Gay guide to Indy Super Bowl 2012

The people of Indiana are going all out to welcome visitors to Indianapolis for Super Bowl 2012. It's all part of Hoosier Hospitality. To help gay visitors coming in for the main event period between Wednesday, February 1st, through Sunday, February 5th, I've compiled some relevant info and tips.


Bars / Clubs

Usually bars serve alcohol until 3am every night except Sunday, when they close at 12:30am. During the Super Bowl period there will be Sunday alcohol sales for on-premise consumption in a special downtown zone. Alcohol cannot be purchased for off-premise consumption from 3am Sunday until 7am Monday. (I actually sat in my car once on a Monday morning waiting for a liquor store to open at 7am, but that’s another story.)

For dance clubs, I recommend Talbott Street (2145 N. Talbott St.) and Greg’s Place (231 E. 16th St.)

Talbott Street will have a Madonna theme on 2/5. On 2/4 the cover is $5 before midnight, and the theme is tailgate party, with a drag show at 9:30pm, 11pm, and 1am. Same theme on 2/3, plus shows, but with the last drag show at 12:30am instead of 1am. Doors open at 9pm each night.

At Greg’s Place, the club opens at 3pm on Super Bowl Sunday. There will be free food during the game. The dance floor opens after the game. The bar opens at 4pm on 2/1-2/4, with the dance floor opening at 9pm on 2/2-2/4.

For dining + bar, two good places are English Ivy’s (944 N. Alabama St.), serving food until 3am, and Downtown Olly’s (822 N. Illinois St.), open 24/7.

The two bars that are most easily walked to from the center of downtown are The Metro and The 501 Eagle.

The Metro Nightclub (707 Massachusetts Ave.) will have an 80s party on 2/4, starting at 9pm and with no cover. They also have a restaurant for dinner 5pm to 9pm on all days except Sunday, and a gay gift shop upstairs.

The 501 Eagle (501 N. College Ave.) is a leather bar. On 2/3 is “Dark & Cruisy”. On 2/4 it’s Sports Uniform Night, and on 2/5 the bar opens at 1pm to get ready to show the game.

Unicorn Club (122 W. 13th St.) advertises itself with “We are the Midwest's only club with male entertainment seven nights a week!” They have male dancers performing from 10:30pm each night. There are also drag performers on Thursday.


Super Bowl parties

Most parties are private affairs, but there are several that you can buy tickets for. Here are some ticketed parties where celebrities are expected to show.

• The Rolling Stone Bacardi Bash is on 2/4. The scheduled entertainment is LMFAO, Lupe Fiasco, Cobra Starship, and Gym Class Heroes.
• The Rolling Stone Rock and Roll Fan Tailgate party is on 2/5, with Jane’s Addiction, Pete Wentz, and The Roots.
• The Elevate’s tent on 2/3 will have Black Cards, featuring Pete Wentz.
• The Laces and Leather party on 2/3 will have hosts Jenny McCarthy, Carmen Electra, and Jenni “Jwoww” Farley.
• The Laces and Leather party on 2/4 will have hosts Bridget Marquardt, Holly Madison, and Kendra Wilkinson.
• If you want to see DJ Pauly D, go to the Fantasy Party Tent on 2/4.
• For $499 you can watch Paula Deen get her pork on doing cooking demonstrations at the Indiana State Museum, on 2/5, starting at 11am.

Search online for more info about these parties


TV shows

Jimmy Fallon is taping his Late Night show on 2/1-2/3, and on 2/5, at the Circle Theater on Monument Circle. The advance tickets are gone, but you can wait outside of the theater for standby tickets. You need to get there early, and no later than 3:30pm. The 2/2 show would be the one to go to, because Taylor Lautner and Adam Levine will be guests on that one.

The Today Show will be broadcasting from Pan Am Plaza on 2/3. It will only be Ann Curry and Al Roker though. You’ll get to see Al ride the zipline, and Jimmy Falloon will make an appearance. Jenna Wolf will do the show on 2/4, and Ann, Al, Natalie and Savannah will be broadcasting on Super Bowl Sunday.


Super Bowl related activities downtown

The big photo op is the 30’ high XLVI Roman numerals on Monument Circle. Another good photo would be of the big blue JW Marriott with the image of the Vince Lombardi trophy covering one side.

The Zipline is 80' tall and 800' long and allows riders to fly across several blocks of Capitol St. Tickets must be purchased on-site at the Zipline Launch Tower (258 S. Capitol Ave.). They are $10 on a first come, first served basis (starting an hour before the ride opens) and sell out quickly. The Zipline operates 3pm to 10pm on 2/1, and 11am to 11pm on 2/2-2/5.

The NFL Experience is an indoor NFL theme park for football fans at the Indianapolis Convention Center. Besides free autograph sessions with NFL superstars, the NFL Shop for official Super Bowl XLVI merchandise, opportunity to see the Vince Lombardi Trophy up close, a full set of Super Bowl rings, and some Football Hall of Fame memorabilia, the main attraction is the NFL Play 60 Game Zone where adults (and some kids) get to play along doing various passing, kicking and running activities. It’s a good opportunity to watch straight boys walking around or showing their athletic prowess. If you don’t have a ticket, you can buy on site ($25) to avoid Ticketmaster charge. Enter the convention center at the NW corner, the intersection of Capitol Ave. and Maryland St. If you have a ticket, enter further south on Capitol, nearer the intersection with Georgia St. It’s open 3pm to 10pm on 2/1 – 2/3, and 10am to 10pm on 2/4. Closed on 2/5.

By the way, if you have Super Bowl tickets and are a member of the general public, without instructions to enter a certain gate, don’t head to the stadium. The main entrance for the public is the NW corner of the convention center, corner of Capitol and Maryland. That’s where the bulk of the security apparatus will be.

The Super Bowl Village is the three blocks of Georgia St. between Capitol and Pennsylvania. There are free concerts throughout the day and evening at the Verizon Stage (in front of Bankers Life Fieldhouse) and at the Pepsi Stage at Meridian St. You can see the Ice Gurus from Food Network doing their things, and participate in interactive games at Tailgate Town. Also, you can run in a human sized hamster wheel at the Super Dash.

The Huddle at the NE corner Meridian and Georgia is basically a big indoor rest area for people. It has food at the Chef’s Table, live entertainment, and an NFL ticket exchange where you can buy authenticated tickets from resellers to the game. On the 2nd floor is a Lids store with lots of Super Bowl and team merchandise.

