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GAY SAN DIEGO August 12–25, 2011
SPORTS/ENTERTAINMENT JEFF PRAUGHT DUGOUT CHATTER
Relay for Life
n Saturday, August 6th, San Diego hosted “Relay For Life,” a charitable race event in Coronado to raise funds for cancer research. The American Cancer Society holds similar events in other locations through- out the county on other dates, such as Seaport Village and North County, but I am writing about this event because I have a personal connection to some of the folks who participated. Fourteen teams “competed,” if you will, to become the top fundraiser for this event. Several friends of mine, whom I have grown close to through our shared participation in America’s Finest City Softball League (AFC- SL), created “24 For 21” to honor the memory of our dear friend Wyatt Strehlow, who succumbed to cancer in March after a long battle. Included in the team were members of Wyatt’s family and friends, who traveled from Utah to be here for the event, as well as Josh Tucker (Baja Betty’s Sin Nombre), Anthony Johnson (one of my former Sin Nombre play- ers and now a member of Eden Firestorm), Roman Jimenez (my co-manager of Sin Nombre and manager/player for World Series- bound Flicks Lawmen), and Ben Broyles (Hey Kool Aid). Wyatt’s former roommate Robert Gregg was part of the team, too. I have written about Wyatt in this space in previous months, as
O
Team 24 For 21 was formed in honor of the late Wyatt Strehlow.
Photography by Efren Vergara.
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Coronado, where he re-joined his team and spent the night walking to honor the memory of Wyatt and the luminaria being recognized by 24 For 21. “Taking part in the relay to
he is just one of many players in AFCSL who have been taken from us due to cancer. It is not uncom- mon for full teams and leagues to band together and help their breth- ren when they become stricken with illness, and this is one of the greatest aspects of being apart of the local leagues here. The games on the field matter, but it is the people who make it special. Whether involved in LGBT
sports leagues or not, most know someone who has been lost to this dreaded disease, which is, in my opinion, the worst on the planet. I have lost an aunt and a step-father, yet have also seen my mother survive breast cancer. The Betty’s
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softball team has recently discov- ered that one of its own is going through his own battle. As Tucker likes to say (and we all think it), “cancer SUCKS!” Anyway, back to 24 For 21. The guys walked on Wyatt’s behalf at Glorietta Bay Park in Coronado beginning at 10 a.m. The event is a 24-hour “race” where members of each team circle the track. At least one member of each team is supposed to be circling at all times, though 24 For 21 was the only team seen on the track at 3:00 a.m. That drive is symbolic of a group of folks I have come to love as friends, and who ended up raising more money online
FROM PAGE 17 HOLLYWOOD
from police, Seyfried must find and confront the killer. No word on which character Moennig will play (The kidnapped sister? The killer? A cop? The clue-giving woman at Dunkin Donuts?), but it sounds just like the kind of popcorn thriller audiences eat right up. Well played, Shane.
CYNTHIA NIXON CONQUERS WORLD WITHOUT END It’s apparently a boom time for fantasy on television, and we’re not just talking about Real Housewives who think people can’t tell that they’ve had plastic surgery. “Game of Thrones” was
than anyone in the event. Overall, 24 For 21 took in over $4,000 in donations, the third-highest total behind a rotary club and a martial arts organization.
Making Jimenez’s efforts even
more remarkable to me—and he would never say it himself—is that during that 24-hour period, he drove to Mission Hills to assist me with a huge fundraiser we were co-hosting. And his pres- ence at our fundraiser was not just a stand-around deal. He was manning a grill and dealing with 75 hungry folks, all while coordi- nating staffers and having to deal with me on a stressed-out after- noon. He then scampered back to
a big hit for HBO, and Starz’s “The Pillars of the Earth” mini- series did well enough to spawn a sequel, “World Without End.” Tea Party types may be thrilled to know that “World,” set 200 years after “Pillars,” deals with ordinary people rebelling against the high taxes from the King and the Church of England (not to mention a little thing called the Black Plague), but those same conservatives may be less excited about the fact that proud lesbian and vocal gay-marriage advocate Cynthia Nixon has been cast in a lead role. The impressive ensemble also includes Miranda Richardson, Ben Chaplin and Peter Firth, under the direction of Michael Caton-Jones (“Rob Roy”), and will be premiering on Starz in 2012.
honor my friend Wyatt and his struggle was, for me, intensely personal,” said Jimenez. “I went there because losing him four months ago still hurts so very much to this day, and there’s nothing tangible I can do about it. I can’t take the cancer away. I can’t bring him back. But I can walk. So his closest friends and family all gathered together on a beach in Coronado on a beautiful Saturday morning, and we walked, for 24 hours, to honor our friend, and the commitment we made to all those who donated to our cause.” Again, most of us know some-
one who has been afflicted by this wretched disease. The story of 24 For 21 can be told a thousand times over if you change the names. The generosity of people in America can be second-to-none. And just because Relay For Life, Coronado is over for 2011, there is no reason we cannot continue to donate whatever we are able, through the American Cancer Society. 24 For 21 affects me because
these are my friends, as was Wyatt, and also because my fam- ily was listed among the lumi- naria by my dear friends. And the 21? That was Wyatt’s jersey number.t
REALITY BITES LOGO All current signs point to Logo straying the tiniest bit away from its LGBT roots with an eye to snagging more single—and presumably heterosexual—female view- ers, who have apparently been drawn in by shows like “Drag U” and “1 girl 5 gays.” The channel’s upcoming slate of reality shows seems to bear that out, with titles like “Big Loud Lisa” (a reality show about newlywed stand-up comic Lisa Lampanelli going on the road with her husband) and “Design My Dog,” which will pair up four dog owners with fashion designers to create canine couture. Also on deck is “Ballet Beach,” about a dance troupe in Miami Beach stretching their physi- cal and emotional limits, along with the Carol Leifer sitcom “Out in the Burbs.” Leifer’s not the only TV vet (she was a “Seinfeld” writer and co- producer) behind these new shows: “Lisa” comes from Chelsea Handler’s production company, “Dog” has the back- ing of “America’s Next Top Model” mogul Ken Mok, and “Ballet” will be co-produced by former NBC president Ben Silverman. But frankly, if any of these beat “The A-List: Dal- las,” “The A-List: Los Angeles” and “The A-List: Freeport, Maine” to the air, then a grave injustice will have been done to television.t
—Romeo San Vicente never bites; he devours. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndi-
cate.com.
gay-sd.com
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