Germany's Philipp Lahm and the Gay Soccer Player Question

Germany's national team captain Philipp Lahm is getting a lot of flack these days for his new book, which includes criticism of teammates and competitors. He's backed off on some of that, reportedly, but today the hullaballoo is all about Lahm's comments that gay football players should stay in the closet and not publicly disclose their sexuality, lest they become the target of intense public scorn.

It's accepted as scriptural truth by many on the Left that every gay public figure should be public about their sexuality, because the more people see that gays and lesbians are all around the world, the more quickly prejudice will fall. I frankly tend to agree with that, and in fact I think that's what is causing the steady erosion in anti-gay prejudice here in the United States – more and more people are simply seeing that their neighbor, daughter, police officer, etc., is gay and they're realizing that it doesn't really matter, certainly not in a negative way. But I am also sympathetic to people in the public eye who fear that it would ruin their careers. You know what, it would for many of them. For every Neil Patrick Harris, there's one or more Rupert Everetts, whose advice is strikingly similar to Philipp Lahm's.

Gay-baiting in professional sports is pretty deep-rooted. Even in relatively tolerant Germany, it still makes headlines when the gay issue is brought up. The agent of Michael Ballack, the previous team captain, ridiculously accused the team's failure to win the World Cup on the presence of, in effect, a gay mafia on the team. The public reaction (at least reported in the German media that I was following) is indicative of a good trent; it seemed to treat Ballack's agent as the ridiculous figure he is and was generally supportive of the idea of gay footballers. After all, Germany has an openly gay foreign minister (Guido Westerwelle) in its conservative-liberal coalition government.

But Westerwelle's been known to be gay for some time, and his career isn't in danger, unless he doesn't improve Germany's shaky foreign policy performance. There are a number of popular gay politicians in Germany, including Berlin's mayor, Klaus Wowereit. A young person trying to ensure that they have a career is facing a different constituency, if you will; football fans are fans of the players in a much more personal way than voters are fans of the politicians. And thus Lahm felt it necessary to let his readers know that he himself is not one of the gay players on the national team: "First, I am not a homosexual. I am not married to my wife Claudia for appearances and I do not have a friend in Cologne with whom I really live," Lahm wrote in his book, A Subtle Difference, according to The Local.

I wouldn't be too hard on Lahm, whether he's straight or gay. He's not a raving anti-homosexual. Those people are on U.S. sports teams and running for the U.S. president, they're not popular German football players. Furthermore, Lahm's is not the only voice on this issue; his teammate Mario Gomez has given gay players the opposite advice: Come out, it'll be fine.

More and more, Gomez will be proven correct and Lahm incorrect, but that's just because the public is increasingly tolerant of homosexuality and uninterested in making it a heated topic. So I do hope that gay German soccer players will publicly disclose their sexuality, but I definitely respect the decision of any who decline to do so. Assuming they're not crusading against gay rights while they're in the closet, of course.

The Der Spiegel Article on Ballack's Agent's Gay-Baiting Comments

In a blog post yesterday, I noted that German soccer star Michael Ballack's got a new headache: An agent who doesn't know when to shut up and keep his silly thoughts to himself. Agent Michael Becker apparently went on and on about how various members of Germany's third-place World Cup team were gay.

You can read the entire Der Spiegel article, translated into English, here (or, in German, here). The article frankly makes him sound less menacing but probably dumber than Mel Gibson, who's getting a lot of deserved heat over the latest flare-up in his long history of anti-semitic, anti-gay, misogynistic, racist rants. But Mel (who, let's be honest, is probably suffering from some mental problems) at least generally knows to shut up about his crackpot beliefs when the camera's running. (No, not always, but generally. It's usually chalked up to extreme inebriation when he gets on a hate rant. I personally don't think the drinking is an excuse; not everyone who gets drunk thinks that Jews are warmongers or that ...  oh, hell, I'm not going to repeat all the crap that man says.)

