Sunday, June 07, 2009
Sports, "Hunt's Grunts"

On love and respect

Plus the Sportopia Hometown Fan of the Week

By Hunt Archbold

Sometimes you never know where you’ll end up on a birthday. Three years ago, I found myself at a party in Clarkston that featured “Night of the Living Dead” being projected on the side of a garage. There were also about a dozen or so Atlanta Rollergirls in attendance, the kind of rowdy and tawdry chicks who would grab you by the collar, pull you in for a long, hard kiss, and then sucker-punch you in the gut before taking a swig of brown liquor—similar to what Nathan R. Johnson’s daredevil biker lover Patty did to him in “The Jerk.” Not me, though, since I fell asleep under a tree mid-flick.

Two weeks have elapsed since I celebrated another birthday. Without a whole lot of fanfare—or booze, for that matter—I dined with my recently sober stepsister and 10 of her fellow non-drinking friends. Sarcastically speaking, it was truly a night to roll out the barrel, and not the kind that helped produce the moonshine so prevalent in early NASCAR mythology. Yes, while the corn liquor in my freezer allows me to see through concrete walls and transforms me into the funniest dude on the planet, the way of the bottle was the wrong route for these folks.

I have never seen my stepsister more at peace with herself than she is now, and I couldn’t be happier for her. No, it won’t be easy, but it’s a path she and countless others have chosen to take. One of those is Anne Barr, who on June 6 celebrated eight years of sobriety, just four days after turning 50. Those were just two highlights of a monumental week for Barr, the founder of the Decatur Women’s Sports League, which now, in its third year, boasts more than 1,000 members playing six sports, including softball.

“I asked for God to help me, and he did,” Barr told me by phone last week. “We have just been so blessed. We keep dreaming and we keep moving forward. What we’re shooting for is to have a sports complex in the city of Decatur for everyone to play.”

Through league fees and other methodos, the organization has raised more than $26,000 for the Atlanta Lesbian Health Initiative. Yes, 85 percent of the members of Barr’s league are gay, but the Church Christ Covenant member and philanthropist strongly encourages women athletes of all sexuality, age and skill level to participate.

“Until we all try to understand each other, we’re not going to learn,” says the Decatur native, who was a three-sport standout at Lakeside High.

These sentiments were echoed recently by Gene Robinson, who more than five years ago became the first openly gay bishop in the 2.4 million-member Episcopal Church. The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire delivered a speech here in late March, sponsored by Emory University’s Center for the Study of Laws & Religion. In a wide-ranging interview with Southern Voice, Robison touched upon many topics, including why gays can’t ignore religion.

“Yes, I think religion could do everyone good, but my argument is not that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have to be religious,” he said. “But even if they are not religious, they have to pay attention to the religious movements. … God’s love is for all God’s children and no one is excluded from that love.”

Many Christian denominations view homosexuality as a sin based upon their interpretation of Biblical scripture. One verse in Corinthians lists homosexuals amng those who won’t inherit the kingdom of God, along with the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers and swindlers.

It just seems foolish to play God and pass judgment on others, when the bathroom mirror reveals that we all fall so very short in turning away from sin.

Barr is a stand-up individual who has been recognized by Gov. Sonny Perdue, the Georgia House of Representatives and the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, among others, for the Decatur Women’s Sports League’s charitable works. And while she’s returned to the ball fields this week, she was on her honeymoon last week when we spoke.

In a ceremony performed in a gazebo near the downtown Decatur courthouse on the last Saturday in May, Barr publicly recognized her love and commitment for her partner. “We wanted to do it before God and everybody,” she said. “Sometimes, you have to stand up for what’s right.”

Now that’s a birthday week she’ll never forget.

Happy times … and have you ever seen an Atlanta Rollergirl sporting the Opti-Grab on the bridge of her nose? SP

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Preston Dickson Jones
Shulman with one of his many fans, Carin Holmes

Sportopia Hometown Fan of the Week: Mike “Swami” Shulman

Known around town as the affable and colorful frontman for Swami Gone Bananas, Shulman grew up here supporting all the Atlanta teams, and considers himself a die-hard Georgia Tech fan. Through the years, he’s made numerous local sports radio appearances playing music and discussing athletics (his on-air musings with former Thrashers play-by-play man Scott Ferrall were legendary). But this Saturday, Swami and several of his musical friends will raise awareness for special education by hosting a day-night celebration of trippy jam-band music (think the Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd and the Allman Brothers) at Swami’s Double Secret Hot Tub Treehouse Theatre in Tucker. Cover is just $5 (BYOB). For more info, visit www.swamified.com.