David Bowie's Eyes

Saturday, May 06, 2006

Man on Man


Despite Will and Grace and Queer Eye, our culture is still homophobic. A gay affair will cost you your job as governor, while a straight affair barely raises an eyebrow. (Unless, of course, you have pissed off the Republicans.) But American sports culture presents a strange paradox: while it is based on traditional ideas of masculinity and implied (and enforced) heterosexuality, it is also one of the few venues where intimate male contact is acceptable. A quick quiz: what's happening here, at the end of the Cleveland Cavalier's series-ending win over the Washington Wizards? Celebration or consummation?