Published on www.nextmagazine.net, October 12, 2010.
SCENE + HEARD: Former NBA player John Amaechi Goes a Few Rounds at Boxers.
Written by Jeff Kagan
Boxers NYC keeps reeling in those athletes, from rugged ruggers to hottie hockey hunks. Last night, the new Chelsea sports bar was graced with an appearance by a professional athlete, none other than John Amaechi, former Center for the Utah Jazz and the first NBA player to speak publicly about being gay.
At 6’10” and 270 lbs. he was quite easy to find in the bar – just look up. We found him surrounded by five beautiful women (who must have followed him in). Many of the boys in the bar needed some time to build up the courage to approach him, but after seeing his big welcoming smile, he was surrounded again. He signed autographs and took photos with many of the bar’s patrons.
“Beautiful bar men, good drinks,” are his initial thoughts of the locale. “We tend not to have sports bars (in the UK), necessarily, because, in fairness, our sports bars, anybody can go to them already, so this is kind of meeting a need for them here that we’ve already met in the UK. We have lots of different types of bars there, but not ones showing rows and rows of football.”
And what’s a bar without a little drag… or drag queen. Clover Honey was on hand for photos and pleasant ambiance. She helped gather up all of the hot bartenders for a stunning photo with the tall baller.
Included in Amaechi’s entouage were DJ Ben Harvey and Comedian Dave Rubin of “The Six Pack with Ben Harvey and Dave Rubin, the top gay podcast on iTunes. Amaechi and Rubin joked about spending Sunday afternoon at Chelsea Piers where Amaechi watched Rubin’s basketball game with the NYC Gay Basketball League. Rubin boasted that he’d shoot five 3-pointers, but only produced one. Amaechi smiled and uttered the very simple statement, “It’s just putting a ball in a hole."
“For me it’s always an entertaining thing to watch people play for fun because although as a professional athlete you might have fun playing, but you don’t play for fun. It’s a big fundamental difference. So, I really like watching people for whom it means so much just because they love it,” Amaechi said.
And speaking of fun, we asked Amaechi some fun questions, and here are some answers: He is currently single. He lives in London, but travels to the States every few months. Does he have a type? “No, it's such an American question,” he laughs. “I try not to restrict myself that way. I've dated all across the spectrum.” Boxers or briefs? He answered, “Neither…” but then continued with, “boxer briefs” followed by that contagious smile.
Amaechi is appearing at the LGBT Community Center on Tuesday night where he and Sue Wicks (former WNBA player) will be speaking on their transition from professional athlete to community advocate and how they leveraged their celebrity in support of LGBT causes.