At 9pm daily is a small aerial pyrotechnic show.


Museums / Galleries

Visit the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the 10th largest art museum in the U.S. Also, see the Indianpolis Children Museum, the largest of its kind in the U.S. Currently, there is a special exhibit on the fashions of Mattel’s Barbie.

Don't miss seeing the world's largest sports facility, the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Every May it is home to the Indy 500, the largest single day sporting event in the world. The number of spectators inside the track on race day is more than 3 times even the largest Super Bowl to date. The museum is open 2/1-2/5, 9am-5pm.

The Indiana State House is open 9am-7:30pm on 2/2-2/3, and 9am-5pm on 2/4. Tours of the historic state capitol building are given every hour.

There will be a large exhibition of art from the downtown art galleries and dealers at the IDADA Art Pavilion, 202 N. Alabama, open daily 10am-7pm.


Dining

Ignore all the Super Bowl guides for Indianapolis that proclaim St. Elmo’s Steakhouse as the best place to eat. It is indeed a good place to eat, but you’re not getting in. It’s booked solid, and only extraordinarily lucky people or VIPs will get the limited walk-up seating. Ask the volunteers throughout the downtown outside (who have the earbands that say “ask me”) or in The Huddle where to eat. They have tablet computers to look stuff up, and they are supposed to be notified real-time of what the line sizes are at various restaurants.

If you are looking for cheap fast food, there are 12 food trucks, offering a wide variety, on the NW side of Monument Circle from 11am to 10pm, 2/2-2/5. There are two shifts of the trucks, and the first set rolls out and the second one come in between 4pm and 5pm.

If you want quick pizza, Papa Johns has a food truck just north of the Verizon Stage, and nearby at 30 E. Georgia is Hot Box Pizza, selling $4 slices until 4am.

A conventional source right in the middle of things is the Circle Center Mall food court on the 3rd floor, north side. The mall is open 10am to 10pm on 2/1, and from 10am to midnight on 2/2-2/4. On Super Bowl Sunday, it’s open from 11am to 10pm.


Parking

From 2/1 to 2/4 there will be parking at various lots and garages at event prices. Here is a map of downtown parking: http://bit.ly/zYLnQf . For Super Bowl Sunday parking, you can try here: https://sbxlvi.clickandpark.com/superbowl. Another option is the underground parking at Circle Center Mall. It’s $80 on 2/5, $20 up to 8hrs and $40 for 8-24hrs on 2/1/-2/4.


Taxis

Cabs are very limited in Indianapolis and usually are mainly available by calling a taxi company ahead of time, requesting a pickup. Taxis are always available in front of the major hotels, but the best bet is to go to one of two special cab stands downtown during 2/1 – 2/5. On the east side of downtown, it’s on the diagonal Virgina Ave, between Pennsylvania and Delaware streets. On the west side of downtown, it’s on Washington St. between Senate and West St. If you are taking a cab out from the center of downtown, be aware that you may have trouble getting a cab later to take you back (due to the limited availability). A good tactic is make some new friends wherever you went to (who have a car) who will drive you back to the center.


Information / Assistance

If you need assistance at any time, ask one of the many policemen on duty, or anyone in a blue and white scarf (they are volunteers there to help you). Also, you can text a question to 242242 or call 1-855-472-2012. You can info on traffic, dining, and the city by texting “INFO” to 722012. The main website for info is http://www.indianapolissuperbowl.com. Use m. instead of www. for the mobile site.

Rocking The District 2009

For a change of pace, I went up to Carmel to go to the "Rock the District" outdoor music event. It's held each summer in Carmel, the wealthy city directly north of Indianapolis where the well-to-do people in central Indiana live. The "District" is the so-called "Arts & Design District" in Old Town Carmel, where sadly there is very little art and only pathetically bad design. Except for events like this one and the few restaurants that are there, there is very little reason to go there.

When I got there, none of the bands were playing at the moment so I traipsed down the main thoroughfare perusing what the various food vendors under their awnings had to offer. Most of it was ridiculously overpriced considering it was just carnival-like food, but the prices were probably set with consideration of the moneyed interests that live in the area and who could afford to pay up. I tried to be mindful of the good eating habits preached by Scott Herman, the fitness trainer/model from The Real World Brooklyn, who's every word I follow on Twitter. For that reason, I selected a grilled chicken sandwich. It was particularly tasty. On the other hand, I also got a tray of sweet potato fries to go with it, which were also quite yummy (but I'm confident not on Scott's prescribed diet).

Since I'm a-telling on myself, I'll mention that the first thing I bought was actually a grotesquely huge bag of kettle corn. It's something to get at fairs, like elephant ears, but it's hard to say if it is as bad for you. It's popcorn that has a light coating of both sugar and salt. It just looks kind of funny for one person to carry around a duffel bag size quantity of snack food.

The attendance this year was less than last year, because frankly the music headliner wasn't as big as the one the last two years. In 2007 & 2008, there was Indiana's own Jon McLaughlin, who really got people's attention in 2008 when he performed the nominated Disney song "So Close" at the Academy Awards. (BTW, I highly recommend his music).

Eventually someone started playing music on the main stage. It might have been Dave Barnes, the headliner. I don't know. It was strictly straight people's music. I listened for about five minutes then left.

As I left the area, I could see walking down the street, facing towards me, a solitary figure moving in a hurry. Picture an Olympic race walker, with arms pumping and hips swaying. Of course, for someone in the know, it was clear I was seeing the other gay person who decided to attend the event. As he got closer, I could see he was wearing a horribly outdated v-neck shirt, which unfortunately is a fashion cry for help that too many gay men cannot seem to release from their clutches. It was tired when Dustin Erikstrup constantly wore v-neck t-shirts two years ago on Big Brother 8. Now I see Derek Chavez on The Real World Cancun extolling the virtues of the "style" to Bronne Bruzgo. Is it possible that the trend has only recently made it across the desert to Phoenix?

So anyway, the guy walking towards me eventually passes by, and interestingly he actually looked a lot like Derek. Unfortunately, he absolutely reeked of some old style cologne. He must have had it sprayed, splashed, and otherwise hosed on him. After he walked by I waved my hands in front of me in a vain attempt to clear the stench that his trail had left for to walk through.

Now I am home. I have to work on moving all of my xtra pages to a real web host. I had been using an anomaly of Google's page creator to host them with Google for free. Now their page creator platform is being closed in favor of their site creator, and the anomaly has been removed. So far, it's not been too bad getting set up although as an indirect consequence, TvTrick.com was vanishing and reappearing for a horrible period of time today. I hope TrickWire.com doesn't have the same problem.

