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GAY SAN DIEGO October 8-October 21, 2010
SPORTS men of
the San Diego Tennis Federation defeated San Fran- cisco and Los Angeles to claim the California Cup 2010 title during the tournament’s 25th anniversary. The Cup featured each city’s top 24 players in a two-day compe- tition, with 24 singles matches on Saturday, Oct. 2, and 24 doubles matches on Sunday, Oct. 3. Over the years, San Diego
DUGOUT CHATTER L
with Jeff Praught
GBT history was made this month at the Barnes Tennis Center in Point Loma as the
Brad Hasper winning his singles match for the good guys. Still, down by four points
hasn’t always fared so well, receiving its last win in 2007—the last time the locals hosted the tournament—and before that in 1989. During the months of practice leading up to this year’s event, co-Captain Scott Williford wasn’t certain that his team would fare well. “We’d been practicing for six to seven months, but we lost a lot of players due to injury or drop- ping out,” he said. “It didn’t look good.”
But things changed on the eve of the Cup, when Williford told his team at the Cal Cup Party, in front of the San Fran- cisco and Los Angeles teams, that they were going to win by one point. He was right. Day One featured 24 singles matches, and San Diego ended the day down by four points—a deficit no team had ever come back from in the 25 years of the competition. San Diego player Eugene Berg said one of the most inspirational moments of the first day was 62-year-old
FROM PAGE 1 SUICIDES
after enduring repeated antigay bullying. “As soon as there was more than one suicide the number of calls to The Center from youth and adults who had been bullied as youths skyrocketed,” said Dr. Delores Jacobs, The Center’s Executive Director. “The Hillcrest Youth Center is doing their best
heading into Sunday, things looked bleak. The deficit re- mained the same as the day went on, necessitating a sweep of the remaining L.A. games, which is exactly what happened. Holding a 30-29 edge over Los Angeles, the doubles team of Daniel Lee and Jeff Worthington pulled off another stunner. The boys rallied from a 5-7 and 1-4 deficit in the second set to pull off 5-7, 7-5 and 6-4 victories that clinched the 31st and winning point of the Cup. Berg described the emotional scene: “There were tears every- where,” he said. “Everyone was hugging each other, jumping up and down and yelling. It was just an exciting moment for everyone.” The team will be celebrating
its historic victory on Thursday at Flicks, revisiting the exciting moments of its fifth Cal Cup title. For Williford, who founded the event 25 years ago, it was as memorable as any.
“[Co-Captain Romeo Matias]
and I were both in tears,” Wil- liford said. “I’ve never been more honored to be the captain of a team. We usually have an MVP but this year the whole team was the MVP.”
Final Score: San Diego 31, Los Angeles 30 and San Francisco 11 For more information on the San Diego Tennis Federation, visit
sdtf.org.
to talk to folks about what’s hap- pening, make them aware of their options, the policies that do exist and ways they can sort of reclaim their rights not to be bullied and harassed.” According a 2009 school
climate survey conducted by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Educa- tion Network (GLSEN), of more than 7,200 students ages 13-21 surveyed, 85 percent experienced verbal harassment or threats due to their sexual orientation. Another 72 percent reported
www.gay-sd.com
Local tennis players pull off biggest comeback in Cal Cup History Autumn Classic
Also in the world of local LGBT
sports, the 27th annual Autumn Classic softball tournament comes to town this weekend. More than 80 teams will be competing in D, C, B and Women’s divisions. Most of the teams are from California, but some are traveling from as far away as Seattle, Houston and Philadelphia. The women play in Poway, along with the Open B division. Open D will be in Mira Mesa, and the Open C games are split among Hourglass Park (Mira Mesa) and the fields in Santee. For times, locations and more informa- tion, visit
autumnclassic.org.
