PHOTO: The official Oregon State University student newspaper ran a story and an opinion piece on the new uniform design for OSU sports. See article by Warner Strausbaugh, "'Rebranding' of OSU athletics unveiled," OSU Barometer, March 5, 2013, p. 1 and opinion piece by Alex Crawford, "Column: OSU uniforms combine old with new," OSU Barometer, Mar. 2013.
Casual readers of this blog attacked me the last time I called something "so gay," even though I did not intend the term to be an insult. I figure it is worth trying again to take back this phrase by using it again in this post -- please don't beat me!
The reason I call the new uniform's fashion to be "so gay" is because historically fashion and fashion designers have been assumed to be gay and totally the opposite of macho football players who are assumed to be paragons of flaming heterosexuality. Despite this historical stereotype, OSU has had a few famous and macho gay football players over the last century.
PHOTO: student George Hastings (top row, left) and the 1910 football team at Oregon Agricultural College (former name of Oregon State University) as pictured in "The 1912 Orange" yearbook, p. 159. Hastings associated with gay men arrested in Portland. See my previous posts Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," outhistory.org posted April 30, 2010 and OSU gay football player 1908 (6/19/08) and Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," outhistory.org posted April 30, 2010.
PHOTO: Former NFL player Esera Tuaolo comes out as gay on the cover of The Advocate. ("Tackling football's closet," By Bruce C. Steele, The Advocate, Nov. 26, 2002, cover story, pp. 3, 30-39) At Oregon State, he won the Morris Trophy as a junior, awarded to the Pacific-10's top defensive lineman. In 1990, the Green Bay Packers drafted him in the second-round, 35th overall. He played nine years in the NFL with five teams, competing in Super Bowl XXXIII for the Atlanta Falcons, who lost 34-19 to the Denver Broncos. (See my previous posts Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," outhistory.org posted April 30, 2010, Gay OSU Beavers history (1/28/09), OSU Esera Tuaolo gay football star (8/12/06) and OSU gay sports panel (10/17/08) about a front-page newspaper story by Tom Henderson, "Panel: Fear still a foe for gay athletes, Former NFL player, two local coaches cite safety worries," Gazette-Times, Oct. 17, 2008, p. A1. A7)
See my previous posts:
- OSU Esera Tuaolo in BusinessWeek coming out story (3/8/11)
- OSU Esera Tuaolo gay football star (8/12/06)
- OSU gay football player 1908 (6/19/08)
- OSU gay sports panel (10/17/08)
- OSU Esera Tuaolo GLBT History Month 2009 icon (7/28/10)
- Thomas Kraemer, "Corvallis, Oregon State University gay activism 1969-2004," outhistory.org
UPDATE Mar. 6, 2013
PHOTO: Political cartoon about Beaver logos and uniforms throughout history by Jack Compere, "Predicting the Future," Gazette-Times editorial cartoonist, currently printed in the alt. weekly "Corvallis Advocate," in the Willamette Valley of Oregon corvallisvanities.blogspot.com posted Mar. 5, 2013. Also see Staff, "Editorial: New Beaver logo draws sharp response," Gazette-Times posted Mar. 6, 2013, which says, "The dark ones look especially good - better than the uniforms of a certain team to the south that has more uniform changes from game to game than the traveling troupe of the Ice Capades. . . . And if you notice a fanciful swoosh as part of his 2020 incarnation, it reflects the speculation over how much Nike -- which designed the new look of uniforms, helmets and logo -- strictly controlled the official rollout Monday. The question is whether that kind of control means it is Nike and not OSU that is controlling the OSU brand." I assume the editor's oblique sissy Ice Capades reference is to that sissy University of Oregon Duck team.
