It's liberating not to have to root for Milton Bradley anymore.

Yo! I was actually going to congrat your bro for a slog sports thread, but this seems like a better venue. Everything over there is like "wait, there are 2 giants? What sport is that?"

When are we going to get the full "I told you so" treatment on Bradley? C'mon man, it's like your promised land on the internet. Grab the bull by the horn and give us 250 words of beatdown. It's your right.

@ 2, given that Silva went down the tubes faster than Milt, I would personally hold back on that if I were CF. (Of course, this is CF's decision, not mine, but why not give my 2¢?)

I'm glad to see some of this entering pro sports. The Giants thing is arguably the biggest, but we've already seen one hockey player (Sean Avery of the Rangers) supporting marriage equality, as well as these stories hitting on the same day. It will be cool to see some of the gay pros (and there have to be some of them out there) finally come out - while they're still playing, not years after they retire, if ever.

@3 shhh. Quit messing with my retort.

Sorry Wisepunk, Silva gave them a fantstic (albeit quite brief) stretch of games last year. Was receiving all-star consideration, as crazy as that sounds.

Milton... not so much (though I actually enjoyed rooting for him. I've always gotten the impression that he's probably an OK guy, except for being batshit insane. I hope as soon as they're all retired they do a "big brother" style reality show where they just lock him, Ron Artest, Chad OchoCinco and maybe a couple chimpanzees in a small, secured room for a couple weeks. I'd watch every waking second of that.)

Ben Cohen quits rugby in favor of his anti-bullying, anti-homophobia foundation:

http://www.planet-rugby.co.za/story/0,25…

Remember the A's trading away Ethier for Bradley? That's gotta be one of the most "kick yerself till ya can't kick no more" moments ever for Billy Beane. I just don't get Bradley, he's got loads of talent but would much rather be a jerk.

Actually I guess my post would be directed more toward Matt, rather than Wisepunk, who probably WOULD be justified & deserving of some gloat time. Though Cubs continuing to suck is also good news. And I whole-heartedly agree that the first openly gay, active pro in a major sport will be beyond huge. Though inevitable, I still feel like it's probably quite a ways off.

How about that, rob! I saw the article in NYT a couple days ago that mentioned Cohen's retirement almost in passing. It focused on Cohen's anti-bullying foundation and also a young U.S. wrestler, a former All-American now coaching at Columbia, adding to the number of straight athletes fighting anti-gay bullying. Look at the photo of them together. Hummina hummina...
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011…

Oh yeah, Hudson Taylor. That's a great image, Gus; thanks. It can't only be that we're aware they are working against bullying and homophobia--they just flat LOOK like the softest-hearted big brudders a bunch of queer kids ever had. The eyes, maybe.

@ 3 - The Giants thing is way bigger, I think, just given the respective popularities of MLB and the NHL.

@ 8, I'm a Rockies fan, so it was fun watching the fallout of the trade either way. (I do remember Silva's hot streak - it made me wonder if Silva had had runs like that in the past, because his annual stats were all so "career fifth starter" that I couldn't figure out why the M's gave him that contract in the first place.)

@ 11, no doubt. Still, it might be the beginning of a trend in one section of society that's known for encouraging homophobia and bullying.