So I’m a little behind, what’s new? And with the Jazz losing their fifth straight, the motivation is slowly being sucked out of me. Here’s number eight and I’ll try to catch up with # 7 later today tonight.
On the 8th day of Christmas, the Utah Jazz gave to me:

Man in the Middle

John Amaechi made a big “Splash” when he came out on ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine. Of course he was also releasing a book at the same time, called “Man in the Middle.”

Part of the book chronicled his stint in the NBA and with the Utah Jazz, criticized Jerry Sloan, and spoke of him hiding his sexuality.

Although shortly after he arrived in Utah, it was probably one of the most known “secrets.” John stated that “by the end of my second season in Utah, I was practically daring reporters to out me.” Reporters would ask questions concerning his personal life trying to get him to say something. No one was going to print anything without an explicit admission. So the whole the became a Pat-like SNL sketch where the characters would ask Pat gender-specific questions to try to get him/her to reveal his/her sex. And to those questions Pat would answer with an ambiguous reply.

A big part of the book dealt with his relationship with Sloan. Amaechi stated that “when I brought up the ways the system didn’t work for me, Jerry looked like he wanted to shoot holes right through my heart.” Does that sound familiar? Amaechi became one of the founding fathers of Sloan’s doghouse. He claims that he spent most of the time on the bench because Sloan found out about his lifestyle. So as revenge for being relegated to the bench by Sloan, Amaechi braved the repressive community and headed for clubs and areas that were more conducive to his sexuality. He was openly gay, but never made a formal announcement while he was a player.

Perhaps it was best for his book that he came to Utah, “the repressive, Mormon capital of the Western world.” I thought it was the capital of the entire world. Would he have been able to fill up space if he had played somewhere else?

Would he have ever publicly came out if he hadn’t had a book to promote? I don’t know. You have to question the timing of it all. He said he’s spoken with other NBA players that were gay and they were all fearful of coming out because of the locker room mentality. Shavlik Randolph (who?) gave us this classic quote, “As long as you don’t bring your gayness on me I’m fine.”

Although John was the first NBA player to announce he was gay, there still hasn’t been an active player to come out. But why does there need to be? What does it matter either way? Neither side of the issue has anything to gain from it. Players that didn’t know were shocked when they found out. Amaechi didn’t let it affect his playing. I don’t think many people care.