Entry 2- What is the Gay-est sport?

I get asked this all the time and it seems everyone has their own opinion on this subject. Most seem to think it is softball, golf or basketball. There are typically a lot of lesbians in these sports and that's where the perception comes from. Speaking from personal experience, volleyball has more than its fair share. Volleyball often flies under the gaydar so to speak because mentality of the sport. It isn't as rough and tough as basketball, there isn't the pushing and shoving and what we perceive to be the more masculine aspects of sports. It is a team game so there are a lot more girls playing volleyball than are golfing. Softball is also more masculine in nature, it follows baseball and has a lot of the same characteristics and mannerisms of baseball.

Volleyball is typically seen as a more affluent sport. It isn't physical in the way of physical contact with the opponents because the net divides teams and there is very rarely any physical contact. The girls in volleyball stereotypically are very feminine and cute and their bodies are displayed in spandex and tight jersey's. What guy doesn't wish and think that all those beautiful women are there just for him to look at and aspire to date?

I know that every year without fail I usually get another sport programs Graduate Assistant tell me how I have the hottest team on campus. This is supposed to be a compliment but I hate it. I think it is gross. They never seem to understand that these young ladies are my "kids" and just like a parent wouldn't like that compliment from a random person about their daughter, I don't either. Despite having the "hottest team on campus" every year I have had at least 1 lesbian on my team and some years I've had as many as 4. This doesn't sound like a huge number but you have to keep in mind that we play our sport with only 6 people on the court at a time, our rosters don't have to be as big as other sports that have 9 or 11 players on the playing field at one time. When I was playing I had as many as 5 teammates who were gay. Volleyball tends to have the "deceptive lesbians", the kind that aren't as obvious to the average straight person.

So, to answer the question of what sport is the gayest....I have no clue. Not that it really matters because there are so many gay players in every sport. It seems to me that sports seems to attract gay and what a great thought that is to me. Someone was once quoted for saying, "I'd like to see them win a championship without a lesbian on the team" and I second that. I think it was Sir Charles Barkley that recently said he'd rather play with a good gay teammate than a straight one that couldn't play. Viva gay and sport because they go hand in hand.

Entry 1- the beginning

I am new to the big world of blogging though movies like Julie and Julia inspired me to start one, I just never got around to it until now.

My name is Mari and people say it like maaari which is fine but it is pronounced like Mary, thanks Mom and Dad for that one. It's okay though, I basically answer to any four letter word. Being a coach and a former collegiate DI athlete you get used to the four letter word varieties and the skin gets just a bit thicker.

In addition to being a coach and an intense love of sport I am also openly gay. This blog is going to be about my two passions, sports and the gay twist on sports. Juicy tidbits, thought provoking questions and experiences, funny antidotes, stories of inspiration and perhaps a glimpse on how far we've come but how far we still have to go.

My intention to write this is to help me keep a record, to see where I've come and where I am going and to see the same within the great sport of volleyball that I love and also within a gay community that struggles and soars.