Entries from October 2003 ↓

This is Preston Wilson.

He’s not a model, but he sure could be. He’s a baseball player.

He’s hot. Very hot.

To see how hot, you’ll have to find the link to his pictures. It’s someplace else on this website.

You’ll thank me when you do.

*All Pictures © Ursula Winter

**A hint for those who never found it.

I grew up in a houseful of men, where most evenings and weekends were spent in front of a television watching some game or other. When I got older, I played football, ran track, tried my hand at golf (unsuccessfully), enjoyed deep sea fishing trips with my dad, and recently went sky diving (which I have to do again). I’m more spectator than participant these days but still check the sports pages every day.

Sports is more than just big people grunting and groaning over a round object. It is people working together for a common goal. It is preparation, strategy, execution of a plan with related successes and failures and adjustment of that plan. It is mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, definitely sexual, and highly political. It’s “us vs them” in a safe environment where the winner and loser can still shake hands afterwards.

I love sports, but some of them stopped being as exciting as I think they could, which is why if I had the power to make changes, this is what I’d do:

BASEBALL

Once called America’s pastime, it has long been eclipsed in popularity by both football and basketball, largely because of the stupid maneuverings of some major league owners. Even so, these past few weeks have seen some exciting playoff action that may put fans back in the stands next year.

That would be greatly assisted if they scheduled more day games. Baseball used to be primarily a day time sport, until television revenue and the pursuit of primetime ratings became the driving force. But day games allow kids to watch, and without kids appreciating the game now, you won’t have a future fan base. This is especially true around playoff and World Series time. Games ending well after midnight make it hard even on adults. That’s the first thing I’d do.

Next, I’d stop the bench clearing brawls. In recent years there have been a rash of these stupid dugout-emptying episodes, caused because some batter thought the pitcher was throwing at him. Pitchers are entitled to throw inside, and if a player gets hit by a pitch he is awarded first base already, so why the beef? Hockey solved the bench clearing fight problem more than 30 years ago with two rules, one penalizing the first man off the bench, the second penalizing the third man into a fight between two other players. Baseball needs a similar rule.

While I’m at it, I’d cut out the time wasting arguments with umpires. Have you ever seen an ump change a call because a player or manager got in his face? No. It never happens, and never will. It’s one fool blowing off steam because he didn’t like the call. Well too bad. We don’t get to jump in cop’s faces, why should baseball players get to yell at umpires?

And because we live in a technological and media-driven age, I’d like to put a microphone on the home plate umpire, so he can explain to the crowd his reasoning behind close calls. Football and hockey mike their officials for that same reason, I think it would help in baseball as well.

BASKETBALL

I’m talking about the NBA here, because frankly I think college basketball is way more interesting. Basketball used to be one of the most fluid and democratic of sports, in that every man on the floor had the same responsibility to play both offense and defense. As we all know, in the NBA, nobody plays defense. It’s all about scoring and making the highlight reels. Booor-ing!

I’d get rid of the three point shot and the highly overrated slam dunk. Three point shots cause players to stop playing offense, pull up and throw up a prayer, when they are too inept at the half court game. Brick after brick after brick clanging off the rim for a rebound the other way, when they should be passing it around, looking for an open man.

They just don’t stress the team concept any more. All we see now are one-on-one matchups. They pass it down to the star player, who matches up against the other team’s star player, and everybody else clears out. What happened to the screens, the pick and roll, backdoor traps? They do it in college, effectively. They also play zone and man-to-man defense well too. But in the NBA, its all about the individual.

The slam dunk is another single-minded move, the inside equivalent of the three point shot. A team throws it down low to their big man—Shaq—who slams it home. Wow! A man over 7’ can dunk in a basket just three feet above him. Whoopdy-damn-do! If you’ve seen Shaq shoot free throws, you know dunking is his best chance at scoring. But that’s not exciting basketball. And when even short guys can dunk with regularity, the novelty of the feat has been lost. Play some damn offense fellas.

I want to see guys work for their points. No easy baskets. Dribbling, passing, shooting, banging inside for layups if necessary.

