Blind item about a retired athlete busted for restroom cruising - who is this?

John Elway

Jeff Garcia

Joe Namath or Joe Theismann

Troy Aikman

What is the very large city where a prestigious event occurs yearly? The Super Bowl moves, so maybe it's the Heisman (college football) ceremony. Or the draft. But it sounds more like tennis, where has Grand Slam tournaments every year in New York, London and Paris.

Elway and Namath aren't gay

Sampras

I'm guessing former baseball player Mike Piazza.

I've always thought Agassi was gay, but I don't knwo what he does now, or what tennis events would be held yearly that he still attends.

Frank Thomas

It could be a Hall of Fame ceremony, either Canton, OH or Cooperstown, NY

Howie Long

Tom Glavine

R11 those are not large cities

My money is on Piazza, remember that incident with Sam Champion many years ago ???

Possibly Drew Brees

Joe Montana?

What incident with Sam Champion?

R18 You have to go way back to 2002

Brees isn't retired

George Brett? He just stepped down as a coach over in KC.

Bruce Jenner ? Oh wait sorry

Prestigious event - NFL draft?

What about DL's beloved former power couple, Cal Ripken Jr. and Brady Anderson?

I agree with R5. Sounds like a tennis player. It can't be, for example, Agassi, because I think they would have said "former top ranked," not just "top 5." Plus, he's too young.

Could be a race car driver like Danny Sullivan

Or Jeff Gordon

I only follow tennis but Sampras has been married for years to the same woman and has 2 sons, so he has not recently entered a sham marriage, and of course, Agassi (who might well be in a lavender marriage) is married to Steffi Graf for many years. I can't think of any older tennis players who have recently married out of the blue. I do follow tennis pretty closely (though not former top players who have suddenly married). Maybe Thomas Muster--an Austrian I think. I'll have to google. I think I remember speculations on some DL thread a long time ago that he was gay. He's been retired for a long time.

My mistake, they did say he reached the top. Agassi was No 1 at points in the 1990s and 2000s, but it seems like they're talking about someone from further back. Still involved in his sport in other roles? I still think it's tennis, where he could be a commentator or coach. It could be golf, but I'd have no idea who top golfers from decades ago would be.

"There have always been rumours" so it has to be someone we've all heard of.

Must be baseball or football.

Lance Armstrong? This one is almost too broad.

Laird Hamilton? The possibilities are endless

My vote is Jim Courier. He was NO. 1 in 1993, but was in the Top 5 for some time thereafter. He's been a commentator on various US and international TV broadcasts ever since he retired. There were always rumors around him (including on DL), and he got married in 2010 at age 39, and has no children. Remember when he was reading Armistead Maupin on court during a changeover. He was raised in Dade City, Florida.

JIm Courier cerrtainly had his beads read here at DL. Some people said he had a relationship with Michael Chang.

r34, good guess

The only major sporting events that take place in the same city every year are tennis, golf, car races and horse racing. It's not horse racing, obviously. Tiger Woods is the only golfer big enough to merit a BI, and he's not retired.

That leaves tennis. Agassi and Sampras are the only big retired names who make sense. Sampras is way too straight, so it has to be Agassi. He did date Barbra Streisand, after all.

CDAN? A reader blind item?

Is there a retired athlete that the alt right group doesn't like?

r34; I was just going to say Jim Courier, but his sham marriage was 8 years ago. They do seem to have had a kid according to Wikipedia, but the age of child is not given. His parents probably did work very hard to put him through Nick Bolletieri's Academy (same era as Agassi) and as you say, he's from a conservative area of Florida. I don't think this will be leaked because he is very involved with Davis Cup (where big rule changes have just been announced with him in the news about it) He won the French Open maybe 3 times and was a top 10 player for years until his retirement. He is now 48. Has great cheekbones, so still looks very good for his age. He has butched up his speaking voice a lot since he started commentating. He is considered a very good commentator these days.

My mistake, R39. I didn't catch that he had a kid. Regardless, I still think it might be him.

Also, does the blind item necessitate that the marriage was recent? I read it simply as the marriage happened quickly after the cruising incident which was "a while back."

They don't really do restroom stings in New York anymore, do they? That argues against tennis.

