makes those slurs explicitly against the rule and punishable with a 15-yard penalty. Yet other leagues suspend players for the same incident. Is a 15-yard penalty in football enough? Plus, the Gay Games kick off next week. Outsports will be there covering the Games from Cleveland all week. We reminisce about some of our favorite Gay Games memories and invite you to share yours! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tony Dungy created a firestorm this week when he told the world he would not have drafted Michael Sam. He claims he was being unfairly called anti-gay, despite holes in his story. Do you think Dungy's comments were based on his opposition to the gay "lifestyle"? We'll discuss. Also, the New York Giants hired David Tyree, who has opposed gay marriage in the past and said that gay people can be turned straight. Tyree hasn't yet shared his current views with the public. Does he need to? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Michael Sam accepted the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYs with a speech that left people across America in tears. Sam expressed a clear understanding of his role in the LGBT sports movement and in changing our culture. We talk about the speech and the next, most crucial chapter in his story: St. Louis Rams training camp and making the team. Plus, earlier this week Major League Baseball hired Billy Bean as their first Ambassador For Inclusion. Where does this put baseball in the race to be the most inclusive pro sports league in America? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Former Wisconsin and Kansas football player Brad Thorson came out publicly on Independence Day in a post on his blog titled "Seeing through the fog." Thorson joins us to talk about his experiences in college football and his brief stint in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals, his coming out process and the reaction he's received, and finding a home in the sports world with the San Francisco Fog gay rugby team. He'll be traveling to Australia for the Bingham Cup later this year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two big stories dominated the week for Outsports. First was Monday's Mexico-Croatia game, during which Mexico fans repeatedly chanted "puto." Many have labeled it a gay slur, while others claim it is just another word that is evil to everyone, not just gays. With Mexico playing its next World Cup match this Sunday, we wonder if ESPN will have found a way to mute the word. High school state swimming champion Jack Thorne came out publicly this week and generated a lot of buzz. Why do high school athletes continue to get so much attention for coming out of the closet? We discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mexico's soccer fans have brought their chant that's a gay slur to the World Cup in Brazil, using the phrase during the games against Cameroon and Brazil. Anyone watching TV broadcasts also would have heard it during both of Mexico's games and ESPN says it will try and prevent it from being heard on-air. "Puto!," many of Mexico's supporters chant laughingly during goal kicks by the opposing team's goal keeper. The word is slang for "fag" or "man whore" or "coward." Some say its use in soccer is a cultural phrase that means cowardly and is not directed at gays, but the meaning is clearly designed to mock the opponent as weak and unmanly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The World Cup is almost here, and joining us to preview the big event is Josie Becker from LAG Confidential. She covers the LA Galaxy, and we're sure she'll have some pointed things to say about Landon Donovan being left off of the United States men's national team. And we imagine she'll have some insight into Robbie Rogers' 2014 season. Plus, it was a big year for corporations supporting LGBT sports as Nike announced its 2014 #BeTrue collection. YouTube got into the game as well with their #ProudToPlay campaign. What does it mean to see these two huge companies embracing gay athletes? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Canadian Olympic luger John Fennell came out publicly this week. He talked about the mental struggle of being a closeted gay man trying to compete in Sochi, where well-known laws explicitly targeted him. Fennell we'll join us, and we'll ask him about the reaction to his coming out story and his overall experience in Russia.  Plus, we'll hit on some of the other LGBT athletes talking publicly this week, including a former Baylor basketball player, a tennis player and a college runner who claims he was kicked out of school for being gay.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Despite the meme that gay athletes are a distraction to their teams, Jason Collins' season with the Brooklyn Nets came and went. The Nets had a strong season with Collins, going to the Eastern Conference semifinals before losing to the two-time defending champion Miami Heat. What does Collins' quiet exit tell us about the state of pro sports for gay athletes? While we've talked a lot about Michael Sam for the last few weeks, the one new angle is the complaints from Christians that Tim Tebow was rejected for his religion while Michael Sam is welcomed for his sexual orientation. Is that even true? Plus, Connor Barwin had some revealing revelations about the Philadelphia Eagles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Guest host Eric Leushen and Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch join Jim Buzinski to discuss Michael Sam. Now that Sam has been drafted in the NFL by the St. Louis Rams, we look into his chances of making the roster and playing as an openly gay player. Sam made national news by coming out as openly gay in February. On Saturday, he was taken in the 7th round by the St. Louis Rams and his kiss with his boyfriend became the talk of the sports world. Now that he has a team, the question will be whether Sam can make the Rams' roster. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week we're talking about the big news in gay sports: Gay NFL prospect Michael Sam's draft prospects. He's been predicted to go anywhere from the third to seventh round, but a slew of doubters are suddenly saying he won't be drafted at all. We'll discuss. We'll be joined by NFL Network's Judy Battista to share her insights into the NFL Draft and what she's hearing from front office execs about Michael Sam. Plus, you can call in and give us your prediction for the future of Michael Sam. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NBA has banned LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life, but the fight is just beginning. Did the NBA have any other choice? What does the public reaction tell us about how we relate to race in this country? Jimmy Williams from War Room Sports joins us. Plus, what if Sterling had said he doesn't want his girlfriend to bring gay people to the Clippers games. Would there have been the same outrage? Would he have a lifetime ban from the NBA? We'll dicuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gay pro soccer player Anton Hysen has made the leap across the Atlantic Ocean and is now playing professional soccer for the Myrtle Beach Mutiny in South Carolina. We'll talk to him about his experiences so far in the first few weeks of his U.S. tour, what he's been surprised by, the reception in South Carolina, and the difference in levels of play between European soccer and American soccer. We'll aso hit on some other hot topics in the LGBT sports world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bubba Watson won his second Masters tournament in three years. A number of people were cheering for "the other guys" becuase of comments Watson made last year when Jason Collins came out about homosexuality being a sin. Is it OK for gay fans to cheer against an athlete because of his beliefs? The NFL Draft kicks off in three weeks, and a new report lists six teams with reported interest in the openly gay defensive end. Where is the best fit for him? Please, taxi drivers in Cleveland refuse to drive cabs with Gay Gams ads on them! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

UMass basketball player Derrick Gordon came out publicly as gay this week on Outsports and ESPN, making him the first Div. 1 male basketball player to do so. We'll talk about the impact of his story and Outsports' role in telling it. We'll also be joined by Anthony Nicodemo, who has spent that last two weekends with Gordon and who was instrumental in helping the young athlete find the courage to come out. Nicodemo, boys basketball coach at Saunders High School, came out publicly as gay on Ousports last year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Benedicting College basketball player Jallen Messersmith will join us today to talk about his team's run through the college basketball playoffs. We'll also hit on the Final Four, which takes place in Dallas (for the men) and Nashville (for the women).  We'll also talk about Mitch Eby, the Chapman University football player who came out publicly as gay earlier this week. He's the first gay active college football player to come out publicly. Ever.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Outsports' Cyd Zeigler was at the NFL annual meeting this year and saw a shift in the league on gay issues. Former NFL player and You Can Play executive director Wade Davis gave two presentations to owners, coaches and front office execs of the 32 NFL teams, and many left calling the presentation "fantastic." Will it open up true dialogue within the teams? We'll talk about it. Plus, millions fell for the "Jeff Gordon is gay" story on the Internet this week. This seems to be happening every couple of months now. Is there value in these fake stories? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices