Jason Collins: first openly gay athlete in US Sports history

[bballbeadle]

"A college classmate tried to persuade me to come out then and there. But I couldn't yet. My one small gesture of solidarity was to wear jersey number 98 with the Celtics and then the Wizards. The number has great significance to the gay community."

When I first read your post, I thought the quote was yours. I thought, "Good lord, all the time on this board, and I never knew Dan was gay!"

As the mother of a gay human, when I first joined the board a couple years ago, I wondered how a community such as ours, so highly fixated on sports but holding many different ideas and beliefs, would react when the inevitable "sensitive" topics reared their heads. The Bernie Fine scandal, in particular, was such a tribulation to all of us as we tried with might and main to wrap our minds around what had happened. Granted, I did not read every single post, but I was very impressed by the high level of understanding people here exhibited about the homosexual part of The Fine Mess. Most seemed to have no difficulty differentiating homosexuality from pedophilia. There were very few gay slurs. I was amazed by this. (I suppose I was guilty of stereotyping a sports fan board!)

I am sure there are people on the board who don't "agree" with the gay "lifestyle." Perhaps they are skipping this thread altogether, which I regard as respectful. I have skipped more than a few threads myself, especially the ones about the spectacular Jennifer Love Hewitt. And the merits of PBR.

There was a study done a few years ago that attempted to assess whether human beings have become kinder as a species in the last 100 years. Amazingly, despite two world wars and untold atrocities, the study concluded that yes, humans in general have evolved to be more compassionate. (I knew it!) Of course, there will always be monsters and a**holes in the world, but they are in the vast minority. (Too bad they can cause such misery, eh?)

I am proud to be a member of the syracusefan.com family. God bless us, every one.

 

[ImperialOrange]

My issue with this line of thinking is that many people of faith who "disagree" with the gay lifestyle or whatever don't have the same issues with straights who live in open rebellion with God. When adulterers and those who have premarital sex and whatnot are afforded the same vitriolic anger that gays seem to get from certain segments of the faithful, then I'll believe that there isn't bigotry and hatred there.

Could probably take this to the OT board because I don't want to thread hijack and that's where this will likely end up. My line of thinking is those people who view one sin as greater than another, and/or view anyone with vitriol or hatred aren't paying attention and aren't themselves all that faithful.

 

[All4SU]

I concur Scotty... Maybe I am a little jaded by circumstances. Southern California has, I would imagine, a must higher percentage of gay/lesbian presence when compared nationally... There are whole cities like W. Hollywood and industries like TV/Film that are gay driven here...

I wonder why that is. Perhaps sunshine is necessary for breeding homosexuals. Or maybe there is a larger breeding colony there in CA. Something in the air? Or maybe people are faking it in order to help further their careers. (I kid, folks. Don't get upset.)

 

[All4SU]

When I first read your post, I thought the quote was yours. I thought, "Good lord, all the time on this board, and I never knew Dan was gay!"

If Dan is gay, my wife is going to be pissed.

 

[ImperialOrange]

When I first read your post, I thought the quote was yours. I thought, "Good lord, all the time on this board, and I never knew Dan was gay!"

As the mother of a gay human, when I first joined the board a couple years ago, I wondered how a community such as ours, so highly fixated on sports but holding many different ideas and beliefs, would react when the inevitable "sensitive" topics reared their heads. The Bernie Fine scandal, in particular, was such a tribulation to all of us as we tried with might and main to wrap our minds around what had happened. Granted, I did not read every single post, but I was very impressed by the high level of understanding people here exhibited about the homosexual part of The Fine Mess. Most seemed to have no difficulty differentiating homosexuality from pedophilia. There were very few gay slurs. I was amazed by this. (I suppose I was guilty of stereotyping a sports fan board!)

I am sure there are people on the board who don't "agree" with the gay "lifestyle." Perhaps they are skipping this thread altogether, which I regard as respectful. I have skipped more than a few threads myself, especially the ones about the spectacular Jennifer Love Hewitt. And the merits of PBR.

There was a study done a few years ago that attempted to assess whether human beings have become kinder as a species in the last 100 years. Amazingly, despite two world wars and untold atrocities, the study concluded that yes, humans in general have evolved to be more compassionate. (I knew it!) Of course, there will always be monsters and a**holes in the world, but they are in the vast minority. (Too bad they can cause such misery, eh?)