And can we talk about the length of the season! It’s just too damn long! And too many teams qualify for the playoffs. I don’t care what sport you’re talking about, playoffs should be a reward for an exemplary regular season, not a showcase for marginal teams. That makes the interminably long regular season even more meaningless.

With 29 teams in four divisions, they should take the top two teams from each division and call it a playoff. Instead, they take eight from each conference and play until late June. Fewer playoff teams would make for a more competitive regular season and postseason.

Right now, the NBA is 80 regular season games, of guys running up and down the court scoring at will, playing no defense or team offense. Then a bunch of teams make the playoffs to play seven game series of more of the same. Oy! Wake me when it’s over.

I’ve got more ideas for improving pro and college football, hockey, track and boxing, but I’ll save those for a future entry.

The revelation last week that a high-ranking Pentagon official was couching the war on terrorism in decidedly religious crusade-like tones shocked very few people who have been paying attention to the actions of the Right. Their “holier-than-thou” mentality manifests itself every day in language and actions that smacks of a sense of superiority and entitlement based on race and religion. A recent collection of news items have crossed my desk all related to this subject.

Tied directly to anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments expressed both publicly and privately were findings from a study done by the New York City Commission on Human Rights. It showed that following 9/11, Muslims, Arabs and South Asians believe that discrimination against them intensified.

Many reported being spat on in subways, having trash thrown in front of their homes, and even attacks for reading Arabic newspapers in public. In a New York Daily News article, one respondent is quoted as saying, “Once my daughter, a teacher, was walking home from school. Five older kids started swearing at her, ‘Go back to your country,’ ‘Terrorist’ throwing garbage and empty soda cans at her.”

A group of progressive clergy of all denominations, The Interfaith Alliance, has condemned the statements made by Lt. Gen. Boykin, and called upon President Bush to reprimand him. Alliance President, The Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy issued a statement against those divisive remarks, as well as those made by Pat Robertson on the 700 Club.

Robertson was discussing the confirmation of Rev. Gene Robinson, the newly elected, openly gay, Episcopal Bishop. In response to a clip showing Bishop-Elect Robinson saying that he believed God wanted him to go through with his consecration, Robertson retorted, “…God wants him to go forward? Well God also want to destroy the Episcopal Church. So that is fine with me.”

Robertson is no stranger to extremist views, having recently called for the U.S. State Department to be blown up, and blaming 9/11 on liberals and gays.

Misinformed and uneducated is a way to describe another religious official, Roman Catholic Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo of Colombia who said last week condoms were unsafe and that the HIV virus could sneak through pores in the rubber sheath. Knowledgeable health officials across the world have blasted his inaccurate statements as scientifically false and a threat to the worsening global AIDS problem.

Members of the European Union pointed to extensive evidence that condoms protect against the HIV virus when used properly, citing their 15 year history of supporting research efforts worldwide into the reliability and safety of condom usage. They added that in the absence of a cure for HIV/AIDS, protective measures were vital in the fight, and “this includes condoms.”

Finally, with talk radio inundated with the annoying sounds of Right Wing commentators spewing an endless stream of racist, sexist, homophobic vitriol on a daily basis, a group in New York is planning to fight back. OutrageRadio is a liberal talk show created in response, that will debut on the Internet next month.

Founders James Linkin and Michael Tulipan will put the program on one-hour a week initially, but by next year hope to produce daily.

It wasn’t the funniest television program. But it did enjoy a popular following. It was another example of an industry prone to imitating itself. While NBC had Sanford and Son and CBS had The Jeffersons and Good Times, ABC was trying to get in the game with What’s Happening!!, a sitcom about three Black teenagers in Los Angeles.

Along with Ernest Thomas as Raj, and Haywood Nelson as Dwayne, Fred Berry’s character Rerun gave a generation of young Black folks another rare chance to see images of themselves, albeit filtered through the prism of White writers and producers.

Fred Berry was found dead in his Los Angeles apartment Tuesday, October 21. He was 52.

He was in his 20s when he was cast as Rerun, a beret-wearing, suspender-clad, perennial high-school flunk-out with flashy dance moves on the 1976-79 series. Berry came by Rerun’s steps naturally, as a member of the pioneering break-dance troupe, the Lockers.

But after the show ended, Berry struggled personally and professionally.

