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Physical affection with another man freaks you out. Boys aren’t like girls. It’s different. The idea of holding a man’s hand is unthinkable. You’d never help a man comb his hair. You wouldn’t kiss him on the cheek. You wouldn’t rub sunscreen on his back. Obvious stuff, right? These taboos are so off-limits, so clearly beyond the pale, that they don’t even warrant their own maxims. You get it. Even though the infractions seem minor—and even though, frankly, it’s the same harmless stuff that girls do with girls—you don’t want to go there because, you know . . . well, you know. So you avoid physical contact with other men. You keep them at arm’s length. Good for you and good for him. Good for all of us. Except . . . When you’re both hot and sweaty and playing the same sport, nothing is more emphatically, more clearly heterosexual than slapping another man’s ass. When he hauls in a touchdown, you slap him on the ass. When he swishes a three-pointer, you pat him on the ass. When he smacks a home run, you treat his butt to a little palm lovin’. Even when he misses a free throw, you still say to yourself “You know what? Screw it! Let’s slap him on the ass!” And this doesn’t strike you—or anyone—as at all homoerotic. Trying on another man’s pair of jeans? That’s gay. Tapping the man’s butt? That’s camaraderie. One theory . . . Your athletic prowess is so virile, so stunningly heterosexual, that it gives smokescreen for everything and anything else. And who knows? Maybe the ass tap is just the beginning. Soon, perhaps, we’ll see more advanced moves—when the pitcher throws a no-hitter, say, his teammates all line up and give him the newest gesture of manly appreciation: the “ball squeeze.”
I bet it's a clever ruse of Scola to attract the ladies. They like when men are confident in their sexuality.
Why are you guys freaking out about a little peck on the cheek? Personally, I wouldn't care if they were mounting each other in the locker room as long as they treated their opponents like a dominatrix. People who are really homophobic often are overcompensating to cover up their own homosexuality themselves. I'm glad Scola is as passionate as he is, unlike t-mac who can't even get excited about his teammates' good plays.
Who cares? The French peck each on the cheek all the time as well. This is just a reminder that the great thing about the NBA is that the best in the world come to the US to play--unlike say American football or soccer. I take this Scola thing to be a sign of good chemistry. As for that image of Yao and Scola in the locker room, that's horrible.
Belgium, France. Usually you kiss a friend on the cheek if he's a really good friend, someone you have known a long time.
