Sports
Long road back
Autobiography tells of journey back from throes of addiction
Joe Putignano found redemption in writing and performing. (Photo by Thomas Synnamon)
There are movements, sounds and smells in sports that become an important part of the ritual of each particular sport and they often become a comforting factor for the athlete.
It could be the lacing of your cleats on the soccer field, the pop of the tennis ball coming off your racquet or the smell of chlorine when you walk into a pool.
For gymnast Joe Putignano, it was the feel of the mats hitting his feet during tumbling passes, the squeaking of his hands as he did giant swings on the high bar and the smell of chalk when he prepped for a routine.
Eventually his rituals changed and he found his comfort from the look of a tarnished spoon, the sound of rubber tubing and the smell of rubbing alcohol. Putignano was no longer a gymnast, he was a heroin addict.
The rituals of his once athletic lifestyle were replaced by a much darker way of living.
“You know those days when you don’t want to go to the gym, but you still go?” Putignano says. “There were days when I didn’t want to shoot up, but I did anyway.”
Putignano grew up in the Boston area and showed promise as a gymnast early on in his career. He was twice invited to the Olympic training facility in Colorado Springs and won several state and regional competitions while competing on the six apparatus in men’s gymnastics.
With the pressure mounting in his late teens from his sport and his sexual identity, Putignano fell into the rave culture of the 1990s and all the drugs that came with it.
“In gymnastics, everyone sees your imperfections,” Putignano says. “I didn’t want to be judged anymore.”
Over the course of the next 10 years he bounced between his heroin addiction, rehab attempts, employment, homelessness and more rehab attempts. He was twice declared clinically dead from overdoses.
While he was working at the New York Times he was going home at lunch, shooting up and coming back to work. They sent him to what he calls his final rehab where he met a counselor who urged him to get back to gymnastics.
“I kept trying to get clean because I didn’t want to give up on myself. I think that was ingrained in me because of sports,” Putignano says. “I started doing handstands and pushups and completely changed what I was doing. Within 90 days, the determination came back.”
Putignano Googled contortionists and found a group of acrobats in New York and discovered that he could use his talents to earn a living. He was still rediscovering his skills when he performed in Broadway Bares and ended up relapsing a few more times.
“Getting back into shape was harder than I expected,” he says. “I had to relearn everything.”
He eventually landed a spot dancing, riding unicycle and dancing on stilts in Twyla Tharp’s “The Times They Are a Changin” which ran on Broadway for two years. The show was cancelled and he relapsed during the last week but realized he didn’t like being high anymore.
He jumped right back into performing at the Metropolitan Opera House and met the creative director of Cirque Du Soleil’s “KA” and “Totem,” Robert Lepage, who asked him to embody the character of Crystal Man which Putignano portrayed for three years starting in 2009 on the “Totem” tour.
Crystal Man represented spiritual evolution and change and Putignano refers to those three years with Cirque as “my beautiful hell.”
“There I was, surrounded by the best athletes in the world and I didn’t even audition for the job,” he says. “I worked harder at my craft and got stronger because I felt I had to prove that I belonged in an athletic acrobatic career.”
During his time on Broadway in the Tharp show, Putignano began putting his journey down on paper and during the “Totem” tour with Cirque, he wrote the entire time.
“We did 10 shows a week and I could be found on the days off writing in a coffee shop, while the other athletes were off sightseeing,” he says.
The resulting book, “Acrobaddict,” offers a look at the similar qualities that are possessed by athletes and addicts. Putignano hopes his journey can offer hope to others with an addiction.
According to the 2012 D.C. Youth Risk Behavior Study, LGBT youth in D.C. are more likely than their heterosexual peers to report illegal drug use including meth (23.7 vs. 2.6 percent) and heroin (18.1 vs. 2.7 percent).
In the D.C. metro area, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring recently pointed to studies that indicate fatal heroin overdoses in the general population of Northern Virginia increased 164 percent from 2011 to 2013.
Putignano is currently in another type of recovery. He’s recovering from surgeries to repair a torn rotator cuff in both shoulders and looming on the horizon are surgeries to repair a torn stomach muscle and damage to his ankle.
Because of his addiction issues, the rehabbing process is being done without painkillers. Along with his physical therapy and weightlifting, he is using nerve blockers, Tylenol, acupuncture and Neurontin to keep the pain under control.
The story of Putignano’s surgeries without painkillers will be told in an upcoming video by Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN. At this time it’s unclear whether Putignano’s career as an acrobat and contortionist is over.
For now, he’s writing a nonfiction book about the devil, taking classes toward becoming a physician’s assistant and doing some modeling work.
At 37, he has been clean for seven years.