Padres fans, where’s the love? What a brutal way for the
Padres’ 2010 season to end: get- ting shut out on the final day of the season in a must-win game. A six-and-one-half game lead in late August—gone, just like that. It was a 10-game losing streak that forced Padres players to defend themselves and explain why they really are a good ballclub. Sure, the Padres futility on
offense was maddening. And it felt like an achievement of historic pro- portions for the team to score more than one run. Hell, they lost two 1-0 games to the dreadful Cubs late in September, when they HAD to win. What the last depressing month of the season showed me is that there are two types of Padres fans: the loyal-to-the- end optimists, and the casual haters. In general, I wouldn’t say Padres fans are particu- larly baseball-savvy (sorry, but that’s my take). But you don’t need to be savvy to be passion- ate. Many Padres fans are, but many are not.
Petco Park was home to
frequently hearing slurs such as “faggot” or “dyke” used at school, and 53 percent reported being the victims of cyber-bullying via electronic mediums such as e- mail, text messages and MySpace postings.
The Center and a coalition
of parents, students, educators, law enforcement and community organizations will hold a rally and vigil in response to the suicides on Oct. 17 from 6 to 7 p.m. on the San Diego Unified Eugene Brucker Education Center lawn,4100 Normal St. in Hillcrest. The rally is being organized to demand that San Diego schools act immediately to ensure a safe, supportive learning environment for students that is free of harass- ment and intimidation.
The Center is working with
San Diego Unified Schools Superintendent Bill Kowba and board president Richard Bar- rera to introduce a safe schools resolution on Oct. 12 at 5 p.m. in the school district’s auditorium at 4100 Normal St. in Hillcrest. According to Center staff, the
resolution is hoped to establish a “clear, uniform and widely
accessible complaint process for students who’ve been victims of bullying,” as well as parents, teachers and school administra- tors who witness incidents of bul- lying. The resolution is expected to include employee training and education on the impact of bullying on academic success and ways to intervene, as well as the designation of a district staff member to handle and oversee the complaints. “There is absolutely no
excuse, nor defense for bullying, anytime, anywhere,” Superin- tendent Kowba told Gay San Diego. “The most recent tragedy that came across last week or so ... the Rutgers college student, I couldn’t believe it. I have no (idea) how deep and serious that issue must be on the Rutgers campus to date. I can only guess.”
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Though Kowba said he didn’t “know enough about” Gay- Straight Alliance groups to gauge whether the supportive, faculty- led groups could have any effect on antigay student attitudes, Kowba said he agrees that LGBT students should have an outlet to deal with the specific challenges they face.
Kowba met with Jacobs at The Center in early September to discuss ways to create a safer environment for LGBT students. “We should have a campus setting where if a student is com- ing to grips with their identity, they can go talk to someone or be referred to some expert who can assist,” Kowba said. “That’s where I think we want to explore options with Dr. Jacobs. She and- or her staff would really be the subject matter experts to ensure we know what we’re doing and how to do it in the most effective and, I think, sensitive way pos- sible.”
Jacobs said she felt her meet- ing with Kowba was fruitful. “I felt like he heard us,” she
said. “He took the time to really listen to the facets of the problem. I think he got it.
see Suicides, pg 22
(top, l to r) Cal Cup Captains Ron Tal (San Francisco), Romeo Matias and Scott Williford (San Diego) and Nabil Najjar (Los Angeles); (bottom) the San Diego Cal Cup team “reaches for the Cup” after their stunning come-from-behind vic- tory over Los Angeles. (Photos courtesy Scott Williford)
17 games in September and, except for a four-game series with San Francisco early in the month, most of those contests were scarcely populated. Gi- ants fans took over Petco dur- ing that series. This begs the question, then:
Why weren’t Padres fans support- ing their team during the stretch run, especially given how much
better this season was compared to the dreadful campaigns of 2008 and 2009? Was it because they didn’t really believe San Diego was this good? Was it the economy? Are the Padres really this good but painful to watch? To read the rest of this week’s installment of Dugout Chatter and weigh in on the Pads’ fair-weather fan dilemma, visit
gay-sd.com.
San Diegans for Safe Schools rally and vigil WHEN 6 to 7 p.m. Oct. 17
WHERE San Diego Unified Eugene Brucker Education Center lawn, 4100 Normal St. in Hillcrest
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