By Tony Jasinski
In recent years, there have been significant improvements in how our community is viewed in the larger world of sports. For example, it wasn’t that long ago that pro football players, such as Reggie White, were condemning our community publicly without backlash. Now, it seems that most comments of the same sort would garner a sizable negative response until the inevitable soft apology (note Evander Holyfield’s recent comments).
Now, for the first time in professional sports, a team has worn rainbow colors in support of our community throughout a game. The jerseys, worn by the SF Bulls- a minor-league hockey franchise affiliated with the San Jose Sharks- were auctioned off for the SF Pride parade, and thousands of dollars were raised. The gay-themed jerseys had player last names stitched on the back. The Bulls wore them on January 11 at their second annual LGBT night at the Cow Palace.
The SF Bulls hockey team became the first professional sports team ever to wear the rainbow images on their official jerseys.
The SF Earthquakes, a local gay hockey team, played an exhibition match versus the Goaldiggers (another gay team) prior to the Bulls’ game. It ended in a 3-3 tie. A player joked, “This one will have to be settled in the showers.” The Quakes- there were over 15 – really enjoyed themselves, but they did go civilian (street clothes) after their turn on the ice. They have been playing since 1998, and they got the gold medal in the Sydney games. The team will be participating in the upcoming Cleveland games.
Kieran Flaherty of the Earthquakes said that the Bulls have worked collaboratively with the Quakes, such as both teams participating in “You Can Play.” You Can Play is a gay-supportive organization that promotes sports and tolerance. Flaherty also mentioned that he and his partner are season ticketholders of the Bulls, and they have cowbells to add to their experience.
The night opened with the “Star Spangled Banner” sung by a blend of the SF and East Bay gay choruses. Between the last 2 periods, the choral group also performed “America The Beautiful.” The SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band played throughout the night from a stage near the ice.
Members of the Lesbian/Gay Choir of San Francisco and the East Bay Chorus singing together at the game.
There was a very nice video/scoreboard in the center of the arena, and its screens displayed regular reminders of the theme night. The crowd was probably in the high hundreds, and it seemed that half of the crowd had to be gay. Even the team’s cheerleaders and official mascot were in the rainbow colors for the evening. The mascot spent a lot of time posing with children during the game.
In my party of three, none of us had attended a hockey game before, yet all of us commented that we’d like to attend the same event next year. We felt completely safe throughout the evening, and the workers at the event were quite friendly. In fact, the entire crowd clearly enjoyed the event, and there were smiles everywhere. The food options and beer selection were equivalent to those at an Oakland A’s game. The facility looked a little old, but the arena was clean and comfortable. The seats were nicely cushioned. Parking at the facility was convenient and cheap, and tickets were reasonable ($20).
The headliner game itself was fast-paced, and the action was exciting. The SF Bulls were playing the Alaska Aces, and the Bulls had beaten them the night before. Unfortunately, the team ended up on the poorer end of a 5 to 2 score. There wasn’t a single fight on the ice, which was a surprise to us, but there was a lot of body slamming.
Jason Breiter is the promoter and ticket sales manager for the SF Bulls, and he admitted that it was a challenge to work with the gay community, being that it is so broad-based and fractionalized. He was particularly proud of the musical component this year, as it was important to him to have both the SF Lesbian and Gay Chorus along with the East Bay Chorus, as well as the Freedom Band. He also said it was unusual to feature “America the Beautiful,” but it was a sleek way to use the choruses a second time.
Breiter said that the Bulls wanted to make a point of really connecting with the gay community in a way that had never been done by a professional sports team. He is particularly thrilled with getting people to attend a game when they had never previously enjoyed a hockey before. He made sure to add the Team SF and the Federation of the Gay Games to the beneficiaries this year, since their focus is on sports.
Besides thank you’s from the various beneficiaries and gay groups, Breiter did get an email after the event from Billy Bradford of Castro Valley Pride. Bradford wrote, “I need you to understand how important your support of the LGBT community is for us. I am just an old hockey fan, but last night I had tears in my eyes when the Bulls took the ice wearing rainbow jerseys.” Bradford also mentioned that he is a proud Bulls fan, and that he wears his Bulls’ gear all of the time. He ended his note with, “It takes people like you (Jason) standing up for people like us for us all to change the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Clearly, the SF Bulls worked very hard to make the evening successful, as they had spent a lot of money on promotions and those jerseys. This is a franchise that is working hard to earn our support, and their regular t-shirts and fan paraphernalia are of very good quality. The team colors happen to be the same as the SF Giants, so they mix in well with the local sport colors. Regarding the special jerseys of that evening, it is exciting to see an entire team (presumably consisting of primarily straight athletes) sport the colors in support of our community with no objection, nor discomfort.
Tony Jasinski is the former president of the San Francisco Gay Basketball League.
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