New Era of Tolerance in Sports

In the past years history has been made with minorities such as Jackie Robinson being the first African American to play MLB to Manny Pacquiao paving the way for Asian athletes. Now in the year 2011, some athletes and sports executives are open with their sexuality and reminding the world that gay and transgender athletes are currently competing in professional sports .
This comes off the heels of news that Phoenix Suns president Rick Welts tells the New York Times that he is gay.

"In these meetings and in interviews with The New York Times, Mr. Welts explained that he wants to pierce the silence that envelops the subject of homosexuality in men's team sports. He wants to be a mentor to gay people who harbor doubts about a sports career, whether on the court or in the front office. Most of all, he wants to feel whole, authentic.

"This is one of the last industries where the subject is off limits," said Mr. Welts, who stands now as a true rarity, a man prominently employed in professional men's team sports, willing to declare his homosexuality. "Nobody's comfortable in engaging in a conversation."

This shows great progress in sports, but Welts works in the boardroom and not in the locker room. All of this is up to the players throughout professional sports to accept equality not just from a person's race, but a person's sexuality.

Kobe Bryant fined $100,000 for insulting slur

Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for a gay slur towards NBA referee Bennie Adams. Mr. Bryant said the comment after being issued a technical foul during Tuesdays game against the Spurs. Today Bryant admitted to saying the comment. He said, "The words expressed do not reflect my feelings toward the gay and lesbian and communities and were not meant to offend anyone." Take note Bryant did not say he was sorry.

$50,000 dollar award for Giants Beating

After Dodgers Opening Day, Giants fan Bryan Stow was badly beaten by two Dodger fans. Bryan is now in a coma. Doctors had to remove a piece of his scull to reduce pressure on his brain. A co worker of Stow said that he will never be the same again.

He went to the game to proudly cheer for his 2010 world series champions but sadly he did not know that he would get beat up by two dodger fans who police say are between the ages of 18-25. They escaped in a four-door sedan with a woman and a child in the car.

Giants fans were not the only ones who were filled with sorrow so were dodger fans. Many dodger fans feel bad because those dodger fans give other dodger fans a bad name.

A reward was posted on Tuesday, for 50,000 for anyone who has any information.

Yale hockey star Mandi Swchartz died April 3, 2011

An inspiring 23 year-old Yale student Mandi Schwartz, died April 3, 2011 after a 27 month battle with acute myeloid leukemia.

The young hockey star was first diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia Dec. 8, 2008 during her junior year at Yale. Schwartz played forward for the Yale Bulldogs and also attended Canadian women's team camps. She was engaged to engineering student Kaylem Prefontaine of Rockglen, Sask., and they had planned a wedding for the summer of 2012.

On Jan. 8, 2010, after five rounds of strong chemotherapy treatment and 130 days in the hospital she was put into remission and returned to Yale for the spring semester. Schwartz had planned to return to playing hockey in the 2010-11 season, but in April of 2010 she learned that the cancer had returned.

In September 2010, Mandi received a stem cell transplant at the Fred Hutchinson cancer research center in Seattle, but a biopsy conducted in that following December revealed the cancer had returned.

With a promising future, the Yale hockey star, student, daughter, and friend, Mandi Schwarts was unable to pull threw and lost her battle the following spring of 2011.

Yale has now named its annual marrow donor registry drive in Mandi's honor.

Jury Urges Not To Award Clippers' Elgin Baylor Financial Payoff

Article from the L.A. Times

Excerpt: "Elgin Baylor's wrongful termination and age-discrimination civil lawsuit against the Clippers is expected to arrive in the hands of jurors Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In closing statements Monday, the team's attorney blasted Baylor's claim and urged the panel to deprive him of any financial payoff.

Ridiculing Baylor's complaints against team executives who asked him about his birthday and how he was feeling in the years before the NBA great's split with the team as executive vice president, Clippers attorney Robert Platt told jurors, "You'd have to have police at every workplace saying you can't sing, 'Happy Birthday.' "

Baylor, 76, parted with the Clippers after 22 seasons in 2008 when the team offered him a $10,000 monthly consultant's package.

He rejected the deal and a later offer to return to his position, alleging in his February 2009 wrongful termination case that he wouldn't come back to a hostile environment presided over by Clippers owner Donald T. Sterling and team President Andy Roeser, who were named in the lawsuit and attended Monday's closing statements.

"This isn't discrimination," Platt told the jury. "This is quitting and suing, lawyer-ing up to get some money. … His opinion was he could make more money from you than [Sterling]."