Aikman. Duh. Everyone in Texas already knows.

Nobody knows who Jim Courier is. I doubt there would be a BI about him.

Do you think John McEnroe fits?

Pete Rose

I know kids don't mean "not gay" but Mcenroe has like 6 or 7 kids with two different women. I really don't think he's a closet case.

Problem with all the teams sports players is that there's no prestigious event in their sport held in the same city every year.

IF it's hockey and it's Mario Lemieux, you will all have egg on your face.

Or Steve Yzerman

Courier also lived in NYC for a time after retirement.

One more thing. Courier may not be the biggest of celebs but many people know who he is, or would recognize him if a picture were flashed on screen.

They started holding it in different cities recently, but for years the NFL draft was held in NYC

If this happened a month ago, this could have been Wimbledon (which was about a month ago), and England has a tradition of arresting gay men in public restrooms natch. Homosexuality was a criminal act there until 1967. I think it is probably Courier. He fits all the clues.

If it's Brian Joubert he's going to be a laughingstock!

The emphasis on the family.... one of the Mannings? Peyton? Eli? There are prestigious bowl games that area always in the same city every year.

What about Steve Young? He was the subject of rumours back in the day.

Jim Courier is a very likely guess. I remember Monica Seles essentially outing him in some interview many, many years ago and then, realizing what she's done she sort of giggled and said "Oops!" or something along those lines.

Why aren't the so-called "reporters" for TMZ all over this?

Greg Norman

[quote]Monica Seles allegedly outed Jim Courier at a press conference in Canada. She was talking about learning to speak French and a reporter asked her if maybe she should get a French-speaking boyfriend to help her learn. Monica laughed and replied, "Yeah, like Jim Courier." For the record, Jim had a French girlfriend who did help him learn French.

Aaron Rodgers will find himself in a similar situation one day.

Andy Roddick? Might be too young though.

No one would care if a male tennis player was gay. It’s an elitist liberal sport. Only an athlete in the machismo sports of baseball, football, or hockey would care.

Jim Courier and the police go way back

Either Steve Young or Troy Boy.

Isn’t Steve Young one of *those* Youngs?

If it’s not Andre Agassi my gaydar needs a major tuneup.

Nascar awards Vegas. Dale Jr.

r62 give it up

Good guess, R66. I saw Joonyur with the new wife on some home-renovation show on DIY recently, and I was like, "Wait, DL says ..." LOL

Blind ambiguously says: “Was in the top five”

Agassi was also one of only five players to have won all four grand slam tournaments during his career.

Agassi wasn't *really* involved in tennis since his retirement unless you count that very brief recent stint of trying to coach Djokovic.

Jim Edmonds.

DUH! Come on! You guys are slipping.

Posters who are saying Piazza don't know what they are talking about -- he doesn't fit the blind. He's not "still involved in his sport in different roles" -- he has not taking on any coaching or scouting gigs. (He owns a soccer team in Italy.)

It's clearly not a baseball player. I can't think of any MLB event that occurs in a very large city annually.

John McEnroe

ESPY Awards?

A tennis player, a golfer, or a car racer. Those sports have major annual events always held at the same place.

Scotty Hamilton

troy aikman and id do him rocking bod on him

[quote] His family is from a conservative area and he does not want to hurt them as they were very supportive and helpful to his career when he was growing up.

Among other things Agassi’sfidt coach - for 13 years - was his father. His family still lives in red Nevada

R78. Says family, not parents, Dale Sr. Is dead. Gotta be Jr.

Another vote for Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

r80 yummy thought

I wish it was Jim Edmonds, R71. When I lived in St. Louis, he wouldn't have had to go to a park for some attention. I would have been there, wherever, whenever...

Some of you are so fucking dumb and guessing guys you want to be gay that absolutely don't fit the clues.

Reached the top of his sport several decades ago (20-40 years ago) Was in the top five (rules out football, basketball, baseball and hockey/team sports), has to be an individual sport. Still involved in his sport in different roles His family is from a conservative area Was stopped by a cop in this very large city where a prestigious event in his sport occurs annually. Tennis - US Open in NYC Sham marriage

Agassi also didn't rush into marriage.