Anyway, in the Spiegel article by Alexander Osang (which is quite good and worth reading in whole), Becker is reported to be acting as if his anti-gay attitude were the norm:

He talked a lot about people who were envious of his client, because they were supposedly mediocre, ugly, untalented, bureaucratic, provincial, unmanly or gay. He told me some unbelievable stories, which I wrote down on my pad of paper. Becker didn't seem to mind, perhaps because he assumed that they would never make it into print anyway, or that they were already common knowledge. A few days later, on the sidelines of a farewell match for footballer Bernd Schneider at Bayer Leverkusen, Becker told a group of agents and journalists in the Bayer clubhouse that there was a former player on the national team who was about to go public with the names of "the gay combo." I expected my fellow journalists to be all ears, but they seemed relatively blasé about Becker's remark. It seemed that every sports journalist was already familiar with the alleged homosexual conspiracy swirling around German coach Joachim Löw's team.

And this:

[Becker] told me, beaming, how Elton John had sung the German national anthem at Ballack's wedding. When I asked him whether he thought that a player whose nomination to the team had come as something of a surprise was gay, Becker said: "He's half-gay." When he said that, I realized that all of this was somehow synonymous with something Becker could no longer understand. It was something that was light, non-ideological, dance-like, beautiful, joyful, and easily confusing for someone whose life had revolved around pecking orders and hierarchies until then.

Mel Gibson's agents dumped him after his latest escapades. (I agree with Joy Behar on her cable talk show yesterday, when she said that Mel's films won't be funded now by Hollywood studios, so Gibson's only hope is to fund more of his own films – which he can afford to do, but which won't result in the agency getting a percentage fee. So no points for bravery or integrity to his former agents.)

Now I'd like to see Ballack give Becker the boot.

Read Part III of the saga.

From WEIMAR WORLD SERVICE

Maybe I'll Have to Un-Follow Michael Ballack on Twitter: Ballack's Agent Slams German Team as "Queers"

Michael Ballack, the German team captain who missed the recent exciting World Cup contest due to injury, is dealing with another pain these days: his own agent. The Local, an English-language German news site, reports that his agent called the German national team – aka die Mannschaft – a "bunch of queers."

The remarks were reportedly made a couple months before the World Cup, when a team including a lot of young talent surprised the world by ending in third place; there had even been questions as this series started whether Germany would get out of the group stage. Best of all, die Mannschaft was a diverse team of players born in Brazil, Turkey, Africa, Poland and Germany, a mix of religions and skin color that is helping to change the image of Germany.

The comments of Ballack's agent, Michael Becker, were more throwback to olden days than representing the new era of German football. It's also not entirely clear whether Becker was honestly referring to homosexuality or if he was just speaking roughly, but he made a number of anti-gay comments in that conversation, which was reported in this week's edition of Der Spiegel.

One hopes Ballack knows how to publicly slap his agent upside the head and disown his comments, both to show he's a man of the 21st century and because he should show his support of the national team, not of his agent.

• UPDATE on this story here.

Third-Place German World Cup Win: Deutschland Bejubelt WM-Bronze #ger

If it wasn't for the TV announcers continually (a) complaining about the audience booing a Uruguay player, and (b) continually stressing the unimportance of this game, I'd have completely enjoyed today's third-place game between Uruguay and Deutschland.

Nonetheless, it was a 3:2 German victory over Uruguay. We got to see some players who haven't seen much (or any) game time so far in the tournament. German coach Joachim Löw apparently left his sick bed (due to the flu) to attend, and he seemed to get progressively more animated along the sidelines as his team took and lost and retook the lead. And the end result was good.

It is too sad that Miroslav Klose didn't have a chance to go after his record-tying 15th World Cup goal, but the 32-year-old player was on the sidelines with a bad back. (Perhaps from all of those summersaults.) But we still got to see a second international goal from Friedrich, some action from Thomas Müller, and even Kiessling nearly got on the scoreboard. Good work Germany, good game Uruguay, good time.