Raj Gets It In The End

Olympian Raj Bhavsar

Raj Bhavsar, having been screwed out of an earned spot on the U.S. Olympic team twice by his fellow countrymen, finally could no longer be denied. When Paul Hamm could no longer pretend that he would be physically ready to compete in Beijing, he withdrew from the U.S. gymnastics team and allowed Raj, an alternate, to become part of the official team.

It is generally acceded by everyone except the USA Gymnastics organization that Raj Bhavsar has the heart of a champion. He is a real example of what it means to be a great American (and Texan). He has great spirit, integrity, personality, and intelligence and is a personification of what the games are all about. Besides these things I also like that he looks good shirtless and with his height he would be a terrific travel-size boyfriend, but I digress.

Jonathan Horton

In 2004 and 2008, the selection committee for the Olympic team allowed their base prejudices against an Indo-American to prevent them from selecting Raj Bhavsar to compete for America at the Olympics. Fortunately, after Paul Hamm withdrew they allowed an objective computer process to pick Raj over the other two alternates, Alexander Artemev and David Durante. Presumably the computer program had been altered this time to allow a Desi to be selected as output.

It's not going to be easy for Raj joining the team at this time, as he hasn't been given the chance to prepare mentally the way the other team members have been. It also won't help from a spirit perspective being on a team that has lesser gymnasts that were selected ahead of him. If anyone can overcome these kind of obstacles it would be Raj Bhavsar, so I hope for the best for him.

Justin Spring

The justification for using a selection committee is so that somehow the "best" team can be put together for the sake of the U.S. to increase its medal tally. If in their analysis they decide that an Indo-American gymnast would not receive good scores from international judges, then for the good of the U.S. such an athlete would have to be denied inclusion. It can be seen that with the unlimited power to do these kind of things, the committee can just as easily include its own favoritism and discriminatory preferences.

Well, we don't have a Soviet-style sports system where it is important to win at all costs for the good of the state, so these philosophies are really not acceptable in this country. It's supposed to be about the athletes and celebrating what each of them can bring themselves to accomplish. The selection should be in their hands according to how they perform and not be overruled by anyone else's whim.

Of course the most patently stupid thing about all of this is the idea that the committee could predict with any certainty how the gymnasts would perform at the Olympics on each apparatus. Everyone knows that the best gymnasts can fall to pieces and the ones in the middle of the pack can have the performance of their life. So to declare that any given set of gymnasts will maximize the team score on some future date is absurd.

Joe Hagerty

Things could be improved for 2012 if the Olympic team trials were made to actually mean something. The team largely should be put together by the achievements at the trials with a few spots left over to a committee to fill in any gaps. The top three or four gymnasts could be automatically selected using a mathematical formula that is based on the all-around and event scores and is a formula known to everyone from the start. No more secret methods in backrooms that are contrived to deliver whatever results the committee wants them to. No more pretending that anyone can predict what a gymnast's score will be on a given apparatus on a specific date in the future. The only thing that is known for certain is the results from the national championship and the trials and that's what it should be based on. Anything else is no better than using tea leaves, or in honor of Beijing, the I-Ching.

Kevin Tan

BTW, you can't compare putting together an Olympic team with putting together a major league sports team. With the latter, a good player can just go to another team if his skills aren't needed in one place or another. With the U.S Olympic team it is the only game in town. There's no second choice teams to go to. There's no reason to destroy callously someone's dream just to add another tally mark to a meaningless national medal total.

Sasha Artemev

Update (August 8): Morgan Hamm also withdrew because of a previous injury. His replacement is the erratic Sasha Artemev. It's not clear yet whether Artemev is a better choice than David Durante. The one thing that Sasha had going for him that was clear is that he is ethnically European and that is something that would give him a big advantage in being selected by the USA Gymnastics organization, disturbingly.

Lysacek Beats The Rodent Weir

One of the bright spots of Winter is the return of figure skating on television. It is young men wearing wonderfully revealing raiments, artistically gliding across the ice accompanied by the sonorous strains of beautiful music. It is a time for the spotlight to be shined on sumptuous overly developed thighs and buttocks. It is a time to once again see reigning U.S. Mens champion Evan Lysacek.

I've been impressed with Evan Lysacek since the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino. There he triumphed over severe illness and a bad performance in the short program to place third in the free and fourth overall. He's got great character and quiet dignity. His skating is not always as steady as his enduring willingness to do his best, but his good nature makes him a winner every time.

NBC showed the Men's Free Program of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, featuring Evan, on a Sunday night in prime time, which is pretty good for this kind of thing. I think it is more a result of the current writers strike than a change in network TV's usual sidelining of men's artistic sports.

Unfortunately, the viewing audience was also forced to see the vermin Johnny Weir. I used to be a supporter of Johnny Weir, but his attitude and even his appearance are just disgusting. At the start of the show he mentioned being referred to as a princess, which is ludicrous since that would imply some regalness, while Johnny Weir is all trash. He trash talked Evan Lysacek, saying that could never have been friends in real life. That's true - Evan Lysacek would have been with the cool kids while Johnny Weir would have been the kid every one beat up and from whom everyone stole their lunch money. He also said that he was not a religious person, which is good since then I know he won't be offended when I tell him to go to Hell.

Evan Lysacek's Greek Orthodox faith worked out pretty good for him in the competition, since he won the free program and that gave him the championship when he tied Johnny Weir on the overall score.

It's sad that someone like Johnny Weir is so undeniably talented. The problem is all in his attitude. He needs to study Evan Lysacek to see how a champion should behave. When given the opportunity, Evan complimented Johnny and said nothing bad about him. In the end, they both did superior jobs, but Evan is who I would rather be my nation's champion.

Kudos to Ryan Bradley and Stephen Carriere for a job well done. Both are kind of cute in their own way.

Straight In Your Face

When there are suggestions that a male celebrity has something other than straight tendencies, the object of suspicion usually states as adamantly as possible how straight he is while lamely trying not to appear homophobic in any way. The problem is that no matter how much they may insist that they are cool with the gay thing and how some of their best friends are gay, the fact that they are so desperate to convince people of their straightness is proof positive that they think there is something terribly wrong about being considered potentially gay. A recent example of such a reaction came after some fanciful editing on VH1's America's Most Smartest Model made it look like two of the male stars of the show might want to be more than changing room buddies. While one of the models went out of his way to set the record straight in a routine way, the other made a statement that I think should be the gold standard for responding to such innuendo.