It's probably skating, diving or gymnastics. You all are full of wishful thinking with your he-man guesses.

I still say Jim Edmonds.

Fits the timeframe. Was in the top 5 for his field position many times during his career (eight Golden Glove awards). Still involved as a broadcaster. Family lives in conservative areas in California and Missouri. Several prestigious events happen regularly in baseball, although they are usually regional or state-wide in scope; I can guess it's a state event in Missouri around the Cardinals.

Well whom every it is I wish they would out him as they out me. Those bitches.

I see the DL history of wildly and incorrectly guessing at BI's marches on.

It almost has to be a tennis star, and Courier seems(so far) to be the best fit.

There are several reasons why this cannot be a baseball. football or basketball player. But the top reason is that none of them have a true mechanism to quantify exactly who is #1 or even in the top 5 of their sport. Yeah, there is a MVP vote, but that is a popularity contest more than anything. If it were not, LeBron James would have been the MVP for the last 12 years and he has not been. And there is the event in he same city problem. Please don't dwell on that suggestion about the NFL draft. That just makes you look even more clueless than you already do. It is NOT a college bowl game...I'm not sure how that could fit with the clues in any way.

Finally, you do understand what several decades ago means don't you? That means it ain't Troy Aikman, Steve Young or Drew Brees. Nobody is claiming they aren't gay, rather they in no way fir the BI's timeline.

It has to be a tennis player or a golfer, and frankly I do not know of any top golfer from several decades ago who was ever even whispered about for being gay. Yes, there are a couple now, but again, the guesses need to fir the clues dears.

Have all the fun guessing that your heart desires lambs, but stop guessing people who are either still playing or who were playing as far back as 1995.

Any boxers?

Derek Jeter or Michael Phelps.

R90 Are you retarded or just spectacularly obtuse?

When did Michael Phelps last participate in the Olympic Games hon? How about in Rio several years ago?

Does that seem like decades to you?? This applies to Jeter as well.

I have a great idea! Before making a guess, Google the athlete to see when he retired. If it was after 1995, then go on to the next guess.

Steve Young? There was a rumor that he was caught with a guy years ago - I think he got married not long after.

American Pharoah.

Bart Connor

When you say cruising I automatically think Kordell Stewart. But I don't know if the other clues apply.

Unless the wording is purposely off, it can't be a team sport-- there's no "#1" or "top 5" ranking that's not subjective and with sports like football, you'd go even more granular (top 5 linemen, top 5 QBs, etc.)

So probably tennis, golf or car racing

And since it's CDAN, probably complete fiction.

Love you r88

Miss Carl Lewis

Secretariat

Did Carl Lewis ever get married?

Never married and never came out.

George Brett.

There’s a clue in the blind item.

R99 wins

Top Five could mean the top five highest scoring individuals in their sport that year, so please keep speculating wildly about all hot guys in all sports.

Agree with the Jim Courier speculation.

Jim Courier did marry suddenly in August 2010--so he could have been arrested at Wimbledon 2010 (held in July always) and decided to get married right away. I think it was that year he became the Davis Cup coach, so he needed that aura of respectability right away too. I think at the time many people on tennis message boards speculated it was a sham marriage. He was almost brazen in the commentary booth--would talk about male player's bodies openly on TV! In his prime he won 3 or 4 grand slams (French Open I think), and was top of his sport for a long time. He also runs an international tournament for retired pro players over 35 in addition to other tennis organizational duties, so cleaned up his act and has been acting straight for a long time. He more or less outed himself though.

Femmes and sports (SMH)

The problem with that R104, is that it is not the job of most players to "score"

The linebackers in football STOP people from scoring. Ditto hockey goalies.

Pitchers in baseball are usually poor batters and in the AL few of them actually even get up to the plate because DH rule

In basketball, it's the point guards who do most of the scoring, though it's not as cut and dried there, but assists and rebounds matter just as much which is why the highest scoring player in the league isn't necessarily the best.

^^defensive linebackers (because DL and someone will call me out on it)

Citation is a clue for car racing.

I can't believe no one has suggested Keith Hernandez.

He received Gold Glove awards in eleven consecutive seasons, the most by any first baseman in baseball history.