I am proud to be a member of the syracusefan.com family. God bless us, every one.

Excellent post and the type of stuff that make this board worth reading.

That being said, Pabst did win a blue ribbon at some point so it's merit has been proven.

 

[All4SU]

There was a study done a few years ago that attempted to assess whether human beings have become kinder as a species in the last 100 years. Amazingly, despite two world wars and untold atrocities, the study concluded that yes, humans in general have evolved to be more compassionate. (I knew it!) Of course, there will always be monsters and a**holes in the world, but they are in the vast minority. (Too bad they can cause such misery, eh?)
.

I would love to know how a study like that was conducted. I don't doubt the conclusions necessarily. Just curious (can I still use that word?) what criteria was used and how samples were collected.

 

[edowd26]

So one man should lose his job over coming out with his personal views of how he lives his life, while we praise another man for coming out on how he lives his. Makes sense...

Are you asking Broussard to do the very thing many gays deal with on a day to day basis, hide his true identity and belief system as a Christian and just say the politically correct answer?

Both men should be able to choose the lifestyle they see as most beneficial to them and their loved ones. Judging one or the other gets nothing accomplished, and only caused more divide between us.

a reporter shouldnt get emotionally involved... thats his job.

 

[BlackKnight76]

Broussard should be canned for being a terrible journalist. This is just icing.

And now friend of the board Tim Brando is making an ass of himself of twitter. Great...

 

[Melancer46]

So one man should lose his job over coming out with his personal views of how he lives his life, while we praise another man for coming out on how he lives his. Makes sense...

Are you asking Broussard to do the very thing many gays deal with on a day to day basis, hide his true identity and belief system as a Christian and just say the politically correct answer?

Both men should be able to choose the lifestyle they see as most beneficial to them and their loved ones. Judging one or the other gets nothing accomplished, and only caused more divide between us.

What Collins and Broussard did are not equal.

Collins came out and said that he likes men. Broussard came out and said that anyone that likes men is not as good a Christian as he is. Collins is expressing who he is. Broussard is expressing that basically anyone that doesn't live life the way that he does isn't as good a Christian as he is. That's just wrong, and very unprofessional for someone in his field.

 

[tee1222]

When I first read your post, I thought the quote was yours. I thought, "Good lord, all the time on this board, and I never knew Dan was gay!"

As the mother of a gay human, when I first joined the board a couple years ago, I wondered how a community such as ours, so highly fixated on sports but holding many different ideas and beliefs, would react when the inevitable "sensitive" topics reared their heads. The Bernie Fine scandal, in particular, was such a tribulation to all of us as we tried with might and main to wrap our minds around what had happened. Granted, I did not read every single post, but I was very impressed by the high level of understanding people here exhibited about the homosexual part of The Fine Mess. Most seemed to have no difficulty differentiating homosexuality from pedophilia. There were very few gay slurs. I was amazed by this. (I suppose I was guilty of stereotyping a sports fan board!)

I am sure there are people on the board who don't "agree" with the gay "lifestyle." Perhaps they are skipping this thread altogether, which I regard as respectful. I have skipped more than a few threads myself, especially the ones about the spectacular Jennifer Love Hewitt. And the merits of PBR.

There was a study done a few years ago that attempted to assess whether human beings have become kinder as a species in the last 100 years. Amazingly, despite two world wars and untold atrocities, the study concluded that yes, humans in general have evolved to be more compassionate. (I knew it!) Of course, there will always be monsters and a**holes in the world, but they are in the vast minority. (Too bad they can cause such misery, eh?)

I am proud to be a member of the syracusefan.com family. God bless us, every one.

Great post, and I love your compassion and love for all of us, but...but...but JLH? But PBR?
Just kidding.

 

[Jake]

Broussard should be canned for being a terrible journalist. This is just icing.

And now friend of the board Tim Brando is making an ass of himself of twitter. Great...

Brando is essentially calling it a publicity stunt. Insane. I saw Brando at the boeheim gala this weekend. He should stick to what he does best, whenever he discovers what that is. It's certainly not being a charming and funny MC.

He could use a publicity stunt of his own...

 

[marz09cuse]

What Collins and Broussard did are not equal.