Ironically, it was the comic in the pair that insisted on playing the straight man. On the show Jeff Pickel was portrayed as insatiable hugger who used any excuse to give fellow contestant Brett Novek a full body embrace. After the show aired, Pickel in one interview repetitively and strenuously expressed his aversion to boy basters in general and specifically the Hebrew National belonging to his now roommate Brett. I don't think there was anything unusually bad about Pickel's attitude or words; they were just disappointingly normal for the situation. To repeat as many times as he did that he only has straight feelings can only stress how awful he would feel to be thought of otherwise.

On the other hand, Brett, in his post-show interview for VH1, only said what needed to be said to clarify the matter. He said that he and Pickel were just friends. It was the kind of response that a celebrity might say about a friendship that they have with someone of the opposite gender, where they don't go further into detail about why their friend would be so unappealing to them as more than that. It is clear that Brett is both smart and a gentleman and other celebrities could learn a lesson from his honest and considerate ways.

More Jeff Pickel. More Brett Novek.

Brett Novek perplexed by Pickel

Roman Art In Indy

I recently had the opportunity to experience the "Roman Art From The Louvre" exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The exhibition contains 184 Roman works from the 1st century B.C. thru the 4th century A.D. These works represent the largest number of loaned pieces from the Louvre for any single show ever. For anyone that is unlikely to travel to Paris to see these items at their permanent home, this is an excellent opportunity to see such a large number of excellent examples of Roman Art in one place.

I have been to the Louvre several times but like many vistors, I didn't pay much attention to the Roman works since there are so many other wonderful things to see there. Now here at the IMA, I was able to spend an entire day getting very close and studying intently all the works of this collection. Their placement and the overall exhibition design were created by the Louvre curators and the IMA staff and the result was a very visitor-friendly layout that allowed ample space to view the works from different angles and to stand and ponder them for as long as you would like.

One of the more interesting works was the bust of Antinous as Osiris (above). Antinous was the boyfriend of the emperor Hadrian. While Hadrian was a bear, Antinous was a stud pup. I knew of the story before, but when I stood face to face with Antinous I could see why Hadrian was so enamored with him. The photo above doesn't look as good as the bust does in real life. He should have been selected Mr. Gay Rome 130 A.D. if he hadn't died unexpectedly that year. As a consolation he was made a god and a city was named after him. Nowadays guys just get a sash and their picture taken.

The exhibition continues at the IMA through January 6, 2008, and then travels to Seattle and Oklahoma City before returning home to Paris.

Gayborhoods

An article in the New York Times addressed the potential decline of gay enclaves in the United States. The article stated that there is an ongoing population shift for gay people away from well known places like San Francisco's Castro district and West Hollywood, to less expensive and less urban locations. Places like Louisville, El Paso, Albuquerque, and Virginia Beach are experiencing sharp increases in the number of same-sex couples. The article discusses why this is happening and what it may mean to gay culture.

The concern is that gay neighborhoods will become passé, and with their diminishment would come a decline in the sense of gay community, cohesiveness, and identity.

It seems unlikely that the gay cultural centers would actually dissipate. Consider the "Chinatowns" across North America. Those bastions of traditional Chines culture are quite alive even though ethnic Chinese people live everywhere else on the continent as well. Likewise, it should then be expected that large metro areas will continue to have a Boystown, even while the majority of gay people live elsewhere. They will continue to serve a function as a meeting place and a physical nexus for the gays in the wider geographic area, but not a place of exile from the rest of the country.

There should be no fear from seeing gays spread out. For one thing, there are too many to fit in the established gay ghettos and so it is a necessity that many find other places to live. Another thing is that gay people are like straight people too in that some people like to live in highly urban areas and other people like to live outside it. It is not hard to believe that many gays also dream about the proverbial house in the suburbs with the picket fence.

For me, I like to visit gay neighborhoods but I don't think I would be necessarily happy living in one. I know that when I travel I like to get a hotel near gay areas but not quite in it. I've pondered this attitude and the conclusion I have come to is that gay areas are barragingly gay, gay, gay, which is okay for a short period of time, but for people like me who see that attribute as only one of several that make them who they are, it can be stifling of all the other interesting things in life.

I don't like the stereotype that gays need to be city dwellers. The NYT article had a quote from a demographer: “'Twenty years ago, if you were gay and lived in rural Kansas, you went to San Francisco or New York,' he said. 'Now you can just go to Kansas City.'” At least there is an acknowledgment that gay people don't have to move to New York, but now there needs to be education that gay people live in rural Kansas also. I agree that it would not be as easy to live in the hinterland and I give those people credit. That's why I think that the verse about being able to make it anywhere if you can make it in New York seems kind of ludicrous. It would be more accurate to state that if you are gay and can make it in rural Kansas, you can make it anywhere.

Perhaps the theme song for young gays deciding where to live in the world should be R.E.M.'s Stand (in the place where you are).

Print Out (Part 2)

There has been some hype about Genre magazine relaunching with some significant changes, and since I had previously identified it as providing the least value in major gay lifestyle magazines, I was curious to see if there would actually be any improvements or not. I was a little surprised to find that it is pretty much the same, and certainly provides no new reason to select it off the newsstand instead of any of its competitors.

The changes to the magazine were promised by its new editor-in-chief, Neal Boulton. To create buzz around any such changes, he characterized them as being part of trend towards a "post gay America". The concept is so ludicrous I won't waste space discussing it here, but will summarize that Boulton wanted to use it as an excuse to make Genre a more generic (i.e. less distinctively gay) mens magazine. To clarify, he is looking for some way to sell more subscriptions and increase newsstand sales and his thought is that he can do it by broadening his target market segment to be all men.

Boulton said in his inaugural editor's letter that he wanted Genre to be a "magazine for every man". That's strange, because looking through the first issue it is not clear how a story about a gay porn star or a gay rugby team would necessarily appeal to "every man".

The new editor also explained that gay interests like wanting a hot car, a hot body, and hot clothes are things that everyone else in America shares. How out of a touch can a person be? Straight men are still buying pickup trucks, chowing to excess at the Golden Corral buffet, and buying their "good" clothes at Wal-Mart.