So it's all over for die Mannschaft, the German team, this young group of players that was given no chance of getting far in the tournament but that surprised everyone with a style of play that was at once disciplined (as German football stereotypically is) and exciting (as German football stereotypically is not). All of those injuries, including to the great Michael Ballack, resulted in the team pulling in some recent U21 players ans surprising the world. The team gave us some of the most enjoyable and beautiful football of the World Cup, and if they didn't win the tournament, there are two very big and very real consolations:

1. Third place still means they beat 166 other teams
2. They're still young, so watch out, everyone else.

A larger, wider, and ultimately more important result is the success of this team off the field in affecting the image of Germany. The players come from Africa, Germany, Poland, Brazil; they're being wildly celebrated in the streets of Germany; they're Christian and Muslim; they play great. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised the diverse team, and the people on the streets seem delighted with the the Nationalelf (the national 11). I haven't properly compared the team's diversity against the American World Cup team, but there's a good chance that Germany's would be the more diverse racially and religiously.

See the video here. More reporting (in German) from the Berlin tabloid Bild.

It's Lego World Cup Germany vs. Argentina #ger

If that embedded video doesn't work, go to the official Lego football site.

In Other World Cup News ...

Okay, so your team got bumped out of the World Cup and you're left watching other country's fans celebrate. (Not I; I'm supporting Germany. But I was just trying to pretend I was sensitive to other countries there.)

Don't worry. There's still lots of news to follow. Such as:

• Leave it to the Germans to come up with a high-tech vuvuzela.
• Portugal star Ronaldo is going to be a father. The mother's out of the picture however, so this'll just feed the rumor mills further. That's him below, with and without a shirt.

• Brazil, which was knocked out of the tournament this past week, sacked its coach, Dunga.
• But that's a better outcome than Nigeria's team, which that country's government tried to ban from competitions for two years in punishment for not advancing out of the group round. Yes, that's as odd as it sounds; if your team didn't perform up to snuff in international competition, then what they probably need is more exposure to international competition, not sitting on the sidelines and aging. But then again I'm not a soccer/football genius like the folks running Nigeria.
• Hey, even that's better than what probably awaits the North Korean team. Luckily, they're healthy and athletic, so they should survive longer in the mines.
• Maybe they'll be able to get Justin Bieber's autograph on their lunch breaks.
• Leave it to the English to try to claim credit for Germany's success at the World Cup.
• But the Brits have a back-up plan: They still have a chance to be in the finals – as a referee.
• When all's well and done, it's all just good, fun sport, right? And if (when) the German Mannschaft wins this year, everyone had better be happy, because some Germans don't take kindly to soccer naysayers.
• And now the truth is known: The "magic snake" that controlled the destiny of World Cup teams has been taken into custody.

English and the English: James Lawton on Yesterday's German Defeat of Argentina

The scruffier UK press is usually stuck somewhere in ham-handed Nazi references when dealing with the Germans on just about anything, but the Sunday Independent's James Lawton had a nice article about how the well-trained and youthful German Mannschaft destroyed the starry-eyed Argentine team in yesterday's quarterfinals game at the World Cup.

The article's worth a read, if you share my enthusiasm for such things. But if you don't, you might still enjoy this excerpt, which I think is a nicely worded and intelligent bit of color – and a reminder that the English journalists are often much better at using our somewhat shared language than are American journalists (what few are left):

Here, as the sadness on the face of [Argentine coach] Maradona lacked only the make-up of the most tragic clown, the new German team showed that they belong not to the future but now. Whether they are mature enough, and their defence of sufficient resilience, to see them through to the final, is a matter of some intrigue but plainly a gleeful Chancellor Angela Merkel was ready to give them the benefit of any doubt. She was made so exuberant by the goals of Müller, Miroslav Klose, Arne Friedrich and then the old hand Klose again, she planted a kiss on the cheek of the South African president Jacob Zuma, a man of noted enthusiasm for such overtures.

Nice, that last bit.

Germany 4:0 Argentina: Germany Advances to Semifinals with Assurance #ger

Okay, I believe they can go all the way now. Anything can happen, and of course the deeper Germany gets in the tournament, the better the teams the play. The Netherlands or Spain could prove victors. Who knows? But Die Mannschaft has now won three games with four goals; it hasn't allowed a single goal in the second half of any of its world cup games; its players keep their composure whether the game is close or they're running away with it.

They're fun to watch.

So watch 'em. Huffington Post has short (blurry) videos of all four German goals against Argentina today.

One (Mueller) | Two (Klose) | Three (Friedrich) | Four (Klose)

Count 'em up.

