ur city of champions boasts some of the top sports franchises in the country: the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics, and the Bruins. It also boasts the first professional sports team in America to draft an openly gay player.

Okay, sports trivia fans: Can you name the team? The player? Can you even name the sport?

The sport: lacrosse.

The team: the Boston Cannons

And the player: goalie Andrew Goldstein, who was drafted from Dartmouth in 2005.

Goldstein, who grew up in Milton, was selected by the Long Island Lizards in the 2006 supplemental Major League Lacrosse draft, and has since left the sport. But while he may have been the first out athlete working in professional team sports, Boston's also home to extraordinarily robust amateur LGBT sports leagues that include some of the best players in the world.

The Gay Games—an international sporting event akin to the Olympics for queer folks—kick off Saturday (July 31) in Cologne, Germany. And Boston athletes in hockey (the Lobsters), soccer (the Strikers), and other sports will be defending their gold-medal titles.

The athletes from New England compete collectively under the "Team Boston" banner, and they'll be out en masse in Cologne, starting with the opening ceremonies.

Even More Queer …

Team Boston made a strong bid to host the 2014 Gay Games, but lost out to Cleveland. Yes, you heard that right. Cleveland defeated Boston.

But there's controversy and intrigue surrounding the decision. Team Boston believes that, at worst, there was foul play in the selection process, and, at best, ineptitude among the people who made the decision. Boston Spirit magazine has an investigation of the whole fiasco.

Rumors have since been spreading that Gay Games officials may reconsider the location of the 2014 event. Google "Gay Games Cleveland 2014" for all the gossip.

Our friends at Team Boston are standing by to resubmit their bid. Ready, set, …

James Lopata is editor of Boston Spirit magazine.