The truth is, that like detergent companies that add an extra drop of fragrance to their product and call it "new and improved", Boulton so far has made minor changes for show instead of working on the actual quality of what he is trying to sell. To me it looks like the same magazine except for two things. One is that the front cover is trying to mimic tabloids by emphasizing the proven trick of using numbers to convince people that there is a lot of material inside (e.g "101 Ways to ..."). The second thing, in the October issue, is a two page spread on motorcycles. Actually, it was only a one page article with a facing title page consisting primarily of a picture of one motorcycle. In usual Genre tradition, the magazine makes sure it doesn't overwork its writers. Ditto for the page on Manuka Mule - a whole page for instructions on making a drink consisting of four ingredients. I'd like to be the person who got paid for those two minutes worth of work.

I will give credit for reducing the number of pages devoted to average Joe's. While some in the past have been good to look at, their inane answers to even dumber questions only showed what useless slugs they are.

Unfortunately for the magazine, it may intentionally be moving further away from having any raison d'etre at all. If looking for a real gay lifestyle magazine, for four cents less on the cover price, Instinct would a better deal. The October issue of Genre and the November issue of Instinct both had 96 pages (including Genre's useless 15 page "special advertising section") but Instinct just has more worthwhile copy in it. Genre took me less than 10 minutes to go through it cover to cover, while I am still not done with Instinct as it always takes several sittings to get through.

What The Hell Are You Looking At?

In Oprah's magazine (July issue), Martha Beck's column addressed self-consciousness. She gave a scenario for her readers where they go to a party feeling pretty good about themselves until they happen to see their reflection there. "The dress isn't just tight; it fits like Luciano Pavarotti's diving suit. Your hair looks as though a crazed weasel nested, bore young, and died there. Aghast, you wobble off your high heels and sprain an ankle. All eyes are glued on you. All conversation focuses on your disgrace. Everyone begins texting hilarious descriptions of you from their cell phones."

She goes on to state that the feeling that people are watching and judging you is largely an imaginary perception known as "the spotlight effect". Evidence is given that shows that others only notice you at about half the level you think they do. For attention whores, this is sad news. For everyone else, it is suppose to let you know that you shouldn't let your social interactions suffer because of the fear of being ridiculed. People aren't going to care what you do or what you look like.

I don't doubt Beck's conclusions from the straight world. However, in the gay world, you'd get more accurate advice from Carrie's mom ("They're all going to laugh at you!"). Well, not everyone will, but some will. I know this from participating in enough group situations where everyone passing by is fodder for incessant catty comments. I got so use to talking that way, I even did it with my family. Of course, they don't understand this part of the culture and just get offended by my sharp, incisive comments.

The funny thing is that I can dish out, but I really can't take it. I hate to be ridiculed. I go way out of my way to avoid any situation that may subject me to being made fun of. Obviously knowing what I know could have a deleterious effect on my willingness to be in gay social situations.

I manage using a few principles I learned along the way. One way is to tell yourself that "using only the power of my mind, I will bar the doors and then unwrap the fire hose..." (Just kidding.) For anyone who cares about this I provide the following advice:

1. Go out with someone else who draws attention. The cat's claws generally go out for only the easiest prey in the group.
2. Choose the right clothes. If you are large and well proportioned, dress down with neutral colors. If smaller, or not well proportioned, or have noticeable flaws, dress up with clearly more expensive clothing and brighter colors. This may seem counter-intuitive, but like mixing an acid with a base, the clothes work with you to neutralize the problem.
3. Remember that the wall and/or doorway is your enemy. Stay away. Being there screams "I am ready to be savagely critiqued."
4. Last, and most important, is the phrase "F*** you!!" Say it to yourself repeatedly as if you were addressing everyone around you. The concept is realizing that no one else is any better than you are and screw them if they don't understand that yet. This also helps you exhibit the necessary level of attitude to show you are also a formidable part of the pack.
   

Photos are from the movie Another Gay Movie, which for a parody of a dumb genre, is surprisingly funny.

A Brief Interlude

I received an Undergear catalog in the mail a few days ago. I don't remember getting one for quite some time, but it was inevitable that one day I would receive another one. International Male and Undergear have the most powerful gaydar in the world. if you are gay, not matter where you go or what you do, they will find you and your mailbox.

Looking through an underwear catalog is like looking at a wall of toothpastes in a store. How many choices do you need for something that is largely utilitarian? You only need a comfortable wrap for your best peeps, not a smiley face on the crotch for an extra $20.

It's amazing how much variety the producers can make with a few square inches of fabric. It's just a waistband, leg bands, a crotch piece and some connecting material. Well, in some cases you don't even get the connecting material, which strangely, you will then be charged more for less.

My TMI on the subject is underwear is that I wear only boxer briefs. I thought it was only a personal preference until I heard Will on Will & Grace talk about it as a hallmark of a gay man's wardrobe. I wonder if that is true. It seems odd since the skimpier varieties are the ones normally pitched to gay men.

The truth is probably that most are like me, with a few of the expensive ones and a lot of the Hanes and Jockey. When I say expensive for me I mean only the original price. I would only buy when there is a super discount. Macys closing Ayres in Indianapolis was a good time to snatch up the premium designers at going out of business prices.

For convenience I have my unmentionables separated into four categories: special, cotton, stretch and boxers. The boxers could be worn under pants if necessary but they are more for lounging around in.

People should wear whatever makes them happy and pay whatever it is worth to them. I admit I have some non-basic genital jammies myself, although I think the purchase is best made first for comfort and value/durability second.

The one thing I don't like is seeing men wearing child-like underwear. Strippers wearing underoos is not pleasant to me. Likewise I'm tired of seeing pictures of Ginch Gonch Boys. Talk about being overexposed. The shelf life of fad underwear models is short and it's time to put on a fresh pair.

Gay-ja Vu & DIY

Deja vu is the feeling that you have experienced something before. What would be the feeling that something you are experiencing will not happen again? That's a sense I wish I could have had as certain routine events and interesting adventures one day ended with no sign that they would not reoccur.

One routine event was going with a group of people from work every Friday to a local bar. We would play pool and play songs on the jukebox and the evening would be filled with fun, gossip, and storytelling. We did this for several years while rarely missing a Friday out. Other people from work would come to the same bar for a special occasion like a birthday or going away party and they would thank us for coming to their event. They didn't realize we had no idea that they would be there. We were always there.

One Friday it seemed that everyone had something else they needed to do and we didn't go. The next Friday for whatever reason we didn't go again. After that we never returned as a group. To this day I don't know what made it so, but I miss it. I wonder if I had known ahead of time that the occurrences were numbered, would I have acted differently to take advantage of maximizing the enjoyment of every possible moment? Would I have never left early, but rather held out till closing so as not to lose a single moment of such a finite part of my life?

