Chemistry issues? Nah. Leandro and Reggie were holding hands down the tunnel!

[Multipaul]

Apollo, that is amazing.

[Raptors_13]

http://www.nba.com/raptors/video/

[Apollo]

you, sir, are a comedic genius.

Apollo, that is amazing.

LOL you're too kind. It just felt right. The only thing I could think to improve on it would be to insert that song by Akon and Michael Jackson.

[Multipaul]

LOL you're too kind. It just felt right. The only thing I could think to improve on it would be to insert that song by Akon and Michael Jackson.

OMG, if you could do that and make it an animated gif that would be crazy!

or put that Fridday Fridaday Fridaaayyy song over it

[heinz57]

LOL you're too kind. It just felt right. The only thing I could think to improve on it would be to insert that song by Akon and Michael Jackson.

LOL... in my head "summer lovin" from Grease was playing in the background of that pic

[RaptorDan]

How far east are we talking about here because it's seen as an intimate thing in Halifax or St.John's.

I think he meant East of Yonge Street.

[Joey]

I think he meant East of Yonge Street.

Or East of Bangkok... hahah

[Hotshot]

Barbosa and Evans lol

well at least its not a Chris Bosh man hug but still.......

[Apollo]

You're a little late. Moving this.

[mcHAPPY]

Another classic case of people with no sense of humour whatsoever, at all, period. What a joke. These articles are all inthe last day or two. Do these people actually take themselves this seriously?

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/426723...relationships/

The most uproarious NBA replay in ages — a 10-second clip that forced YouTube to curb comments — showed no wicked elbow thrown, no impossibly deep three nailed, no dunkadelic rim rattler.

What triggered all the typed and tweeted tantrums? This on-screen action: Toronto Raptors guard Leandro Barbosa gently clasping the palm of his teammate, Reggie Evans, during their victory stroll to the locker room earlier this month after defeating the Orlando Magic.

We’ve accepted the man hug — that brief shoulder bump between dudes, and we’re OK the handshake-hug combo. But when it comes to physical affection between two straight dudes, hand-holding seems to be more than America is ready for.

Why? Simple. The hand-holding was a clear violation of our current interpretation of “The Bro Code” — which supersedes NBA rules, NASCAR rules, NATO rules and the Geneva Convention.

Check “The Bro Code” Facebook page, modeled after rules decreed by “How I Met Your Mother’s” Barney Stinson. The page lists 150 “articles” or rules to guide the lives of fellas, thugs and dawgs from Bieber to Bruce Lee — and every guy on the vast testosterone spectrum in between.

Scan down to Article 42 of The Code: “a Bro may engage in a high five, fist bump, or a Bro hug.” Next, read Article 143: “a Bro is forbidden from intertwining fingers of … his Bro's hand.”

Case closed. Guiltier than any dude who’s ever belted out a Taylor Swift tune on karaoke night.

And don’t bother looking to Europe for roughneck role models. Soccer teammates over there are known to occasionally kiss one another smack on the mouth after goals. (There’s even been evidence of post-goal cuddling.)

And according to a study released last fall by Bath University in England, “same-sex lip-locks among straight men are the norm in British universities and high schools.”

In the States, however, any physical gesture beyond the bro hug — well, it’s enough to shut down YouTube comments, apparently. Here, “homophobia is still alive and well,” said Dr. Dale Archer, a psychiatrist who practices in Lake Charles, La. “This is partly due to a variety of religious and cultural attitudes, but it’s mainly based on fear. Fear that somewhere deep inside us lurks a homosexual side and if we’re not very careful this will break free and take control of our world, and of us.”

Unlike those in Europe, many in the U.S. can’t seem to imagine that sometimes a hug is just a hug.

“Athletes go to war all season long — but under the microsope of the American eye, [if they show] anything more than the man hug or bro hug, America spends its time judging or questioning,” said Phil Dembo, a St. Louis relationship coach. (It's worth noting here that Barbosa -- he of the hand-holding -- isn't American; he's Brazilian.)

In fact, for some American guys, even the man hug is crossing a line.

“I'm not a big fan of the bro hug, but only because that's just something new to me,” said Cyrus Webb, a 35-year-old radio show host and blogger from Brandon, Miss. “Growing up, guys gave handshakes, ladies got the hugs.