“Athletics make me happy and movement gives me joy,” Putignano says. “I can’t wait to ride a bike again.”
CONTENT WARNING: The following story discusses suicide ideation.
Her first few weeks behind bars in a Russian prison took a terrible toll on Brittney Griner, the lesbian WNBA star who is breaking her silence on the 10 months she was held on drug-related charges.
“I wanted to take my life more than once in the first weeks,” Griner told ABC’s Robin Roberts in a primetime interview Wednesday. “I felt like leaving here so badly.”
The two-time Olympic gold medalist and nine-time WNBA All-Star, who plays for the Phoenix Mercury, said she ultimately decided against suicide, partly because she feared Russian authorities would not release her body to her wife, Cherelle Griner.
Griner, 33, was arrested on Feb. 17, 2022, at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow. Authorities said they found vape cartridges in her luggage containing cannabis oil, which is illegal in the country.
Griner told Roberts that was the result of a “mental lapse” on her part — packing the cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage, Griner said that she had overslept on the morning she was leaving for Russia to play during the WNBA’s off-season, which is how many of the league’s vastly underpaid players earn a living, compared to NBA players.
So, she packed while she was “in panic mode,” Griner said.
“My packing at that moment was just throwing all my stuff in there and zipping it up and saying, ‘OK, I’m ready,’” she told Roberts.
After landing in Russia, Griner realized that she had those two cannabis oil cartridges in her luggage as Russian security officers inspected her bag at the airport. She recalled the moment as a sinking feeling.
“I’m just like, ‘Oh, my God.’ Like, ‘How did I — how did I make this mistake?’” Griner said. “I could just visualize everything I worked so hard for just crumbling and going away.”
Russian authorities immediately arrested Griner, but her trial would not take place for five months. She described the horrible conditions of her imprisonment during that delay, saying that she didn’t always have toilet paper and that the toothpaste they gave her had expired about 15 years ago.
“That toothpaste was expired,” she said. “We used to put it on the black mold to kill the mold on the walls.”
“The mattress had a huge blood stain on it, and they give you these thin two sheets,” she added. “So you’re basically laying on bars.”
On July 7, 2022, Griner pleaded guilty at her trial to drug charges, admitting that she had the vape cartridges containing cannabis oil but stating she put them in her luggage unintentionally. She testified that she had packed the cartridges by accident, and had “no intention” to break Russian law.
Roberts pressed Griner on this point: “You know there are those who say, ‘Come on. How did you not know that you had cartridges in your luggage?’”
“It’s just so easy to have a mental lapse,” Griner replied. “Granted, my mental lapse was on a more grand scale. But it doesn’t take away from how that can happen,” she explained.
Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on Aug. 4, 2022, and in October 2022, a judge denied the appeal filed by Griner’s attorneys.
The sentence landed Griner in a penal colony in the Russian region of Mordovia.
“It’s a work camp. You go there to work,” said Griner. “There’s no rest.” Her job was cutting fabric for Russian military uniforms.
“What were the conditions like there?” Roberts asked.
“Really cold,” Griner said. So cold that her health was impacted and she decided to chop off her long dreadlocks.
“What was that like losing that part of you, too?” Roberts asked Griner.
“Honestly, it just had to happen. We had spiders above my bed — making nests,” she said. “My dreads started to freeze,” she added. “They would just stay wet and cold and I was getting sick. You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do to survive.”
Her arrest came around the same time as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, further increasing tensions between Russia and the U.S. But as the Los Angeles Blade reported on Dec, 8, 2022, Russia agreed to release Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
However, before winning her freedom, Griner revealed authorities forced her to write a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They made me write this letter. It was in Russian,” she said. “I had to ask for forgiveness and thanks from their so-called great leader. I didn’t want to do it, but at the same time I wanted to come home.”
Griner said her heart sank upon boarding the plane to freedom and finding that Paul Whelan, another American the White House said was “wrongfully detained,” wasn’t leaving Russia with her.
“I walked on and didn’t see him, maybe he’s next. Maybe they will bring him next,” she said. “They closed the door, and I was like, are you serious? You’re not going to let this man come home now.”
Griner recounts on the experience in “Coming Home,” a memoir set to be released on May 7.
988 is the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and is available 24/7 via phone, text or chat to everyone of all ages, orientations and identities. If you are a transgender, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming person considering suicide, Trans Lifeline can be reached at 877-565-8860. LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger) can reach the Trevor Project Lifeline at 1-866-488-7386. You can still also contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 24 hours a day, and it’s available to people of all ages and identities.
Additional resources:
If you are in a life-threatening situation, please dial 911.