There has been one situation that I have been well aware of its limited duration: the classic one-night stand. In some cases I couldn't have cared less, but in others, where it felt like in some alternate universe it would have been the start of a life long relationship, the awareness of time caused me to capture in my mind what I could in the time available. As what's-his-name would start to drift off to sleep next to me, I would try to memorize every sight in the room, every sound, every tactile sensation, so that I could retain it all as an extension of the experience, keeping it ongoing after real life had ended it too soon.

In truth, I have only a few vague remembrances of any such affairs, and this is how it should be. The memories of past events only exist to help shape your future. Pleasant thoughts of times past encourage you to find similar feelings in ever new adventures. That which was will not be again, but that which will be needs only your active seeking of it to make it so. Everything before is prequel. The main story starts now.

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Speaking of time, one of my minor wastes of it is occasionally to check the "missed connections" section of the local craigslist. For some reason I want to see myself mentioned there. Maybe its an ego thing. Maybe its just one of those things you want to accomplish someday in life (e.g. see the Parthenon, win Hoosier Lotto, get mentioned in Missed Connections). Well, I am not a person who is willing to wait on somebody else to do something for me. If I can't expect someone else to do something, I do it myself. I think in this case I want to leave a "desperately seeking" message looking for me. It's not like I would have responded to a real request anyway, so what the hell? If you should check the site and see people across Indianapolis spotting and looking for the same charming, debonair, well-dressed gentleman, it's just me.

Print Out

Why subscribe to magazines anymore? When I want to read about what is going on in the world I read it on the web. Unfortunately for me, I still have subscriptions to eight print magazines, including Out, The Advocate, Instinct, and Genre. I try to make sure I read them since I paid for them, but I still have a large stack of unread magazines from this year (or maybe from last year too, I don't know).

I see most print magazines becoming obsolete. The information they provide is available on the internet quicker and more usable and generally for free. You can get all the news, columns, photos, and yes, ads, that you could ever want. It's also more convenient on the net. When I see things in magazines I want to save, I rip out pages, but I just add them to the magazine stack so I will probably never see them again. I also rip out scraps that have something on them that I want to look up online. In a world of bookmarks and cut-and-paste, this action seems very inefficient and anachronistic.

They say that a computer screen can't replace a book, because it can't replace the enjoyment of curling up with a good one. That's true, but a magazine is not a book. I don't curl up with AAA Hoosier Motor Club's Home & Away magazine and I don't think I'd enjoy it anyway. I'm not a green person, but I think I would enjoy more not to pollute the landfills with more reams of bleached, glossy paper.

The evolution is going to need to be a migration to online versions only. Planet Out's magazines aren't doing so well but maybe they would do better if they jettisoned the hard copy. Genre should be hurting a little too as they indicate that the magazine is printed in Canada and the current exchange rate doesn't make that such a deal anymore. (It also kills my Fall travel plans, but that's another story). There must be money to be made with online periodicals or the New York Times wouldn't have decided to end their paid online subscription service in favor of a free, advertisement supported site.

To slow down the growth of my magazine stack I need not to renew at least one of my subscriptions. Unfortunately for you, Genre Media LLC, I think yours is the one to go. From an economical point of view, Genre has seemed to offer the least value. This is not a critique of quality, just the value for the money. The kind of material that the magazine includes is similar to what you get from a well chosen set of 3 or 4 RSS feeds.

The least value has been for whatever part of my subscription cost has paid for the "Genre Man" section in the back. The inane comments from the chosen few are far less interesting that a sampling from Craigslist's "casual encounters" (e.g. "m4m - 26, Want me to suck you off tonight? I'm 26, 6'1" 170lbs. I suck and I swallow. I might even let you f*** me. I prefer big c***s that shoot thick loads." Isn't that more informative than "What brands of clothing do you like to wear?")

There will still need to be some magazines in print. One is the required reading Vanity Fair. It's the perfect companion for air travel. It will get you through two legs and a long layover easy (and then some). The other is the ubiquitous two month old People magazines that clutter doctors' offices. There is nothing like reliving the catastrophes of celebrities as if they just happened again. Actually, with Britney, etc., there is a good chance they did just happen again.

Majoring in Physical Education

Irish college students are turning tricks to pay for their education expenses (link). It been reported that some students in Ireland are doing high-paying escort work to offset their huge tuition bills. The thing that is surprising about this is that more college students aren't doing it.

Young people are graduating from college with great loads of debt that they have to start paying back almost immediately, even though they can ill-afford doing so early in their careers. Conceptually, escorting seems like a good way to pay for tuition as you go, rather than by borrowing tens of thousands of dollars. Other part-time jobs available to students, like pizza delivery or house painter, won't pay enough or take too much time away from students' proper focus, which is studying. With escorting they can set their own work schedules, make a year's worth of tuition in a few weeks, and then get back to hitting the books, the gay bars, and the fraternity parties.

The article at the link assumes that its readers would be as appalled as the government officials it quotes. I've never understood how jobs like dentist, where you put your fingers in someone's spit filled mouth, or doctor, where you put your lubed finger in someone's rectum for a prostate exam, can be exalted while anything that involves s-e-x is considered repugnant. Older people forget that when most college students are not in class or studying, they are thinking about sex, talking about sex, or repeatedly having sex. Since they are already doing it, it shouldn't matter that besides taking the time to put on a condom, they also take a few minutes to get the approval on their sex partner's Visa card.

Young guys today have less inhibitions about advertising their valuable physical attributes. The internet is flooded with pictures from every Tom, Dick, and Harry of them photographing their naked selves in the bathroom mirror. It's time they applied the lessons from Economics and intersected their supply curves with the consistent demand.

Besides the money, there may be other benefits to this after-school job. Students can start networking with clients in the business world. They can acquire sources for letters of recommendation. Their possibly well-connected clients could remark about the students' punctuality, their attention to detail, their perseverance, and maybe their creativity in the performance of their work.

Needless to say, I am a Libertarian. If somebody wants to escort it's not the government's business. I don't believe in government interference in people's personal lives as long as no one else is adversely affected. On the matter of using an escort, my view is that it seems like a waste of money to buy something that is so readily available for free. On the other hand, if you have a situation that hinders you from being successful in the non-profit market, or you are unskilled in doing something yourself, hiring a professional to do it can often be an effective choice.

Junior UK entrepreneurs.

