John Amaechi

I'm running around trying to promote my book and still manage all of life's demands, but I just wanted to pause to give a shout out to John Amaechi, who just became the NBAs first openly gay former player.

It seems I am perhaps one of the only Americans who was a fan of John Amaechi before this latest revelation. Amaechi is a black Brit and his entry into the NBA corresponded with my return from London, so I followed his career with interest at the time. John Amaechi, in various interviews, proved himself to be intelligent, cultured, and sophisticated as well, the British equivalent of the late Bison Dele (a.k.a. Brian Williams). Before Bison's untimely death, he was also rumored to be gay because he did unmanly things like read poetry (gasp!) and drank wine. I'm sure there will be those in the league who look back on John Amaechi's refinement and see that as latent proof of his sexual preference, erroneously.

These were gladiators that intellectuals could empathize with. Unlike Tim Hardaway, who took this historic moment to publicly wallow in his own ignorance, these were brothers that made me proud to be one as well.

Bravo, John Amaechi. You might get flack for waiting until your retirement to come out of the closet, but your actions have made it that much easier for the first active player that will.

UPDATE: Slate.com has an excellent review of Amaechi's new book. Here's an excerpt:

In Man in the Middle, Amaechi comes out as an intellectual—a creature almost as alien in the NBA as a gay man. He frequents art galleries on his off days, loves poetry, and is one of the first pro athletes to author a blog. The guy is smart enough that he can make something as dull as a fondness for Twinkies—"I loved their spongy richness and I devoured them by the dozen"—into a thoughtful disquisition.

Check out the rest here.