Quote: (04-13-2013 06:24 PM)MikeCF Wrote:
Haven't read the thread so maybe someone already brought this up.
But you guys know "Magic" was bisexual himself, right?
Locals back in the day saw him coming out of many a gay bar.
This was before the era of sports blogs and 24/7 news.
Just like most guys don't know that Michael Jordan was an asshole, had a gambling problem, ripped people off, welched on bets, etc.
Sports reporters didn't touch stories like that and without blogs like TMZ trying to get page views, you didn't get info like that.
Its a different culture now for sure.
Back in the day athletes did have a type of local bubble going on in their lives. People like Jordan could cheat and hustle people and do a lot of reckless shit and the people whom were privy to his life and we're paid to report on his life (the press) kind of just kept it hush hush and quiet. Michael Wilbon talked about this one time because at the end of the day people like MJ are feeding you and paying your bills. You need to maintain that positive relationship and access and do build up a type of relationship with these athletes be it personal or strictly on a business level. So if the press here rumours about X player doing shady stuff, back in the day it was not smart for them to leak it out. Nowadays though with everybody fighting for headlines and buzz your better off to throw athletes under the bus and thus why many are more guarded now then in the past.
That is the thing I heard rumours about Magic swinging both ways way back from people whom grew up in LA in those days. People say it was common knowledge but people just kind of just looked the other way on it. Being in LA with the West cost attitude helps, if Magic played in Boston, NYC, or some smaller Mid-west town people would make a big deal about it because they are not as tolerant.