Since then he's been a local broadcaster for Mets games and a studio analyst for MLB.

I had a suspicion way back in the mid-1980s that he was gay when I read his autobiography [italic]If at First[/italic] - something about the way it was written made me think a closet case was writing it.

For one thing, he seemed a bit too concerned about what his father thought about things.

Courier has not only been involved in tennis since his retirement via being a tennis commentator, but he also formed a promotions company that produced and marketed senior tour exhibitions/events.

A team sport player is a much more dramatic choice, but no team sport players can meet the "held in the same city every year" requirement. And, if it's a pro football player, I'd highly doubt college bowl games (which are held in the same place) fulfill that requirement.

Magic Johnson

Troy Aikman. Pro Bowl. Honolulu for the city.

Golfer David Duval ?

"Top Five could mean the top five highest scoring individuals in their sport that year, so please keep speculating wildly about all hot guys in all sports."

I love how all if you bitches are parsing each word of the blind item, as if anyone who works at that gossip website - or follows that site - knows jackshit about any sport OR athlete beyond the names of the guys who have dated a Kardashian or have come out as gay.

Wimbledon. Cottaging in London.

Jim Courier is a good guess. I will never forget when I heard his commentary when he was drooling over Marat Safin many years ago, calling him McSafin or McDreamy or something along that line. Grey's Anatomy was big back then.

I definitely think he got married so he could captain he US Davis Cup team. Coz right after he got married, he was made captain.

He had an apt in the East Village.

I thought Jim Courier immediately. For all you tennis fans, I think I ran into Jan-Michael in dwtn LA this past week. Looks good but face is a bit wonky.

I hope it's the dreamy Ivan Lendl.

No guesses for Derek Jeter?

If he's built like an athlete he's probably not going to be "cruising" unless he's unfortunately busted looking and can't get laid in any other fashion.

[quote] ^^defensive linebackers (because DL and someone will call me out on it)

They are the only kind, there's no such thing as an offensive linebacker. There are offensive and defensive linemen, but all linebackers play on defense.

Seeing this thread for the first time...

So, Sam Champion put his light in Mike's Piazza?

Steve Young...this happened to him before in San Francisco when he played for the 49ers. The team executives paid the restaurant some hush money for them to not tell the media.

Steve Young has been married nearly 20 years, for what it's worth.

Not much, since he’s been with men since his marriage.

John Elway

Jimmy Garoppolo 👍

"For all you tennis fans, I think I ran into Jan-Michael in dwtn LA this past week. Looks good but face is a bit wonky."

I forgot about Gambill. A pure queen. I wish he would have came out during his career, or even after.

Obviously Bruce/Caitlin

I wish Troy Aikman would cruise me in the restroom!

What about that gay guy who married the OC housewife - The St Louis Cardinal guy..Jim something.

Jack Nicklaus.

Oh, please don't tell me my second husband was gay, too!

It's Dick Button!

Johnny Bench. Case closed.

[R91] You are tragic and have been your entire life. I am sorry that your were laughed at and made fun of when you were a child, which contributed to you —lemme guess, in your early 20s—becoming the bitter old queen that you continue to be. No child deserves to experience what you did. Again, I am sorry for that. But now, as an adult, you deserve to be treated the way that you are. You and your bitchiness are to blame. Reread the post... more carefully this time. Then take your own advice. Btw, start accepting the fact that you will continue to be lonely and miserable. You probably cannot change at this point because you have become tbe person I have described.

Derek Jeter? Since when? what rumors have you heard? I've only heard him banging models and college girls (and giving them signed gear as gifts)

r138, there was the Jorge Posada thing.....

Several = at least three, so it's at least 30 years ago = before 1988

Terry Bradshaw.

Event could be hall of fame or draft.

QBs are often ranked.

Barbra Streisand Andre Agassi - 1992 US Open - Barbras Zen Master Statement Interview

Terry Bradshaw doesn't ping AT ALL

Isaiah Thomas.

Brian Boitano.

I thought Courier immediately too. All the clues fit. Tennis players are individually ranked, so top 5 applies, unlike football players and other team sports.

