The Dooryard

The Outsports Revolution

It only took two years from conception to publishing, but my first book, THE OUTSPORTS REVOLUTION, is finally on the shelves. Woohoo! I hadn't given it much thought in the last couple of months until I ventured into a bookstore in Provincetown this past weekend and saw it on the shelf. The clerk asked me to sign it, which was cool.

Early reaction has been very strong. Bob Lipsyte, who is one of the most respected sports journalists in this country, emailed us and said "it's great, a terrific read AND an important source book." To get that kind of praise from him is pretty incredible, to me. Other straight and gay people who have read it have told me they really enjoyed it. "I couldn't put it down," one told me. Maybe that's just because I know them, but I don't think so.

Please do buy a copy of the book - you can get it at Amazon. From the early reaction I've heard, I think it's safe to say you won't hate it, and you'll definitely learn some things. We'll be having some book signings here and there, so stay tuned for that too. Thanks!

So sad

Something so powerful just hit me when I read this story about Zach Arend, 18, the seventh life claimed by the bus accident involving the Bluffton baseball team. Eighteen. Eighteen.

He was an innocent kid just looking to play some baseball. He survived the crash but succumbed to injuries days later. I can only imagine what those days must have been like. What those moments when he awoke from his nap to screams and the bus he was in tumbling over the side of a highway ramp.

My eyes well up with tears just thinking about it.

I'm sorry, Patsy Ramsey!

I know probably most of America was surprised to wake up this morning to news that the prime suspect in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey has been arrested - and it isn't her father. Some creepy-looking guy named John Mark Karr hasn't just been arrested, but he's admitting that he kidnapped and "accidentally" killed the six-year-old beauty queen.

Shame on all of us. For 10 years, the media has led the public (and the public has willfully been misled) to believe that the parents of JonBenet were the murderers. Hour-long TV specials have been devoted to proving the theory that it was her parents who did in the young girl. And now we find out that it is another man - a deranged fan - who is admitting, 10 years later, the he killed the girl.

Why is it that we all feel the need to blame someone immediately once something bad has happened? Why did our culture have to put these parents, who are now likely innocent of the accusations, through 10 years of hell? JonBenet's mother, Patsy, died of cancer earlier this year; and we didn't get the chance to say we were sorry.

My human side wants to blame the disgusting mass media for the public lynching of the Ramsey parents. That's probably well-placed blame. However, like I said, we all love to blame people. While this may enlighten us a little in the future, we'll keep doing it, just with a little more hesitance.

An investigative look at the JonBenet Ramsey case before this revelation.