Jason Collins Appointed for Member of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition

From the White House:

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts: Jason Collins, Appointee for Member, President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, and Nutrition. Jason Collins is a professional basketball player with the Brooklyn Nets, where he has played since 2014. Previously, he played for the Washington Wizards, the Boston Celtics, the Atlanta Hawks, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the New Jersey Nets. He joined the National Basketball Association in 2001 after playing for Stanford University, where he was a National Association of Basketball Coaches third team All-American and a member of the All-PAC-10 first team. Mr. Collins is a partner with the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Mr. Collins received a B.A. from Stanford University.

Get it, Jason

These Two are changing things

It feels good to know that two Black Gay men are the faces of change in the Sports

Interesting Quote: Former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin

“I don’t see how any African-American with any inkling of history can say that you don’t have the right to live your life how you want to live your life. No one should be telling you who you should love, no one should be telling you who you should be spending the rest of your life with. When we start talking about equality and everybody being treated equally, I don’t want to know an African-American who will say everybody doesn’t deserve equality.”

Michael graces the cover of OUT for the Sports issue

New Project: GLSEN's Changing the Game

GLSEN has a new project that could challenge view surrounding sports and sexuality. It's called Changing the Game. 

Changing the Game: The GLSEN Sports Project’s mission is to assist K-12 schools in creating and maintaining an athletic and physical education climate that is based on the core principles of respect, safety and equal access for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. The GLSEN Sports Project fills a critical gap and adds a vital new dimension to GLSEN’s work to create a world in which every child learns to accept and respect all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression.

They even have former football player and openly gay Wade Davis and other athletes on board

Jennifer at the Super Bowl

Jennifer Hudson will return to the stage...at the Super Bowl. She will sing the National Anthem before the kickoff, I believe.

This is great news for the fans, she's been through so much. I hope she is ready because we are ready for her.

And I have a reason to watch football.

Ice Cold Love

Moose Mess is losing her main base, Hockey Moms. Well maybe not, but she didn't get the best welcome at this weekend's hockey game.



No Love in Philly

Witchcraft!

Accusations that a soccer player was using witchcraft during a match in eastern Congo sparked a riot that killed 13 people, a U.N.-funded radio station reported Monday.

Most of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 16, Radio Okapi said. They were suffocated as panicked crowds ran for the exits during the mayhem Sunday in Butembo in eastern Congo's North Kivu province.

Radio Okapi said police tried to control the violence at Matokeo stadium by firing into the air to protect their commander, who was hit in the head and wounded by fans.

The two local clubs involved were Socozaki and Nyuki System, the radio said.

Dozens of teenagers marched through Butembo's dirt streets Monday in protest, and the regional governor, Julien Mpaluku, paid a visit to the hospital.

Mpaluku said the government was investigating.

That's stuff you don't hear everyday.

Source

Let My 1/8th People Go!

The Washington Redskins have a different victory in the ongoing battle against a group of American Indians about the racially degrading nickname. This has been a 16 year battle between them and usually it's a back and forth fight. But this time the Washington Redskins took the lead.

In a ruling dated June 25 and first circulated Thursday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ruled that the youngest of the seven Native American plaintiffs waited too long after turning 18 to file the lawsuit that attempts to revoke the Redskins trademarks.

The lead plaintiff, Suzan Shown Harjo, president of the Washington-based Morning Star Institute that advances Native American causes, is going to appeal.

They initially won - the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office panel canceled the trademarks in 1999 - but Kollar-Kotelly overturned the ruling in 2003 in part because the suit was filed decades after the first Redskins trademark was issued in 1967.

I understand there's money involved with these teams, but the name still upsets and stings. They should look at the emotional and cultural damage this foolishness have caused. After all the Native Americans have been through, this should not be an issue. But it is, and heartbreaking to see this madness continue on.