Collins came out and said that he likes men. Broussard came out and said that anyone that likes men is not as good a Christian as he is. Collins is expressing who he is. Broussard is expressing that basically anyone that doesn't live life the way that he does isn't as good a Christian as he is. That's just wrong, and very unprofessional for someone in his field.

I never said they were equal. I just feel calling for the guys job is hypocritical of the broader issue at hand. Broussard was not preaching extreme radical religious views here.

Do you think I took exception to the fact that he also called out Christians who cohabitate premarriage as I do? No, it's his view and I can respect it if that's how he lives his life.

It's an obvious topic of discussion on ESPN, so why is he chastised for his viewpoint while nothing is said of everyone else at ESPN who comments on it with their personal views? I just don't know what everyone expects him to say if those are his beliefs when he is asked questions about it.

 

[The General]

I never said they were equal. I just feel calling for the guys job is hypocritical of the broader issue at hand. Broussard was not preaching extreme radical religious views here.

Do you think I took exception to the fact that he also called out Christians who cohabitate premarriage as I do? No, it's his view and I can respect it if that's how he lives his life.

It's an obvious topic of discussion on ESPN, so why is he chastised for his viewpoint while nothing is said of everyone else at ESPN who comments on it with their personal views? I just don't know what everyone expects him to say if those are his beliefs when he is asked questions about it.

I consider it pretty radical to judge the validity of the faith of an entire group of people based on the interpretation of a passage or two in the Bible. And on who they like to sleep with.

What Broussard said is easily as bad as calling RGIII a cornball brother. And Rob whatever got canned.

 

[OttoMets]

Brando is essentially calling it a publicity stunt. Insane. I saw Brando at the boeheim gala this weekend. He should stick to what he does best, whenever he discovers what that is. It's certainly not being a charming and funny MC.

He could use a publicity stunt of his own...

As far as I'm concerned, Twitter is an absolutely worthless medium and should be beneath serious journalists (though some use it fairly effectively).

I don't see where Brando calls it a publicity stunt, though reading Twitter is surely not my forte. He does seem to have written "On the topic of Jason Collins I really don't care and frankly why should anyone else.The HERO worship is out of bounds.I'm glad he is happy." and "...The Dictionary matters to me and "HERO"can't be used loosely. That's my only point. ..."

How anyone could disagree with either of those statements is difficult to fathom, though perhaps the point would be more delicately made with benefit of a couple column inches rather than a tight character limit.

 

[BlackKnight76]

Brando is essentially calling it a publicity stunt. Insane. I saw Brando at the boeheim gala this weekend. He should stick to what he does best, whenever he discovers what that is. It's certainly not being a charming and funny MC.

He could use a publicity stunt of his own...

Brando's first tweet was rough, but at least you could defend his premise if you really want to, although it's really an argument of semantics. Instead of letting the fact that people got really mad about it roll off his back, he then turned it into this whole thing about how Collins isn't really important and how it was some plot with his agent to drum late-career publicity, and now the whole thing is way worse than it needed to be.

 

[OttoMets]

Brando's first tweet was rough, but at least you could defend his premise if you really want to, although it's really an argument of semantics. Instead of letting the fact that people got really mad about it roll off his back, he then turned it into this whole thing about how Collins isn't really important and how it was some plot with his agent to drum late-career publicity, and now the whole thing is way worse than it needed to be.

This stuff is honestly Greek to me; could you copy/paste his first tweet?

 

[Captnhowdy]

It's an obvious topic of discussion on ESPN, so why is he chastised for his viewpoint while nothing is said of everyone else at ESPN who comments on it with their personal views? I just don't know what everyone expects him to say if those are his beliefs when he is asked questions about it.

Broussard went to far when he started passing judgement.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

My first thought when I heard about the Wallace tweet was how people are stupid and should just shut up. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that it is a good thing that stupid idiots should manifest themsleves out in the open on such a platform as twitter. Talk about coming out. Tis better to keep your mouth shut and allow for the appearance of stupidity than to open your mouth and remove all doubt

 

[Toga]

Waded through the ESPN comments for a few minutes. A lot of hate filled comedians there as there are on most comments sections. Pretty amazing how many people feel comfortable with the hate. I have hated people in my life for actions that had a direct impact on me, and even that got to me after a while. I can only imagine hating a whole group of people based on their sexual orientation. Hopefully enough athletes will come out in support that it will give some of the idiots out there pause. The professional athlete can reach and influence a lot of people, hopefully many are ready to use that for the positive.

