South Florida looks for another upset after teammates bromance photo goes viral

The South Florida Bulls pulled a huge college football upset on Saturday by stunning the 18-point favorite Florida Gators on a last-play field goal. It was the aftermath that had fans — gay and straight — panting and in a lather.

After his 20-yard field goal won the game for the Bulls, kicker Nico Gramatica celebrated with his teammates and coaches, but saved a special moment for Chase Leon, the team’s punter and holder on field goals.

“Just a couple of dudes beating Florida. Beautiful. Keep your kickers close,” read the caption on an X post, which has more than 85,000 likes and 3.2 million views. A screen capture from the ESPN telecast shows Gramatica (7) holding the head of Leon (37) as they embraced, with a smile and a look that says: I love you.

Get off the sidelines and into the game

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The full highlights video from ESPN shows them cheek to cheek in a moment of athletic ecstasy (starting at the 22:04 mark).

Related

College football player says he is not gay (in a fun way) after photo of him and teammate goes viral
One of the players in a now-viral image responds to the memes that have been generated by a special sports moment.

College football player says he is not gay (in a fun way) after photo of him and teammate goes viral
One of the players in a now-viral image responds to the memes that have been generated by a special sports moment.

I liked that the comments were by and large fun and wink-wink (with some exceptions) as people got into the spirit with some clever observations:

• Beating Florida is a powerful aphr*disiac.
• Need to see their OF page before I rush to judgement.
• I might start watching football now (from the account of a gay man).
• My secret high school boyfriend used to look at me like this. He is married with kids now.
• Peak bromance here.
• Find someone who loves you like 37 loves 7.
• Josh Hutcherson and Lukas Gage get your agents on the phone I have the perfect romcom based on a true story for you two.
• I hope someone looks at me with that passion, love and desire one day.
• This is so beautiful. I’ve seen gay p*rn less passionate than this
• This turned me on.
• I want to be in the middle.

There were also images posted in the comments of a Tom of Finland drawing, Brokeback Mountain, Alexander the Great and the famous Times Square kiss at end of WWII.

Someone even asked X’s AI chatbot Grok about the two guys. It misidentified both of them and then added: “They are teammates, and there’s no public info indicating they’re in a romantic relationship — it’s likely just a victory hug.” (For those curious, Nico Gramatica is the son of longtime NFL kicker Martin Gramatica.)

The players’ reaction is understandable. Sports are known to increase a man’s testosterone levels after a victory, for those playing and watching. “A study conducted by a graduate student at the University of Utah found that testosterone levels rise in the fans of winning teams,” research has found. “Just watching your favorite sports team compete stimulates testosterone surges similar to those experienced by the players themselves.”

Are Leon and Gramatica dating? Who knows and who cares? It was a great moment and shows us why sports keeps us hooked.

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