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McGrady tells magazine 5 percent of NBA players are gay
kansascity.com ^

Posted on 09/12/2003 9:12:44 PM PDT by chance33_98

McGrady tells magazine 5 percent of NBA players are gay

By BRIAN SCHMITZ The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. - Orlando Magic guard Tracy McGrady is learning that just about any controversial issue a superstar addresses can end up in bold, sometimes bawdy, headlines.

McGrady recently told a New York magazine for its November issue that he believes "5 percent" of NBA players are gay and added he had witnessed incidents of homosexual behavior.

Also in the interview, McGrady criticized Magic management for not involving him in the signing of free-agent forward Juwan Howard.

McGrady made his comments to Stuff magazine writer Bill Schulz, whose questions were far more raucous than McGrady's answers.

In a question-and-answer interview at McGrady's Isleworth mansion in July, Schulz asked McGrady, "Here's a pertinent question: How many homosexuals are currently playing in the NBA?"

"I think about 5 percent," McGrady said.

Schulz then said, " Wow. That's a huge amount for such a macho profession. Have you observed any specific incidents that allow you to make that statement?"

"Yeah," McGrady said.

Schulz went on to another subject when McGrady would not expand his answer.

McGrady could not be reached Friday for comment on the article. Magic General Manager John Gabriel would not comment.

Gabriel, however, did address McGrady's comments to the magazine about being kept out of the loop when the Magic signed Howard.

McGrady told Stuff, "To tell you the truth, I didn't know it until it hit the news. I didn't have a clue about it, which I think is crazy, because I should know all the moves they make if I'm the key guy for this team.

"You should involve me in everything. I'm finding out from friends that we signed Juwan Howard, and I'm thinking I should have been one of the first to know. I'm really happy to have him on the team, though. He's going to contribute offensively and defensively. And he brings veteran leadership."

Said Gabriel, "I think we (the team and McGrady) had a grasp on the situation.

"I know we share the same goals of winning more each year," Gabriel said. "Our goal is his goal: To put the best team on the floor, and in particular, take as much pressure off him as we can. We did that with signing of Howard."

Schulz said by phone from New York on Friday that McGrady made his comments to Stuff the day after the Magic signed Howard.

Schulz also asked McGrady about Kobe Bryant's sexual-assault case (McGrady basically took the fifth), about smoking marijuana ("I don't smoke. . . .I know guys who smoke and then still go out and drop 30 points") and if he ever slept with an older woman (he nodded, writes Schulz).

Schulz then asked him another question laced with sexual innuendoes that McGrady basically dismissed.

Schulz said his Q & A with McGrady appears in November's issue, but a few excerpts from the interview appeared in Friday's New York Post. An advance of the entire interview was acquired by The Orlando Sentinel.

New York Post gossip columnist Richard Johnson ran the excerpts of McGrady's interview under the headline "95 Percent Straight."

Schulz said the tenor of his magazine's interviews is designed to be jaunty, daring and funny. "That's pretty much par for the course. We get a lot of stuff out of them by asking funny, dorky questions. It ain't Newsweek," Schulz said. "It's a sister publication of Maxim.

"I tried to have fun with it. The guy (McGrady) was expressionless after I asked him something or he was two seconds away from hitting me. I couldn't tell.

"I'm hoping Tracy takes it with a sense of humor."

McGrady took heat earlier this summer for his comments about Bryant's case. His broad-based, innocuous quote, "If you're married, stick with your wife," was widely misconstrued as McGrady criticizing Bryant's lifestyle. McGrady, who made the comments in Orlando, went on a national ESPN radio show to clarify his comments.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: homosexuals; nba; sports
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1 posted on 09/12/2003 9:12:45 PM PDT by chance33_98
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To: chance33_98
Only 5%? That's disappointing! I was thinking when this article was first posted earlier today, that it might be fun to watch teams of limp wristed fruits play basketball, kinda like watching the Harlem Globetrotters, y'knowhadimean?.
2 posted on 09/12/2003 9:16:28 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: chance33_98
McGrady recently told a New York magazine for its November issue that he believes "5 percent" of NBA players are gay and added he had witnessed incidents of homosexual behavior.

