OT: NBA's Jason Collins comes out

[maddoggy]

Terrific first-person write-up at

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/news/20130429/jason-collins-gay-nba-player/#ixzz2Rrh8O559

 

[CBus13]

Congratulations to him! This is just one step towards equality.

I hope him announcing this as a Free Agent doesn't make a team not consider him as a player they want on his team. It shouldn't be a factor but you never know.

 

[EricLA]

Good for Jason. Never an easy thing. Very proud of his courage. And very glad the mods removed the other post in the thread. The article is all about the courage and truth Collins had to exhibit in his journey...

I wonder how the other NBA players will react. I hope it's similar to the great comments Diggins had re: Griner's coming out - be who you are and it's no big deal...

 

[Phil]

Good, but I note that the second sentence: "I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport." is a slap in the face to anyone who considers women's basketball a "major American team sport".

 

[ThisJustIn]

Good, but I note that the second sentence: "I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport." is a slap in the face to anyone who considers women's basketball a "major American team sport".

Well, while I love the sport, it ain't a "major American team sport." Yet.

 

[alexrgct]

Not surprising that the first player to come out would be a journeyman. I hope this proves to be a stepping stone for other gay men who play professional sports to feel free to be open about this aspect of their identities.

 

[HGN]

Congratulations to him! This is just one step towards equality.

I hope him announcing this as a Free Agent doesn't make a team not consider him as a player they want on his team. It shouldn't be a factor but you never know.

Cbus , Jason being a Free Agent , and age 35, I think is one of the main reasons he decided to come out. After being cut by The Hawks and signed late in the season by The Wizards with an expiring contract only added to it. Its going to be interesting to see if another team picks him up at his age and after the announcement. But 7'0 centers are not easy to come by.

 

[Vowelguy]

Good, but I note that the second sentence: "I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport." is a slap in the face to anyone who considers women's basketball a "major American team sport".

The major American team sports are football, baseball, m. basketball, hockey. Without a doubt.
It's not a slap in the face; it's reality.

 

[DavidinNaples]

This took amazing courage....imagine admitting you play for the Washington Wizards.... On a serious note, good for him.

 

[RockyMTblue2]

I guess I have a distorted view of modern society, because such announcements sound so ho hum to me. When so much is made of them, I get the idea that there must be a huge segment of society that is still grappling with homophobia, but if that is true I have not run into any of them.

 

[alexrgct]

I guess I have a distorted view of modern society, because such announcements sound so ho hum to me. When so much is made of them, I get the idea that there must be a huge segment of society that is still grappling with homophobia, but if that is true I have not run into any of them.

Congratulations!

 

[alexrgct]

A lot of effusively positive responses from the sports world and beyond, including a couple of Huskies (MBB):

http://m.espn.go.com/wireless/story...timeOffset=-14400&supportsPromo&screenScale=2

 

[John Glass]

This took amazing courage....imagine admitting you play for the Washington Wizards....

Collins has played only 6 games for the Wizards this year. When he cannot find a team next year it is going to be because he is old, and bad.

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

You rang?

 

[meyers7]

Cbus , Jason being a Free Agent , and age 35, I think is one of the main reasons he decided to come out. After being cut by The Hawks and signed late in the season by The Wizards with an expiring contract only added to it. Its going to be interesting to see if another team picks him up at his age and after the announcement. But 7'0 centers are not easy to come by.

Yea I was wondering if he doesn't get picked up is because he came out, or he's a 34 year old journeyman?

 

[HuskyNan]

The major American team sports are football, baseball, m. basketball, hockey. Without a doubt.
It's not a slap in the face; it's reality.

I'm not so sure about hockey these days. The NHL went on strike last year and no one noticed.

 

[BooRadley]

Jason helped make this day a little bit better... Good on you, Jason. Dignity


Your Ol' Pal Boo

 

[Kibitzer]

This is like sitting in a hotel room late at night, waiting for that guy upstairs to drop his other shoe so I can go to sleep.

I await comment from one particular Boneyarder who -- after hearing the supportive comments for Jason from many in professional sports -- will surely express his convinction that we are DOOOOOMED now that the testosterone community has bought into that "gay culture."

 

[UcMiami]

The reason that this is big is because it is the first active male player in major team sports to 'come out'. And while a majority of the society has moved on from homophobia, there is a large section of society that has not, and we still have situations where legal discrimination against LGBT people exist. On top of that, previously polling has shown that minority communities are more homophobic than the general population so his race has some meaning too. And we have a few fringe politicians (and some that I wish were more fringe) who make fairly outrageous homophobic statements on a weekly basis. And men's team sports have been home to some very narrow minded people for a very long time. I do not want to equate this to '42' because I think that was an even larger change at a time when racism was more prevalent in society and more codified in laws and practices than is homophobia in 2013, but it is a similar kind of thing. Of course race was very visually apparent, sexual preference is not, so while the 'line' was crossed probably with the first game played in each major sport, the reality has just now been confirmed.
As for reactions from NBA - ESPN Boston had a nice set of quotes from Doc Rivers his coach until a trade in Feb. Sounds to me that Doc wouldn't mind him back with the team next year.
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/celtics/post/_/id/4704743/former-celtics-center-collins-comes-out

 

[huskyharry]

Good, but I note that the second sentence: "I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport."".

