Friday Blogdome: British soccer players refuse to appear in anti-homophobia ad

There are no options for gay footballers. It’s no surprise that homophobia is prevalent in sports (and moreso in men’s sports), but the Football Association had appeared to be making steps in the right direction. The FA had hired advertising/marketing agency Ogilvy to produce an anti-homophobia ad as part of the “Kick It Out” campaign, but things have not gone according to plan. When Ogilvy suggested that maximum impact would come from having prominent players appear in the ad, the players and their agents declined to participate forcing a quick change of plans. [Unprofessional Foul]

* Ten Questions With Mark Zuckerman, The Nats Blogger Who Raised $5,000 in a Day. Zuckerman, you see, was one of many who lost his job when The Washington Times axed its sports department. Frustrated by the job market and seeing a gap in coverage, he created a new Nats blog, Nats Insider, on February 1. On February 8, Monday, he asked his readers and anyone else to give him $5,000, enough money to cover the expense of going to Florida to cover Nats Spring Training. He reached his goal in a day. [Mr. Irrelevant
* Japanese Speedskater Miho Takagi's G-String Sticks Out in Her Outfit. Over the next few weeks we'll be exposed to athletes who will be the most important people on Earth. Three weeks from now, we'll forget 99% of them. That doesn't mean it's too early to familiarize yourself with some of these athletes you'll soon forget. One of whom is Japanese speedskater Miho Takagi who wore a see-through outfit to a training session, one that shows her underwear -- a G-String. [Larry Brown Sports]
* Minnesota’s Pat Neshek receives the worst fan letter of all time. Neshek also the league’s best blogger and check out the fan letter gem he posted on Thursday. I’m surprised he wasn’t ordered to fetch signatures Harmon Killebrew and TC Bear as well as deepfry a few walleyes-on-a-stick while he was at it. [Big League Stew]
* Swimsuit models stop Strip traffic. The 2010 Sports Illustrated swimsuit models literally stopped traffic Wednesday on the Strip for a re-creation of The Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road pose. Joining them in the southbound lane in front of The Mirage was Mayor Oscar Goodman, the Ringo Starr of mayors. There was no way Goodman was going to miss this opportunity to beat the drums for Las Vegas. [Vegas Confidential]
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