Arts & Entertainment

Super Bowl will have its first out cameraman

Scott Winer started working in the field in sixth grade

Published

7 years ago

January 30, 2019

**Scott Winer.** (Photo via Instagram @littlescottie)

Cameraman Scott Winer will become the first openly gay cameraman to film the Super Bowl during the match between the Los Angeles Rams and the New England Patriots in Atlanta on Feb. 3.

In an interview with OutSports, the 34-year-old Atlanta native says he always hoped he could work at the Super Bowl but it seemed like a distant dream.

“Doing a show like a Super Bowl is one of those things that in the back of your mind it’s what you work toward, but there’s also that part of you that wonders if it’s ever going to happen because it seems like such a lofty goal,” Winer told Outsports.

Winer kicked off his cameraman career in sixth grade when he received his first paid job to record a high school girls basketball team. He went on to record college games at University of Kansas, where he attended. Now, he works for CBS, Turner, and local broadcasts in south Florida shooting the big league games for the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA.

He also says his co-workers have been supportive of him being out in his professional life.

“I don’t think I ever could have imagined working in an environment where there is such love and support from people I work with, from such a range of ages and experience levels,” Winer says. ”It really is surreal.”

However, his struggle coming out in high school didn’t go as smoothly.

“When I came out in high school, it was a difficult time for me personally,” Winer says. “So I don’t think ever in my wildest dreams I would have ever imagined an opportunity to work a Super Bowl in my home city, under any circumstances.”

Winer, who says he is the only out gay cameraman he knows, likes to keep a little LGBT pride in his workplace. He can often be seen wearing his Nike BeTrue shoes. There’s also “Magoo,” a viewfinder shade with a built-in magnifier adorned with a rainbow triangle.

The Los Angeles Rams vs. New England Patriots game will also include the first time male cheerleaders perform at the Super Bowl as the Los Angeles Rams cheer squad will take the field on Sunday.

Books

New book reveals what we can learn from animal sex

‘Poking the Squid’ on homosexuality, gender swapping, and more

Published

7 hours ago

July 13, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy W.W. Norton)

‘Poking the Squid: What We Can Learn from Animal Sex’
By Perrin Roosevelt Ireland
c.2026, W.W. Norton
$29.99 241 pages

Birds do it.

According to Cole Porter, bees do, too, but it’s not exactly what he imagined. Wild and tame, avians, insects, and mammals all have sex – although not always as you’ve been told or for reasons you might think. Even educated fleas do it and, as in the new book, “Poking the Squid” by Perrin Roosevelt Ireland, humans can learn from them all.

If you read through scientific papers on animal reproduction, you might notice something unusual: for scientists, the word “sex” means a lot of different things.

Says Ireland, “It’s used to describe behaviors, biology, life histories, and more.”

That might be because animals are not simply binary.

Take, for instance, hyenas. It’s easy for the casual observer to mistake a male hyena for a female and vice versa because of stereotypes of anatomy. Mating, for hyenas, requires subordination for the male and a nifty trick on the part of the female’s body to get things done.

Our feathered friends are no birdbrains, either: black-browed albatrosses were once thought to be monogamous but global warming seems to have changed their nesting habits sometimes. Male flamingos have sex with one another, as a territorial thing; other birds and animals form same-sex pairs for other reasons.

The Chinese mantis eats her mate after fertilization. Female snakes, alpacas, guinea pigs, and monkeys are anatomically able to enjoy sex. Genitalia between species varies quite a bit; in fact, the vaginas of ducks “are highly complex.” Lionesses will mate up to 100 times when in heat. Female damselflies will change into a “third sex” to avoid overly aggressive mating males. Bearded dragons can change their sex, if needed, as can yellow clown goby fish. And seahorse pregnancy and birth sparked a book banning in Tennessee.

So, asks Ireland, if animals, including us, vary so much in biology and life, “… why are we using the word sex like it means something, anything, consistent?!”

Pick up “Poking the Squid,” page through it a few seconds, and you’ll see that the information here is largely told through cartoon-like drawings mixed with captions. It seems to be something on the lighter side, but don’t let that artwork fool you.

Author Perrin Roosevelt Ireland offers readers solid information that cozies up to the scholarly, with hard science, philosophy, feminism, and quotations from researchers to support it, thus furthering the narrative and hitting the points squarely. If you see the art and expect something lighthearted, comic, and small-talk-worthy, you could be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you want solid, wryly serious facts, you’re in for a treat.

There’s lots of learning to be gleaned here, and some slight nudge-wink whimsy to emphasize the absurdity of wrong-headed thinking. This can make readers feel like they’re in-the-know on the jokes, and the playfulness balances the seriousness of the information well.

So, serious, scholarly, or slightly silly, none of these are negative but you’re going to know what you want from a book like this. For the right reader, someone in the mood, “Poking the Squid” is wild.

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