The Kids Are All Right: Germany 4:0 Australia

Click here to watch English-language report on the game from Deutsche Welle.

The news/advertising video screen on the elevator this morning displayed a question seeking e-mailed responses: Write in and tell us: What would it take to get you to watch the World Cup?

Okaaay. If you don't think your audience (San Francisco Financial District professionals) are into the World Cup enough to watch a game, why not put something else on your li'l screen instead of the World Cup? The rest of the media does that pretty well, so just follow their lead.

Granted, my interest is a bit higher than normal today, having enjoyed Germany's whacking of Australia's Socceroos yesterday. I didn't really expect much widespread coverage of the game, especially on a day when Boston beat Los Angeles in game five of the NBA finals. Nonetheless, the reporting that was out there – even in the normally germanophobic British press – seemed to get it right: It was the best performance by a team so far in the World Cup, a victory made all the better because people had been wondering right up to the beginning of the game whether this could be the year that the Germans finally lost in the first round.

I was sorry to see the Australians take it on the chin; I will root for them to go further in the tournament. But they were really outclassed in this matchup.

Sunday's game was a good one. Now let's see the Nationalmannschaft follow up with a great game against Serbia on Friday. They're likely to see a tougher game than they had yesterday, but at least they've proven they're not too young or inexperienced to win at this level.

PS: Here's a funny and somewhat sharp commentary on a side controversy sparked by a ZDF half-time commentator in Germany, who mad a bizarre Nurenburg rally comment. You can't make this up.

World Cup: Germany Favorites over Australia Tomorrow

I know, no one comes to this blog for football/soccer news. But if the entire U.S. media scene can be taken over for two weeks each year with overpowering Super Bowl coverage, I think anti-soccer Americans can just go into hiding for a couple weeks every four years.

Forget about today's game between England and the United States. England will win. (Yeah, I could be wrong, but I don't care. Nor do most Americans, so winning wouldn't mean much, anyway. Pearls before swine – that sort of thing.)

But I'm rooting for Germany, as usual, and they play their first game tomorrow at 11 am Pacific time. I'll be watching.

The Local, an English-language German news-and-features web site, offers an overview of Germany's Nationalelf and its chances early in the World Cup competition, as well as a pictorial roundup of Die Mannschaft.

For those of you clinging stubbornly to your support for America's national team, Deutsche Welle (basically, a German BBC) has an English-language article with comments on the U.S.-UK game from U.S. and UK players who've played on German teams. That might sound confusing, but the article isn't, so read it.

And if you understand German, or can pretend to, here's a video from Spiegel TV and Kicker TV with a report on the German team in South Africa.

Game time.

Soccer Superstar Ronaldo Supports Gay Marriage

It's World Cup time, when the world goes bonkers over the Beautiful Game, and Americans try to remember what soccer/football is.

On my airplane ride yesterday, I sat next to a man from Japan (I think), and a woman from Germany. We talked World Cup, teams (she and I are both rooting for Germany, Ballack or no Ballack), and shared news about various national teams' success possibilities.

While waiting in an airport for a connecting flight, I came across a report on Outsports about comments European soccer (oh, can I call it football?) star Cristiano Ronaldo made when asked about the legalization of gay marriage in his country, Portugal. He said the law should be respected and everyone should have the same rights. (I think this is the link to the original interview, in Portuguese.)

That's just the latest reason for gay men to praise Ronaldo. The other, of course, was his appearance in Vanity Fair's softcore World Cup issue, which features various football stars in their briefs. That will get Americans' attention, though it won't help convince the U.S. audience that soccer/football is for straight people, too.

On that plane ride, the German woman (who, BTW, thinks Germany still has a chance as long as Lukas Podolski and Bastian Schweinsteiger are healthy and playing, just in case you're wondering) said she hopes the U.S. is successful in getting to host the World Cup in the next decade, because it would give the game a big shot in the arm in terms of American popularity. But I lived in Chicago in 1994 when the city was one of the U.S. hosts for the games, and if we're still making excuses for why Americans don't love the game 16 years later, I don't think another chance will do it. If Americans would rather follow other sports, that's fine. Everyone should get what they want.

Me? I want more Ronaldo on magazine covers.

From WEIMAR WORLD SERVICE