If you are in crisis, please dial 988 or contact Rainbow Youth Project directly at +1 (317) 643-4888
Sports
Bisexual former umpire sues Major League Baseball for sexual harassment
Brandon Cooper claims female colleague sexually harassed him
A fired former umpire is suing Major League Baseball, claiming he was sexually harassed by a female umpire and discriminated against because of his gender and his sexual orientation.
Brandon Cooper worked in the minor league Arizona Complex League last year, and according to the lawsuit he filed Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan, he identifies as bisexual.
“I wanted my umpiring and ability to speak for itself and not to be labeled as ‘Brandon Cooper the bisexual umpire,’” he told Outsports. “I didn’t want to be labeled as something. It has been a passion of mine to simply make it to the Major Leagues.”
But that didn’t happen. Instead of being promoted, he was fired. His suit names MLB and an affiliated entity, PDL Blue, Inc., and alleges he had endured a hostile work environment and wrongful termination and/or retaliation because of gender and sexual orientation under New York State and New York City law.
“Historically the MLB has had a homogenous roster of umpires working in both the minor and major leagues,” Cooper claims in his suit. “Specifically, to date there has never been a woman who has worked in a (regular) season game played in the majors, and most umpires are still Caucasian men. To try to fix its gender and racial diversity issue, defendants have implemented an illegal diversity quota requiring that women be promoted regardless of merit.”
Cooper claims former umpire Ed Rapuano, now an umpire evaluator, and Darren Spagnardi, an umpire development supervisor, told him in January 2023 that MLB had a hiring quota, requiring that at least two women be among 10 new hires.
According to the suit, Cooper was assigned to spring training last year and was notified by the senior manager of umpire administration, Dusty Dellinger, that even though he received a high rating in June from former big league umpire Jim Reynolds, now an umpire supervisor, that women and minority candidates had to be hired first.
Cooper claims that upon learning Cooper was bisexual, fellow umpire Gina Quartararo insulted him and fellow umpire Kevin Bruno by using homophobic slurs and crude remarks. At that time, Quartararo and Cooper worked on the same umpiring crew and being evaluated for possible promotion to the big leagues.
This season, Quartararo is working as an umpire in the Florida State League, one of nine women who are working as minor league umpires.
Cooper said he notified Dellinger, but instead of taking action against Quartararo, he said MLB ordered Cooper to undergo sensitivity training. According to his lawsuit, he was also accused of violating the minor league anti-discrimination and harassment policy.
Cooper’s suit says he met with MLB Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Billy Bean — who the Los Angeles Blade reported in December is battling cancer.
The lawsuit says at that meeting, Bean told the umpire that Quartararo claimed she was the victim, as the only female umpire in the ACL. Cooper said he told Bean Quartararo regularly used homophobic slurs and at one point physically shoved him. He also claims that he has video evidence, texts and emails to prove his claim.
But he said his complaints to Major League Baseball officials were ignored. His lawsuit said MLB passed him over for the playoffs and fired him in October. He said of the 26 umpires hired with Cooper, he was the only one let go.
Through a spokesperson, MLB declined to comment on pending litigation. Quartararo has also not publicly commented on the lawsuit.
Sports
Brittney Griner, wife expecting first child
WNBA star released from Russian gulag in December 2022
One year after returning to the WNBA after her release from a Russian gulag and declaring, “I’m never playing overseas again,” Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her wife announced they have something even bigger coming up this summer.
Cherelle, 31, and Brittney, 33, are expecting their first child in July. The couple shared the news with their 715,000 followers on Instagram.
“Can’t believe we’re less than three months away from meeting our favorite human being,” the caption read, with the hashtag, #BabyGrinerComingSoon and #July2024.
Griner returned to the U.S. in December 2022 in a prisoner swap, more than nine months after being arrested in Moscow for possession of vape cartridges containing prescription cannabis.
In April 2023, at her first news conference following her release, the two-time Olympic gold medalist made only one exception to her vow to never play overseas again: To return to the Summer Olympic Games, which will be played in Paris starting in July, the same month “Baby Griner” is due. “The only time I would want to would be to represent the USA,” she said last year.
Given that the unrestricted free agent is on the roster of both Team USA and her WNBA team, it’s not immediately clear where Griner will be when their first child arrives.
The Griners purchased their “forever home” in Phoenix just last year.
“Phoenix is home,” Griner said at the Mercury’s end-of-season media day, according to ESPN. “Me and my wife literally just got a place. This is it.”
As the Los Angeles Blade reported last December, Griner is working with Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts — like Griner, a married lesbian — on an ESPN television documentary as well as a television series for ABC about her life story. Cherelle is executive producer of these projects.
Next month, Griner’s tell-all memoir of her Russian incarceration will be published by Penguin Random House. It’s titled “Coming Home” and the hardcover hits bookstores on May 7.
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