Regrettably, this announcement seems largely about self-promotion. The media has also picked up on this point when it simply is not true. There was a major story a few years ago about a former Penn State player who played for the Utah Jazz...not sure on the name...John Amaechi? When statistically on the average one or more players on every team is gay or bisexual, this should not be major news.

 

[ThisJustIn]

Regrettably, this announcement seems largely about self-promotion. The media has also picked up on this point when it simply is not true. .

Unclear on your point -- are you saying that Collins came out to simply for self-promotion so he could, you know, reap all the financial benefits he's potentially going to reap from doing so? Or that some media folks (for example?) are saying it's all about self-promotion.

Though, there is Mike Francessa, who seems to think there are plenty of *out* gay athletes and SI did this story as a sales gimmick -- logical, right? 'cause if there are so "many" then it WOULDN'T be a story and no one would buy the magazine.... but hey, it's Mike....

 

[CamrnCrz1974]

Regrettably, this announcement seems largely about self-promotion. The media has also picked up on this point when it simply is not true. There was a major story a few years ago about a former Penn State player who played for the Utah Jazz...not sure on the name...John Amaechi? When statistically on the average one or more players on every team is gay or bisexual, this should not be major news.

Except that IS the point. It still IS news because it is a milestone and breaking the proverbial ceiling.

Amaechi came out after he retired (a few years after). Collins is the first active player in Big Four sports to come out of the closet. This is not self-promotion; this is about bravery and potentially subjecting yourself to unwarranted ridicule and hate from teammates and fans, all because of who you are.

It should not be major news, but it is. And I am incredibly proud of Jason Collins. The reason why it will eventually not be major news in he future is because of people like Jason Collins.

 

[UcMiami]

Regrettably, this announcement seems largely about self-promotion. The media has also picked up on this point when it simply is not true. There was a major story a few years ago about a former Penn State player who played for the Utah Jazz...not sure on the name...John Amaechi? When statistically on the average one or more players on every team is gay or bisexual, this should not be major news.

Sorry but you have your facts wrong - Right name but he waited until after he retired from the NBA before he came out.

In February 2007, after his retirement from the NBA, Amaechi became the first former NBA player to come out publicly after doing so in his memoir Man in the Middle.[1] Since then he has been regarded as "one of the world's most high-profile gay athletes".

The same has been true for the other male pro athletes in the team sports.
As for self promotion - try honesty. And being tired of living in fear of this information coming out. Or having to hide information from teammates.
Any rational person figures that ever professional team has at least one and with a 53 man NFL quite a few gay men on the team. Everyone of them every day is telling or acting out lies to keep that fact hidden from their teammates. Not probably a happy situation for them.
So ... someone had to be first, and this aging but still productive NBA player decided it was time and he did it. If you actually read his article it is well written and quite interesting. And if you get beyond the first paragraph you might get some insight into what his life was like and the peace he seems to have found. I personally thought it was an act that required some courage, and I hope that within a year after a number of other pro athletes come out this will all become old news and we can move on. Sort of like how we moved on from the shock of seeing a black ball player on the same field as our white team. And how we have moved on from the debate about DODT. No unit cohesion issues, the world did not crumble, and what took ten years of stupidity and debate has total disappeared from our consciousness.
By the way - Shout out to Stanford - he is a graduate of that institution and his writing is a credit to the education he received.

 

[Icebear]

Yes, John Amaechi came out years ago. He wrote a book entitled, "The Man in the Middle."

Sorry, UCMiami your post was on the second page and I hadn't seen it.

 

[meyers7]

Collins is the first active player in Big Four sports to come out of the closet. This is not self-promotion; this is about bravery and potentially subjecting yourself to unwarranted ridicule and hate from teammates and fans, all because of who you are.

Well to be honest, there could be a little self promotion in there. He is pretty much an unknown journeyman player. Outside of NBA aficionados, he's not really known, until now. Also there is already talk (and it may just be talk) that he could get some endorsement deals out of this from gay centric products (whatever they might be???). Whether he does or not, or if that was in his thinking or not, only he (and his agent) really knows. Not that there is really anything wrong with that. He's 34, a free agent (he doesn't at this point have a team next year), journeyman player, possibly coming to the end of his career. Some self promotion may not be a bad idea. Especially if he wants to keep playing, which I've read he does, or if he wants to set himself up better for his post playing career.

It certainly is self promotion for SI. Gonna sell a lot of magazines. But that's what they are in business for. But people may be a little naive to think that all the motives are "pure" and some are not ulterior.