“I didn't personally have a problem with the gesture on the (hand-holding) video,” Webb added. “But I can understand why some who are sensitive about what is seen to be a manly or masculine event would see it as something that wasn't cool.”

At least for now, hand-holding is certainly not up to bro code.

But as Chris Hall, administrator of The Bro Code Facebook page, points out, “(G)iven the above-average height of NBA players, I’m not sure who else they are supposed to hold hands with — if not each other.”

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/rapto...ans-hold-hands

It is common for athletes to slap a teammate's butt or hug when something good happens. But hold hands? That's a first -- especially in the chest-pounding, macho world of professional sports. And the tender moment was captured on videotape.
It happened earlier this month following a Toronto Raptors win over the Orlando Magic. Raptors teammates Leandro Barbosa and Reggie Evans were walking through the tunnel back to the lockerroom when Barbosa reached down and clasped Evans's hand. Evans looked down and laughed as the two walked away hand-in-hand.
While American heterosexual men rarely hold hands in public (or private, for that matter) Barbosa is Brazilian, so maybe that gesture is common there.
It is common for men in some South American countries and in Europe to kiss. There are tales of American basketball players who play in Europe who have gotten used to a teammate planting a kiss on them after a basket. It is strange at first, but they seem to adjust.
Here is the video. As a report from NBC's Today.com points out, YouTube took the measure of shutting down comments on the video, perhaps to head off any offensive remarks:

And then there is the other extreme:
http://thestir.cafemom.com/sports/11...men_hold_hands

Well, that's it. The Fat Lady has sung. Elvis has left the building. The world of sports is about to come tumbling down like the halls of Jericho. And all because two Toronto Raptors, guard Leandro Barbosa and power forward Reggie Evans, held hands after a win over the Orlando Magic. Sounds like the end of the he-man world of sports, right?

I mean, a finger lock makes the two guys totally (lowers voice and looks around) GAY? Which everyone knows makes you a limp-wristed nancy boy with impeccable taste in fashion AND the last one to be picked for the team in gym class. DUH. Gay boys can't play sports. Just ask Olympic gold medalist and homo Greg Louganis. Oh ... wait. I guess they can ... just check these guys out!


Did you SEE that? Two guys who just WON an NBA game ... celebrating ... together! They're acting like, well, teammates.

That gay men and lesbians have just as much of a chance of being born with extraordinary athletic talent as the rest of us is actually beside the point in the hoopla that's followed Barbosa and Evans' little hand hockey. Because neither, it will surprise the gay-fraid world, is gay. The Brazilian-born Barbosa was once linked to Brazilian actress Samara Felippo, mother of his toddler daughter, and was more recently the center of a bona fide sex scandal with player Steve Nash's wife ... a red-blooded American WOMAN. Evans is a father of two daughters -- born to a woman named Joy with whom he ostensibly engaged in heterosexual sex.

Imagine! Two men being affectionate who are not gay. Louganis would be so proud.

I don't know about you, but while folks like blogger Terez Owens are shaking in their homophobic boots about how "gay" these guys are being, I didn't see it. I saw two guys who play on the same team, who spend inordinate amounts of time together, away from their nuclear families. Like policemen, like firefighters, professional athletes form a new family with the people they put time in with while on the road. Teammates become more like brothers than their own real brothers.

Real brothers aren't afraid to touch each other, even show affection. True, they're protected by blood from scaredy cats ranting about homosexuality. But a good fan would apply the same rubric to their favorite athletes (a good person would to, you know, ANYONE, but I know that's asking a lot). It's the ties that bind the brothers on a basketball team that make them a good team. Two guys who can't stand each other don't make for good sharers on the court. Stars have been traded for less.

So maybe the Raptors are on to something. After all, nothing says love like a Mom or Dad with their tot's hand in theirs. If you put that kind of love on a court, those guys can work magic ... literally (they did kick Orlando's @ss after all).

What do you think? Should more athletes hold hands or is it "too gay"?

[Joey]

It's hard to determine how 'tongue-in-cheek' that first one is from MSNBC.

I have a feeling it's almost done in a 'Stephen Colbert' fashion.
If not, then brutal. They all need to lighten up.