Comments sections on a wide range of otherwise mainstream websites - are a scary place to go. Real scary.

 

[djcon57]

Tim Brando ‏@TimBrando 3h
On the topic of Jason Collins I really don't care and frankly why should anyone else.The HERO worship is out of bounds.I'm glad he is happy.

" Tim Brando ‏@TimBrando 2h
@danfmiller if he had done this coming out of Stanford then I would have been borderline"impressed"!He is past his prime, but happy for him.

Tim Brando ‏@TimBrando 1h
Calling it a night folks. The Dictionary matters to me and "HERO"can't be used loosely. That's my only point. Twitter took over afterwards.


Also note...

From last December:
@TimBrando
Watching my Hero Curt Gowdy on Archives Special from an old CBS Sports Spectacular recorded in the very early 80's. The American Sportsman!

and from last August:
‏@TimBrando
.@dariusrucker You are my HERO for the day. @TwoGlovesGolf was my partner in the ProAm at St.Judes in Memphis. My family enjoyed ur Concert!


...so obviously the dictionary wasn't in play on those days. HOOTIE.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Comments sections on a wide range of otherwise mainstream websites - are a scary place to go. Real scary.

So it appears a big thorn in the side of people is that collins is being called a hero by some. Their premise is that to be a hero you have to put yourself knowingly in some form of bodily danger.

I cannot for the life of me understand how it is not obivious that someone coming out publicly as being gay is indeed putting their very life on the line. He could be shot, stabbed, financially harmed, socially ostracized. He's not a hero because he is gay, he is a hero because he has the guts to come out to the legions of Walkers that inhabit this planet

 

[BlackKnight76]

Tim Brando ‏@TimBrando 3h
On the topic of Jason Collins I really don't care and frankly why should anyone else.The HERO worship is out of bounds.I'm glad he is happy.

" Tim Brando ‏@TimBrando 2h
@danfmiller if he had done this coming out of Stanford then I would have been borderline"impressed"!He is past his prime, but happy for him.

Tim Brando ‏@TimBrando 1h
Calling it a night folks. The Dictionary matters to me and "HERO"can't be used loosely. That's my only point. Twitter took over afterwards.


Also note...

From last December:
@TimBrando
Watching my Hero Curt Gowdy on Archives Special from an old CBS Sports Spectacular recorded in the very early 80's. The American Sportsman!

and from last August:
‏@TimBrando
.@dariusrucker You are my HERO for the day. @TwoGlovesGolf was my partner in the ProAm at St.Judes in Memphis. My family enjoyed ur Concert!


...so obviously the dictionary wasn't in play on those days. HOOTIE.

@TimBrando

2h​

I'm hearing Collins is a HERO because he made history! Ok as a Sports Commentator if I make a SEX tape is that history?The word matters ok

This one has since been deleted:

@TimBrando
@matthewrwalter it was his choice to come out at age 34 and his future beyond basketball enhanced by an Agent that wanted this story NOW! Ok

 

[STEVEHOLT]

@TimBrando

2h​

I'm hearing Collins is a HERO because he made history! Ok as a Sports Commentator if I make a SEX tape is that history?The word matters ok

This one has since been deleted:

@TimBrando
@matthewrwalter it was his choice to come out at age 34 and his future beyond basketball enhanced by an Agent that wanted this story NOW! Ok

Did you see the response to this? Jose Canseco replied that he is down if Brando is. LOOOL

 

[BlackKnight76]

Did you see the response to this? Jose Canseco replied that he is down if Brando is. LOOOL

That might be the penultimate sports tweet ever. Commentator is taken to task about something. Something bigoted is involved. Sex is involved. Jose Canseco chimes in.

 

[The General]

Hey Tim Brando, don't f****n tell me who I can consider a hero and under what criteria. Your heros are a personal choice. It can be your dad, your child, or maybe even Hootie. That's for you to decide. Dude is trying to hide behind a Webster's definition? Pathetic.

Who knew Brando was suddenly so passionate about grammar!