“The stress of success got to me. The fat jokes got to me. And I got heavily into drugs and alcohol. I was empty inside,” he told People in 1996.

By the mid-1980s, Berry had turned his life around. He became a Baptist minister, and found there was a lucrative business in being Rerun. Businesses would pay him to wear the beret and perform at their functions.

Berry recently cameoed in the David Spade comedy, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, and played himself in an episode of NBC’s Scrubs last April.

Until recently, Berry had been one of the on-demand telephone friends for HollywoodIsCalling.com, a phone service connecting fans with a roster of mostly B level celebs.

“I bet you that I’ve made more calls than anyone on this service,” Berry told the Washington Post in August.

Berry is the third What’s Happening!! cast member to die. Mabel King and Shirley Hemphill died within a month of each other in 1999.

Yeah, I know it’s not an original concept. I borrowed it. Sue me! Thanks to j and nova for the inspiration.

1. I come up with several great ideas every day.
2. I am too busy, lazy, unmotivated, or just plain exhausted to do anything with most of them.
3. I am addicted to television and have been since I was a child.
4. Two hundred-fifty DTV channels is like mainlining heroin to me.
5. I am very good at my job and get complimented on my work regularly.
6. I take personal pride in doing things to the very best of my ability.
7. I absolutely hate a half-assed job and the people who do them.
8. I am making more money now and have better benefits than I have had in more than a decade.
9. I am completely bored by my job.
10. Life offered me more freedom when I was a struggling actor.
11. I miss the creative process and shear joy of performing.
12. I do not miss the financial uncertainty and politics of show business.
13. Even so, I am currently writing a stage play.
14. I still want to write and direct a film, a short or a feature.
15. I would kill for a role on The Wire.
16. I always keep a pint of Edy’s Whole Fruit Sorbet or a box of Whole Fruit Fruit Bars in my freezer.
17. Cooking is not only a favorite hobby, but a form of creative expression and relaxation for me.
18. I could very easily eat myself into obesity.
19. I have found going to the gym three times a week more fun than I expected.
20. Part of the fun is looking at all the gorgeous men.
21. I am not a slut, but I could play one on tv.
22. I have no known gag reflex.
23. My life has seen long periods of celibacy.
24. I am in one now.
25. I am a hopeful romantic, more interested in love, monogamy and commitment than casual sex.
26. Hugging, cuddling and kissing are three of my favorite things to do.
27. I haven’t been on a date in over a year.
28. I am generally pessimistic about my prospects for meeting someone to share my life with.
29. I fear growing old alone.
30. I can either cry or laugh at the drop of a hat.
31. I successfully mask my daily bouts with insecurity and self-doubt behind a thin veil of confidence, composure and order.
32. The variety of entertainment choices in New York, from theatre, to movies, restaurants, museums, sporting events, dance performances and concerts, political events and the like, constantly fascinates me.
33. I never seem to have enough time to enjoy very many of those however.
34. I find daily living in NYC mentally draining, stressful, overly expensive, crowded, noisy and dirty, and I am quite over this place.
35. I am going to own a house one day, most likely back upstate.
36. I love eating last night’s leftovers for breakfast.
37. But I can’t eat breakfast food, like cereal or eggs, after 12 noon. I just can’t.
38. People who force their religious beliefs on other people annoy me.
39. I think organized religion is a sham to perpetuate and promote specific political beliefs and has nothing to do with uplifting people spiritually.
40. I do believe in a higher power, but not images of an old white man with a long beard wearing a robe.
41. I don’t believe in heaven or hell. When we die, I think that’s it, there is no more.
42. I am constantly frustrated by the fact that I spend so much time doing other people’s work and carrying out other’s agendas, that I have no time left for me.
43. Fall is my favorite season.
44. My favorite place to be in the fall is upstate New York, when the air is crisp and the leaves are turning. Beautiful to see and great sleeping weather.
45. Sleeping is one of my favorite hobbies, and going to bed without having to get up at a set time is a rare treat.
46. Regardless of where I am, Sunday in the fall means only one thing: FOOTBALL!
47. Unless you talk Xs and Os, or have the game on, do not ever interrupt me or schedule some event you expect me to attend when football is on, especially if it’s a Giants game.
