Joe Torre’s been taking plenty of heat for his tell-all “The Yankee Years”, and his role in other books, for that matter, but one of the things that came out of his inevitable media slobbing to tout the tome was a rather noble gesture, and one that, to the best of our knowledge, hasn’t been taken up by any other notable sports celebrities: He’s advocating gay players come out of the closet.

When Torre was on LARRY KING LIVE, one viewer wrote in asking if he saw a time in the future where gay players, like Billy Bean, wouldn’t have to wait until retiring to come out of the closet. Torre’s answer was pretty unequivocal, and unwavering: He hopes they can already.

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We’re not suggesting European soccer has a bit of trouble enforcing its goals of respect and mutual understanding between countries, cultures, and ethnicities, but governing football bodies can’t even hold up a punishment for blatant racism that everyone seemingly agrees on.

(Joe Jackson was right; it’s different for girls.  Isn’t that right, Natasha Kai?)

So when former footie star Paul Elliott claims at least a dozen current English soccer players are homosexual and should be encouraged to make a mass outing as part of the FA’s attempt to squelch homophobia, we support the notion but wonder if “safety in numbers” implies that maybe it’s not quite safe to do so yet.
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