I think it’s Courier as well. That being said, the only way it could be a baseball player would be in reference to the College World Series in Omaha each year. It’s not exactly a large city, but I can see a sting there more than NYC.

I don't know anything about Agassi. But Steffi Graf is not 100% straight for sure!

Arthur Ashe

I could see Agassi and Graf being in a Lavender Marriage. They married some time ago when it was very tough being Out in tennis. And isn't Graf older than AA? Plus there were stories/rumours about AA years ago during Wimbledon parties

I'm going with Agassi or Courier

No one suggested Keith Hernandez, R110, because a.) it's not a baseball player, doesn't fit the clue and b.) he's known to be a huge pussyhound.

DL really knows nothing about sports.

[quote] What is the very large city where a prestigious event occurs yearly?

In football, the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl has been being held in Orlando every year. (It used to held in Honolulu.)

These type of "all-star" sporting events might be considered something more "prestigious" than anything else.

Troy Aikman also fits the recent marriage clue:

Instagram engagement announcement in June 2017. Wedding in September 2017.

Pretty sure Steffi Graf loves to munch carpets. For years, she had a "close friend" who is OUT sitting in her box at tennis matches. not just any match but important finals.

Rennae Stubbs?

My understanding is the faux wedding is not recent. According to the blind it happened years ago during the first cottaging incident

Its Troy Aikmen at the US Open. Thread closed.

Several decades ago is not 10 years or 20 years. OP is referring to someone at least from the 80s if not the 70s. And I know team sports members can be ranked, but this sounds more like an individual sport like golf or tennis.

Billie Jean King

"Several decades ago is not 10 years or 20 years."

It's a gossip blind item. I think 20 years would qualify.

Couple of things I'd like to add to what's already been proposed...Top Five could refer to a basketball player which has five primary players on it's team. So it could be a member of a winning team from the late '80s or the Olympic dream team (1992) that was much ballyhooed.

Second, when you list cities with annual prominent sporting events the Indy 500 and Daytona 500 come to mind. So it could be a top five race car driver from that era. Both cities are fairly conservative so I wouldn't doubt the fuzz busting people caught in a tearoom situation no matter who they were. No idea who in auto racing would fit this blind item.

I love you, R155.

[quote] No one would care if a male tennis player was gay. It’s an elitist liberal sport

I know this blind item is about an older player, but many of the top US male tennis players are Trump-supporters/Deplorables. They don’t come from the traditional East Coast, country club backgrounds that used to be more prevalent in tennis before the 70s.

Blind items = rubbish

[quote] It's not horse racing, obviously.

Neigh!!! Neigh!!! I know for a fact Affirmed like to mount younger stallions. What do you think the “firm” in “Affirmed” referred to?

Since it's listed as a "Reader Blind Item," it's very likely somebody at DL made it up.

Courier seems to be the popular choice. The thing that seems off about it the description is that Courier was the No. 1 player in the world for most of '92-'93. It seems odd that he would be described as a "former Top 5" player. Accurate, sure, but not as dramatic or meaningful as "former No. 1".

r161, die in a grease fire, it could not mean that. Please take everyone with you who has also guessed the person was on a team sport.

R168, you seem a bit too invested in this thread. Simmer down.

Courier grew up in Dade City, FL - talk about conservative. It's ANITA BRYANT ville conservative.

Courier was one of the least admired top-ranked players ever. Nobody ever gushed over his talent the way they would with Sampras, Agassi, Becker, and later Federer.

Courier was a hard worker who made the most of what he had. He didn't have the charisma of Agassi or the power of Sampras, but he was well liked. Always thought he was the hottest of all those players and he's grown into a very sexy man in his late 40's. If it's him, I'm not surprised. When he married the Asian lady , they sat prominently together in the stands of the US Open - very strange and part of the campaign to get him the Davis Cup captaincy. He should have gotten it before Johnny Mac's little brother did. Courier was a Davis Cup mainstay who rarely refused to play (unlike Agassi or Sampras).

Courier makes perfect sense. Fits all the “facts” in the BI, plus many of the things that others have already written up-thread all point to Courier as a closet case.