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Speaking of Irish boys:

Westlife with the irresistable Mark Feehily

Straight As A Rainbow

As previously mentioned, there were several gay or gay relevant shows at the recent fringe theater festival in Indianapolis (IndyFringe). I saw five of them. One was Greg Haskins' Almost Walking A Straight Line, a one person comedic story telling session about the gay performer's religious upbringing. It was good but not great. The funniest bit to me was the segment on attempting to speak in tongues. Greg tells of the great effort he put into trying to do this while working on it with his religious leaders. He is finally considered "successful" when he knowingly spouts some gibberish. When he is told that that is all there is to it, he says if he had known that earlier he would have just exclaimed "Chang chang, chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop" from Grease at the start of it (with the proper hand motions).

The part that troubled me was when he mimicked a stereotypical, effeminate gay friend of his. He used the caricature for comedy but also to show how he learned from it to act more "straight". I'm uncomfortable being in a theater with a lot of straight people watching stereotypes of gay behavior being reinforced. Worse, I find it unsettling to see a macho man mincing and prancing and Greg is definitely a manly man. The incongruity of it is like watching Rosie O'Donnell french kissing Donald Trump.

Two other shows were Thanks For The Scabies, Jerkface and Somewhere In Between. Scabies was pretty much a monologue about several real-life events that happened to the gay performer. This show really inspired me. It inspired me to realize that even I could write and perform crap as bad as that. Somewhere In Between on the other hand was a powerful performance by a troupe from Israel that focused on asking what makes a man a man and a woman a woman. The actors off stage were kind of weird but I really enjoyed the performance and I loved the Israeli accent. I am reminded that on my to-do list is to capture an IDF soldier for a night of debauchery before his Day of Atonement. I want me a big Hebrew National.

Speaking of over the top performances, I have watched the following clip so many times and I'm still finding additional hysterical parts in it.

I have done the same routine many times when entering a movie theater but I have always had to do it solo.

When Straight Men Stray

Senator Craig from Idaho gets arrested for allegedly making improper advances to a male undercover cop. He claims afterwards that he is not gay. I for one have no reason to doubt his statement. Straight men performing sexual acts with other men is not unusual. If anything good could come from this unpleasant situation, it would be a better understanding of the fact that straight men occasionally stray "gay".

I wouldn't want to wade too deep into the question of what does it mean for a person to be considered gay or straight. However, I will mention one interesting thing I heard on the subject some numbers of years back. It was a statement from the then director of the Kinsey Institute (located in sexually active Indiana). She said that, 1) science didn't know yet what caused heterosexuality, and 2) straight/gay were defined by who a person falls in love with. I liked that the definition steered away from who you have sex with, since there are gay people who don't have sex with their own gender and there are straight people who sometimes do.

Still, I'm not sure if this makes the discussion clearer since it would be easy to fall into a side discussion of loving someone versus being in love. Instead let's go with the sense of attraction, skipping love and sex altogether. I don't think Senator Craig wanted to go for long walks on the beach with his cop, or spend a evening with him at a romantic candlelit dinner. He would want to with his wife or at least some female, but with his potty paramour, he would only want to take care of business. It's just an extension of masturbation.

So why wouldn't a straight guy just wait until he got home to the missus or just jack the hammer himself? I think straight men would deviate into stall balling for two reasons. One is that when they need to get off, they need to do it right now and with whatever is available. Two is that men need variety in their sexual activity. Same-sex sex provides the unusual thrill that makes up for the other 90% of the time when they are harpooning their hag in the stale old missionary position.



Straight men, whether they be politicians or twenty-something internet studs, can and will have sex with other men. Thank goodness or we wouldn't have some of our favorite adult entertainment websites. The only problem really is that we need to get people out of public restrooms, parks, and bookstores. I think the best solution would be to add darkrooms to sports bars. I would put up with a few quarters of watching football for a little backroom Monday Night Bar-balling.

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When straight men have to do that gay thing

Too Real When I Feel

Reality TV creates an ever increasing number of instant celebrities and with the celebrity status comes fans. For some of these now famous people, the fandom can be understandable because their TV appearance showcased their entertainment talent and boosted their career in the fan supported performing arts. For the others, the ones who are more or less ordinary people, the concept of having fans can seem odd.

I think the draw that these reality TV stars have is that they seemingly expose their inner self and this satisfies a human need in the viewers to find and really get to know other people. Socially, we all wear our masks but we long to know what is behind the other person's. That's why reading other people's minds is traditionally the most wished for super power after flying. We want to know and in turn perhaps be known.

It's debatable that anyone shows their true personality on TV, but the kind of shows that seem to are not the talent shows, like American Idol or SYTYCD, but rather the communal endeavors, such as Amazing Race, Survivor, and Big Brother. On these shows there is an induced level of stress that intended to cause the participants to throw off their facades and reveal what they are really like. These revelations are then caught by the omnipresent camera, usually in a solitary situation to emphasize that the thoughts expressed are of a deeply personal nature (shared only with the cameraman and a few million viewers). To the people watching at home, it's an easy way to look inside someone and determine if they are someone with whom one would want to be friends or lovers or whatever. The result is that the likable contestants get a lot of fans who wish they could get to know the person on TV or someone like them because they are just so special.

The interesting thing about this is there are plenty of ordinary people all around in real life who may fit the bill just as well but whom you'll never know because they don't come with a "confessional" video with which you can preview their personality. With television you can watch who you want to learn more about and then turn them off when you decide you don't care for them. Obviously, it's not that simple in real life. People would rather not invest the time and effort in learning about the strangers all around them, forgoing the reward of finding a splendid friend in order to avoid the surprise of what else they might find instead.

Unfortunately, it is hard to get to know people on a deeper level. There is a societal condition that thwarts the human nature to know others. It is often expressed with the well known letters TMI. In real life we only let each other reveal enough to stay within the comfort zone, which isn't much. I know that there is no one other that me who really knows who I am completely and I can't decide if it's because I withhold the information or I feel others don't want to know.

With such interpersonal constraints, it's no wonder we turn to television to see what people are "really" like.

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Freddie Mercury "The Great Pretender"

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I posted picturea of some of my more recent favorites of reality television: James Rhine from Big Brother 6, Jesse Brune from Work Out, and Goil Amornvivat from Top Design.

Hard Corps

I like military men. It may be because of the uniforms or the buff bodies, or just the willingness of some really hunky men to follow orders. I want to tell them, "DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!" Now, I don't need to explain twenty of what to you, do I?

