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Marcus Eric - Coming Out to Play

Here you can read online Marcus Eric - Coming Out to Play full text of the book (entire story) in english for free. Download pdf and epub, get meaning, cover and reviews about this ebook. City: New York;United States, year: 2014, publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, genre: Home and family. Description of the work, (preface) as well as reviews are available. Best literature library LitArk.com created for fans of good reading and offers a wide selection of genres:

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Marcus Eric Coming Out to Play

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Crack up -- My twin -- Borderline prodigy -- Golden boy in a golden family -- Youve got to be carefully taught -- College man -- A dream come true? -- My championship season -- The big leagues -- Will they still love me? -- First time -- The truth will set you free -- Now what? -- Back in the game.;Rogers made history. Sports Illustrated Robbie Rogers knows better than most that keeping secrets can crush you. But for much of his life Robbie lived in paralyzing fear that sharing his big secret would cost him the love of his family and his career as a professional soccer player. So he never told anyone what was destroying his soul, both on and off the field. While the world around Robbie was changing with breathtaking speed, he knew that for a gay man playing a professional team sport it might as well be 1958. He could be a professional soccer player. Or he could be an out gay man. He couldnt do both. Then last year, at the age of twenty-five and after stepping away from a brilliant careerone that included an NCAA Championship, winning the MLS Cup, and competing in the Olympicshe chose to tell the truth. But instead of facing the rejection feared, he was embracedby his family, by his teammates, and his fans. In Coming Out to Play, Robbie takes readers on his incredible journey from terrified teenager to a trailblazing out and proud professional soccer player for the L.A. Galaxy, who has embraced his new identity as a role model and champion for those still struggling with the secrets that keep them from living their dreams.

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PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group

Penguin Group (USA) LLC

375 Hudson Street

New York, New York 10014

Coming Out to Play - image 3

USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China

penguin.com

A Penguin Random House Company

First published in Penguin Books 2014

Copyright 2014 by Robert H. Rogers

Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

Leeds, Leeds, Leeds (Marching On Together)

Published by Barry Mason Music, administration by Copyright Administration Services Ltd.

Words and music by Barry Mason and Les Reed; copyright 1972 R.A.M. Music Ltd. and Barry Mason Music Ltd.; copyright renewed.

All rights for R.A.M. Music Ltd. in the U.S. and Canada administered by Universal Polygram International Publishing, Inc.

All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Reprinted by permission of Hal Leonard Corporation

Photograph credits

: Courtesy of Theresa Rarick Rogers

: Courtesy of Robert H. Rogers Jr.

: Charlotte Observer / McClatchy-Tribune / Getty Images

: Jeff Gross / Getty images Sport

: Stephen Dunn / Getty Images Sport

: Drew Hallowell / Getty Images Sport

: Jamie Sabau / Getty Images Sport

: Tom Jenkins / Getty Images Sport

: Courtesy of the author

: Danielle Levitt / August

: Victor Decolongon / Getty Images Sport

: Jason Merritt / Getty Images Entertainment

: Carlos Serrao

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Rogers, Robbie.

Coming out to play / Robbie Rogers with Eric Marcus.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-698-16805-3

1. Rogers, Robbie. 2. Soccer playersUnited StatesBiography. 3. Gay athletesUnited StatesBiography. I. Marcus, Eric. II. Title.

GV942.7.R623A3 2014

796.334092dc23

[B]

Penguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit, we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the authors alone.

Version_1

For my family,
with so much love and appreciation

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Although this book is a very personal effort, it required the help of many great people to make it all possible. First and foremost I would like to thank my family, including my beloved mother, Theresa Rarick Rogers; my devoted father, Robert H. Rogers, Jr.; my dear sisters, Alicia, Nicole, and Katie; and my loyal little brother (and favorite childhood playmate), Tim, for their love and support, and for opening up and sharing their personal stories.

Many thanks to my editor at Penguin Books, Patrick Nolan; Maxwell Reid, Patricks assistant; and Steve Ross, my agent, for taking such good care of this project from beginning to end and for making everything run so smoothly. (Thank you, Max, for coordinating all the photographs!) Special thank-yous to Nick Misani, who designed the books beautiful cover, to Lavina Lee, my eagle-eyed production editor, and to Bronwen Pardes, for masterfully transcribing the many hours of recorded interviews despite the fact that I talk so fast its sometimes hard for my own family to understand me.

Debra Ware, Business and Community Liaison Director for the Leeds United Football Club in the UK, went above and beyond to welcome my coauthor to Leeds and provide an open door to Leeds United facilities and staff. I will also be forever indebted to Will Martin at the Just Grand! Vintage Tearoom in Leeds, for coming up with the perfect title, Coming Out to Play.

Finally, I am beyond grateful to Greg Berlanti, for inspiring me in so many ways. And, last, thank you to Eric Marcus, for being such an amazing cowriter and becoming such a good friend over the course of working together on this book.

INTRODUCTION

My name is Robbie Rogers. My sister Alicia calls me Robber, but only when shes being affectionate and wants to make me smile. Mom calls me Robbie or Dearheart and a lot of other embarrassing things. Grammers and Grandpa call me Obbie Ogers, not because they have a problem with their rs but because I used to and they still like to think of me as their little grandson even though I long ago made peace with the entire alphabet. Most everyone else calls me Robbie.

Until recently I was best known as a professional soccer player who dabbled in fashion. (I have a mens clothing line.) Ive played soccer in one form or another for twenty-two of my twenty-six years and during that time Ive done what Ive had to in order to fit in and excel in the game I love.

My fans know that I played for the Columbus Crew in Ohio for five seasons, was voted All-Star, and was named to the MLS Best XI, one of the biggest honors for a player in Major League Soccer, when we won the 2008 MLS Cup. They also know that I played for the U.S. Olympic soccer team in the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics (one of the highlights of my life), that I left the United States in 2012 to play football in England for Leeds United, and in May 2013 joined the LA Galaxy.

What Im best known for now is having blazed a trail, as NBA player Jason Collins said, when I returned to soccer after a very brief retirement and became the first openly gay male athlete to play in one of the top five team sports in North America.

Those are the bare outlines of my life. And while the various media have filled in some of the details since I came out publicly in February 2013, Ive been uncomfortable with the shorthand versions of my life that Ive seen and read. So in the pages that follow Ill tell you the story of my life behind the headlines, how I lived with a secret that just about destroyed me, how I came to free myself from that secret, and how, despite all my fears to the contrary, I found the kind of acceptance, support, and love that I never believed was possible.

My hope is that by reading the story of my life in greater depth you will learn something from my experience. While I wouldnt change anything about my life as Ive lived itbecause I wouldnt be where I am today if not for all the experiences Ive had, both good and badI wish Id known the high price you inevitably pay when you choose to keep a secret that compels you to live a lie.

Its a clich to say that the truth will set you free. But as youll see, thats exactly what happened to me. And its that wish to live an open and honest life that inspires me now to share my story with you.

Robbie Rogers
February 2014

CHAPTER 1
CRACK-UP

I was out cold before my face hit the ground.

February 18, 2012, should have been one of the happiest days of my life. Instead, I was crumpled in a heap on the stunningly green pitch (what they call a sports field in England), unconsciously breathing in the scent of freshly cut grass.

If Id been able to hear anythingand I guarantee you that I wasnt hearing a thing because my brain was still seeing starsI could have heard a pin drop, because the twenty-one thousand soccer fans in the stands that sunny afternoon were holding their breath to see if the motionless American, whod just made his debut at the historic Elland Road soccer stadium with their beloved Leeds United, was dead or alive.

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