I remember the Maupin episode, and remember thinking at the time that you would’t come across Maupin in your mid- to late twenties unless you were either gay or a voracious reader, and Courier certainly didn’t strike me as the latter. I also remember thinking how odd it was, towards the end of his career (when he was in free-fall and seemingly uninterested in putting in the hard yakka to win titles), that his answer to the question of why he didn’t seem all that into tennis any more was “I discovered sex.”

Oh, and for the DLer above who said that Courier was never admired as a tennis player—granted, he was never lionized the way Sampras and Federer have been, but he certainly made spectators gasp when he clobbered his forehand. His forehand was so ferocious it made the ball bleed, and was spectacularly efficacious when he won his two French Opens and two Australian Open wins.

He was also the subject of many of my juvenile wank sessions, which is proof of nothing except that I’m really into gingers.

R63 What's interesting about that news report on Courier's 1999 DUI is the where, when, and why. It happened on the University of Georgia campus. It was 2:30 in the morning. And his agent said he was in Athens to visit a friend. So apparently whatever he was dong 450 miles from where he lived at the time (Orlando) wasn't tennis-related.

On the hunt for college cock?

Jan Michael Gambil?>

Is jan michael gambill a top?

Michael Jordan

R137 You are so on point! Your knack for breaking it down is second to none!

I am a 46 year old woman who is married to a very well known and successful sports agent/atty.

Please continue to dazzle us with your powers of discernment while deconstructing a few more commenters.

R176 Oooooh I hope so! I'll let them both play doubles with me! And hand ball too.

Nominees for the Data Lounge Hall of Fame laughable guesses to sports related blind items:

1. Derek Jeter barely retired

2. Dale Earnhardt Jr. see Jeter

3. Brew Brees still playing and father to many children while in an uber Xtian marriage

Honorable Mention:

Michael Phelps if you need to ask....

Thanks for the laughs my DL brethren, and I really don't mean to be a bitch about the lack of accuracy in sports knowledge by most of you. Now you know how I feel when in a thread about interior design or even clothing. I will look at a Tasteful Friends thread and think, "That's really nice. I could move right in," only to have the next 10 comments eviscerate the furnishings for their horridly incorrect scale, cheap materials and bougie attempt to look "classy."

Special apology to R137 who tagged me as an elderly queen who was abused by others as a child. Who knew that was how I come across??

R178, bitch you need to sit your ass down. Instead of being on this site maybe you should tend to your successful sports agent/atty bc he's probably cheating on your shriveled ass with a twenty year old.

Let me ask you a question R181: why the fuck are you on this site now instead of tending to YOUR business?

Babe, if he wants 20 year old ass, he can have at it. I have as much as I can handle as is.

What did r178 say? I must have him/her blocked, the post isn't showing up for me.

Agassi dated Barbra's son Jason when they were seen together. It was all a coverup.

R182, bitch it's a site for gays that why. Take your ass to TMZ!

R173, are you Australian? Just curious.

Brady Anderson

Brucella

This is like one of those '10 gays you didn’t know were celebrities' lists

Aikman. He married his secretary to stay on the DL.

Prestigious event can only mean Hall of Fame and that would be something like a Cooperstown. So Baseball for sure. . They often have former players as coaches, and managers. But then they say "top 5" so which sport annually ranks players that way? There's Tennis, and Basketball. Those are my 3 choices. If we investigate I'll just bet the person comes from one of those worlds.

God these threads, all that ever happens is everyone names every athlete ever born we never find out who it really is.

Read the post - several decades ago - so at least 30 years ago, so the 1990s era. Reaching the top of his sport and being in the top 5 as well - that would exclude football or baseball, they don't rank players like that. So, Golf or Tennis. Prestigious event held every year in the same city, US Open in NYC or The Masters tournament in Agusta Georgia. (the golf US open is played in various cities). Again this is if it is US centric. If we are talking the world it opens up the field to more options.

Pete Sampras is out - he got married in 2000, been married for 19 years. Agassi married Steffi Graf in 2001 so no quikie there. My guess is Jim Courier.

This guy

Babe Ruth

Eric Heiden

R15, what incident with Sam Champion?

R194, I was just about to post his name!

carl lewis but I don't think he got married.

He didn't. He has a boyfriend called Derek however (not Jeter).