I would love to have a boyfriend in the military. They get a lot of mechanical training so they would be great to have around the house to do maintenance work and operate those power tool thingys. I live alone so I would also appreciate the protection they could give me both at home and in public. I'd like to be able to say, "Don't mess with me, my boyfriend kills people."

I not the kind of person that would put pin-up pictures or blatantly erotic art work on their walls, but I found a way to express my affection for the male military figure in a tasteful way. I have about a dozen recruitment posters (including this one) from a period when our "straight" armed forces didn't mind celebrating their homoerotic (hoyay!) tendencies. Beside their visual appeal, the posters show to my guests that I am patriotic, that I support our troops, and that I am likewise looking for a few good men.

I liked this particular one so much I actually got it printed on a sweatshirt. I wore it once into a department store where the clerk complimented the sentiment of the shirt. I told the woman truthfully, I got it because I liked the butt.

I don't see many real uniformed men very often, but I have it on my to do list to rectify that. Instead of the exotic locales shown in gay travelogues, like Costa Rica, South Africa, or Thailand, I want to vacation at Fayetteville, Norfolk, and San Diego. I'm surprised there aren't already gay tours of these areas. I could see safari-like vehicles circling the area, pointing out sightings of interesting behavior of our fighting forces in their natural habitat (see photo).

Closer to home, I thought about volunteering with the USO. There is a station at the Indianapolis Airport where they take care of traveling military personnel. I decided against it because the airport is far from where I live and I figured that the USO is probably too traditional an organization to accept the kind of personal send-off I envisioned giving.

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Scenes from Yossi and Jagger

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USO photo by derek*b. Some rights reserved.
Other photos from slagheap's Up Close set on Flickr. Some rights reserved. See Flickr photo pages for additional attribution.
No particular sexual orientation is implied for anyone whose image appears on this site. We support gays in the military.

Let's Put On A Show

Overdose on theater and performance arts in Indianapolis during the 10 day binge of IndyFringe starting August 24th. There will be an unbelievable 216 performances of over 40 different productions to choose from. The shows are all a maximum of 60 minutes each and have a $10 admission charge ($7 for students). The whole thing takes place in four theaters (6 stages) in a three block area of the Mass Avenue Arts District. You can easily see several shows in one evening and include dinner and a nightcap all within a short stroll. Please go to the IndyFringe site and check out the details, the schedules, the other entertainment, and everything else you need to know about the festival. I plan to be there for at least six of the days so maybe I will see you there.

The place to go for drinks in this area is the Metro Nightclub (707 Massachusetts Avenue). It is a two story bar where gay men go to meet friends or make new ones, or just hang out. Downstairs is the kind of place you could easily bring your mother to if you have a mind to do such a thing. Actually, I did bring my mom there once. Upstairs is a nice little store where you can satify your gay paraphernalia needs. See the review at The Guide magazine for a fair description of the place, although the photos are not representative of the clientele at all in my opinion. I've been to Metro hundreds of times so I think I'm qualified to say that.

Concerning Indianapolis men, I was once told by someone in another city that they thought Indianapolis guys had way more attitude than might be justified. I think this is misperception. It's not a case of people acting like their superior; it's an expression of "I'm just as good as you." It's an egalitarian society. I think a person who has been treated like an A-Lister in some other city would be unhappy here because no one would treat them as being better than anyone else. Now, of course, an extremely handsome man would still be eyeballed and fawned over. That's universal.

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P.S. From what I can tell, these shows have gay or gay relevant material:

• Open 24 Hours (a set of short plays that includes the 10 minute play A Gay Thing: A gay man tries to talk his straight buddy out of going gay.)
• Almost Walking a Straight Line
• Somewhere in Between
• Thanks for the Scabies, Jerkface
  
• TransActions
• Gallery
  

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"Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" from Lili

Gym Nads

2008 version of the U.S. Mens Gymnastics Championship.
2008 U.S. Olympic team

The athletes of what sport most look like gay adult video stars? Is there any answer other than gymnastics? They move their muscular but lithe bodies from one difficult position to another, grimacing as they stretch and contract their muscle fibers, working toward that climatic moment when they make one final stick of the landing. They pause and hold themselves erect for a moment, as the ecstasy of their achievement courses through their body. Then they smile their puppy dog smile and quickly leave the scene as one of the crew hands them a towel.

Since the headquarters for gymnastics in the U.S. in Indianapolis, I felt I should comment on the men's artistic gymnastics competition at the U.S. 2007 Visa Championships. The men's All-Around concluded August 17th with David Durante as the winner and Guillermo Alvarez a close second. Third was Sho Nakamori, fourth Alexander Artemev, and fifth David Sender. (Looking at the results I wonder if the rest of the world appreciates how "multi-cultural" America really is.)

David Durante with some tongue action.

Guillermo Alvarez sticks out.

Gymnast David Sender working two poles at once.

I love the form of a male gymnast. They are the perfect travel-size boyfriend. My favorite for awhile has been Raj Bhavsar - I love a guy with a permanent tan. His best performance this year at the championships was 7th on the still rings. I'm also starting to like Guillermo. I read somewhere that he liked a book written by Steve Pinker on the theory of language. For me, that means that I can appreciate Guillermo intellectually as well as aesthetically.

Raj Bhavsar manhandles his horse block.

There are two things I don't like about gymnastics. One is that the modern version has gotten too far from its ancient roots. The Greek word gymnos means naked, and this should be considered an essential attribute of the sport. On the other hand, most of the outfits they wear today are so close to nude I can let this one pass. The other problem with the governance of the sport is that it requires gymnasts to be amateurs. I see no reason one they should not be allowed to make some money with some tumbling-for-pay adult video action. If I was covering a gymnastics event for the media, I would ask all of the athletes what their opinion is on these matters. Of course, that is one of several reasons why I am not allowed to be a sports reporter.

The championship will be broadcast on NBC on 9/9. I will be one of the 35% of total viewers that are men (gay). Jonathan Horton, Danell Leyva, and Justin Spring can be viewed there also. In the meanwhile, a good preview of the male gymnasts practicing shirtless can be found here from NBC Sports:

I have posted an after-air commentary (including how many of you searched for David Durante shirtless and Guillermo Alvarez gay) here: link.

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One more thing: I read that Blaine Wilson wants to make a comeback. Please, someone make it go away. I have been waiting for years for this albatross around the neck of the American team to pass on and now it still won't go away gracefully. Blaine, I am wishing you straight into the cornfield.