48. Yes, I am a sports loving, sports talking, former playing homosexual. I can fully appreciate the game and the men who play them.
49. I am also a big fan of baseball, college basketball, hockey, college football, track, tennis, boxing, pro basketball, and even golf and auto racing.
50. Being a gay man who loves sports, I have often felt like an outsider amongst other gay men, who seem to think I’m trying to pass for straight.
51. I reject any and all assumptions that people should think and act the same just because they may have some things in common.
52. I am fiercely individualistic and will sometimes take an opposing view just to make a point.
53. I would rather have a few very close friends than a hundred casual acquaintances.
54. I would rather be rich than famous, but I don’t need to be rich to be happy.
55. I think I’m fairly low maintenance.
56. I have a low tolerance for drama and drama queens.
57. I have an even lower tolerance for bigots, conservatives, immoral hypocrites and right-wing extremists. Sorry, was that overly redundant?
58. I am passionate about defeating the racist, sexist, homophobic, elitist, conservative Republican agenda where ever they rear their ugly heads.
59. I am enraged by the public apathy and ignorance that would allow George Bush to become president and get away with starting a totally unnecessary war.
60. I think stupidity and indifference is the enemy of a democratic society. Right now the enemy is winning.
61. I am at the point in life where I understand myself better than I ever have.
62. I choose my battles carefully, and don’t waste my time and energy running after frivolous things.
63. I am aware of my own deficiencies and limitations and try to play to my strengths.
64. There are still many things I want to learn (conversational french, web design, film making) or get better at (cooking, cycling, sky diving, running my own business).
65. I want to travel more, domestically (Atlanta, Chicago, Minneapolis, Seattle, San Francisco) and internationally (London, Paris, Amsterdam, the Caribbean, Asia).
66. I’d like to make an adult video (no, not as a performer, as a producer). One with intimacy, emotion and a story, not just sex.
67. I am tired of people sending me inspirational messages in my email.
68. I’m even more tired of seemingly intelligent friends sending me what are obvious (to me) Internet hoaxes. Doesn’t “This sounds too good to believe, but its true…” tip you off?
69. But I really hate all that damn heterosexual porn spam. You know if it were gay porn somebody would have found a way to put an end to it by now.
70. I love doing my banking and bill paying online. I don’t know how I managed before.
71. I have never had a cavity in my life.
72. I didn’t learn to ride a bicycle until I was 39 years old.
73. I got my driver’s license at 16.
74. If they ever do “Queer Eye for the Queer Guy” I want to be on it. I have NO interior decorating skills whatsoever.
75. I refuse to wear anybody’s designer labels. I am not status conscious at all.
76. I hate phone calls in the middle of the night. They usually bring bad news.
77. I love old movies from the 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s.
78. I never get razor bumps when I shave.
79. I get hit on by women several times a year. If only I were so lucky with men.
80. My friends rave over my Apple Crisp.
81. I used to have a lot of hair.
82. When I started going bald, it took me a year to get over the trauma.
83. I hate when people misspell or mispronounce my last name.
84. You can say anything you want about me, but mess with my family, and I’ll kill you.
85. I used to be able to pick pockets when I was young, but never did it for profit. I wouldn’t even try it now.
86. Despite my professional speaking and performance skills, I am still painfully shy in most social settings.
87. I hate being late for anything, and hate waiting for others who are always late.
88. I used to drink beer and vodka screwdrivers quite heavily.
89. I used to smoke cigars like some people smoke cigarettes.
90. I quit smoking and drinking 21 years ago.
91. Mostly from past jobs I’ve had, I have had to carry secrets in my head that I must take with me to my grave.
92. I have had my heart broken on more than one occasion by lovers who cheated and/or dumped me.
93. I have a hard time trusting.
94. I once performed in drag, and think every man should do it at least once.
95. I love being naked. However I only sleep in the nude in the summer.
96. I have a good sense of humor and can take and make a joke at my own expense.
97. I can be equally serious and silly in public.
98. I am lactose intolerant.
99. I have way too much porn, most of which I don’t look at any more.
100. I found this exercise to be quite hard and was really reaching for the last dozen or so.