For 17 years, Anthony Nicodemo didn’t tell the high school where he coached basketball that he was gay. Earlier this year, he called for a meeting with players and parents and came out. ALSO: This July, Cody Dent managed to spoil a perfect game by Boston Red Sox minor league affiliate the Lowell Spinners. It’s kind of like the infamous 1978 day in which his father Bucky Dent spoiled a game for the Red Sox; and for years, a dozen friends in Natick, R.I., gathered on Friday nights in a cloud of cigarette smoke, holding cans full of pennies and a card deck for poker.