Oh well, if he believes so, then it's irrefutable... /S
3 posted on 09/12/2003 9:20:33 PM PDT by Welsh Rabbit
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To: chance33_98
What's the WNBA percentage?
4 posted on 09/12/2003 9:21:24 PM PDT by kenth
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

Not only that, the best, strongest players are the gay ones, no doubt.
6 posted on 09/12/2003 9:25:10 PM PDT by At _War_With_Liberals (Honk!! ...if you are being followed by leftists too.)
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To: chance33_98
Hmm, if true, then that 5% when asked what they do for a living can say they are professional "ballplayers".
7 posted on 09/12/2003 9:27:14 PM PDT by poet
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To: chance33_98
5% sounds reasonable. That's probably all of the Lakers, plus a random assortment of a few players elsewhere.

/sarcasm off/

8 posted on 09/12/2003 9:32:34 PM PDT by Alberta's Child ("To freedom, Alberta, horses . . . and women!")
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To: chance33_98
It's the white guys.
9 posted on 09/12/2003 9:34:06 PM PDT by eddie willers
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To: chance33_98
Oh, I think I get it now. These guys are trying to qualify for the Gay Olympics!
10 posted on 09/12/2003 9:34:52 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Go ahead, make my day and re-state the obvious! Again!)
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To: Alberta's Child
5% sounds reasonable. That's probably all of the Lakers, plus a random assortment of a few players elsewhere.

I think McGrady low-balled it (no pun intended). My intense statistical calculations show that 10% of NBA players are gay. It's easy to calculate, really, when you think about it. 30 teams. Bulls, Celtics, Lakers, all gay. 3/30=10%.

11 posted on 09/12/2003 10:09:39 PM PDT by Azzurri
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To: chance33_98
oh right.


12 posted on 09/12/2003 10:16:10 PM PDT by glock rocks ( BKO bump)
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To: chance33_98
McGrady recently told a New York magazine for its November issue that he believes "5 percent" of NBA players are gay and added he had witnessed incidents of homosexual behavior.

I've witnessed it as well, and so did everyone else who watched the Lakers-Pistons NBA finals (in '88 ...or was it '89?).

Magic and Isaiah Thomas locking lips at center court before game 1.

13 posted on 09/12/2003 10:20:29 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: chance33_98
""I think about 5 percent," McGrady said. Schulz then said, " Wow. That's a huge amount for such a macho profession. Have you observed any specific incidents that allow you to make that statement?"

Five percent homos, who knows? But I do know that in spite of their size and athleticism, the NBA reminds me more of a day care center than a sport of 'macho' men. An incidental tap on the arm or an less-than-perfect poke check of the ball is a foul in this "macho" sport. I stopped watching the NBA years ago when I began to notice these "macho" men hanging from the hoop like orangutans after a dunk, and stamping their feet and moaning when a foul is called on them. They constantly make faces and gestures at the refs, and whine like bratty toddlers at every whistle. And there are more whistles in basketball than you'd hear from a construction site located on a nude beach. Even the liberal media don't whine and complain as much as basketball players do during a game.

14 posted on 09/12/2003 10:41:59 PM PDT by TheCrusader
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To: chance33_98
I know guys who smoke and then still go out and drop 30 points

Iverson Bump

15 posted on 09/12/2003 10:45:48 PM PDT by PRND21
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To: PRND21
Stoudamire bump as well.

In one of my favorite stories of the year, the dude got caught attempting to bring a bunch of weed wrapped in tinfoil through an airport metal detector.

16 posted on 09/12/2003 10:47:50 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: chance33_98
I always wondered about Steve Nash. He is the most likely to be a poofter in my book.
17 posted on 09/12/2003 10:48:53 PM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Azzurri
brilliant
18 posted on 09/12/2003 10:54:32 PM PDT by des
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To: Mr. Mojo
Correct, but Stoudamire doesn't drop 30. ;)
Tinfoil Alert!
19 posted on 09/12/2003 10:59:56 PM PDT by PRND21
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To: Mr. Mojo
Magic and Isaiah Thomas locking lips at center court before game 1.

Well before the AIDS announcement word was Magic liked men.

20 posted on 09/12/2003 11:02:10 PM PDT by PRND21
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