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Thibodeau Comes Out of Closet

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Boom_70, Aug 29, 2013.

  1. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/29/sports/college-coach-reveals-he-is-gay-joining-a-short-list.html?hp&_r=0
     
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    In tennis that will probably help him...
     
  3. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    Does this guy deserve a sympathetic New York Times profile?
     
  4. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Not sure, but he probably deserves some explanation of who the hell he is in the thread title.

    I thought for a second it might be Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau ... or maybe the entire city of Thibodeaux, Louisiana.
     
  5. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    The thread title was just believable enough to make me have to look, even though I saw that Dennis the Menance had started it.
     
  6. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    It is pretty interesting that the NYT thinks a tennis coach coming out is worthy of a story... I wonder if similar treatment will be given to the women's basketball coaches, where their sexuality is known by everyone around the team, but it isn't public.
     
  7. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Surely they've addressed the sexuality of women's basketball coaches before, right? Probably on multiple occasions - who was the LSU coach that was fired because she was hitting on her players? Pokey Chapman?
     
  8. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    As I recall and it was debated here , but The NYT twisted themselves in knots not to
    mention that Chapman case was a lesbian situation.
     
  9. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Those are the ones we hear about... What about the ones who have been with the same partner for 20+ years?
     
  10. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    Yeah, I don't know what kind of coverage they've devoted to it. I don't read their sports section very often, unless directed there.

    The women's coach at the program I covered was married and very much straight. It was a school that presumably wouldn't hire a lesbian, though.
     
  11. YankeeFan

    YankeeFan Well-Known Member

    I was being narky, but...

    No one has ever heard of this guy. He coaches a minor sport, at a small school. He's coaching women, in what's essentially an individual sport.

    He's not the first coach to come out, and it's unlikely to create any momentum.

    And, to be fair, the Times points all of this out.

    So, while he sounds like a nice guy, and I'm happy for him if he is happy, but then why is this news?

    Is it even surprising that his players were unfazed? I guess that's progress, but it's not surprising.

    Personally, I'd rather know about the gorl on the left:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
  12. Dick Whitman

    Dick Whitman Well-Known Member

    You've been super-concerned lately about normal people getting stories in the Times, about who "deserves" coverage and who doesn't.

    Sometimes, regular people make interesting human-interest stories. This has been going on since time immemorial. I'm not saying that the NYT should become the Podunk Shopper, but every piece in the newspaper doesn't have to be about Bashar al-Assad. Best-sellers have been written about regular people - "There Are No Children Here" comes to mind. "Friday Night Lights" does, too.

    (Granted, I'm the one who started a thread in Journalism a few months back questioning whether the NYT puts enough hard news on its fronts.)
     
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