The Greatest Sports Moments of 2013
USA Today
Jason Collins is a 34 year old professional basketball player in the NBA. He put his professional career on the line when he decided to become the first ever major professional sports player to come out as a homosexual. Last spring Collins came out to the media with a simple statement, "I'm black, and I'm gay." The 34 year old veteran of the NBA had been labeled as nothing but the epitome of a team player his entire career as a professional after leaving Stanford in 2001. He was selected in the first round that year in the draft, but things have changed since he has been drafted. The former first round draft pick was just recently been tagged as a "distraction" or an "obstacle" like he would drag down his team for expressing his sexuality. Collins has been an unsigned free agent since he has made his announcement to the world of sports. Collins has chosen to remain silent about the topic now in hopes that the distraction label is dropped before the all-star break, in hopes of signing another contract. In his 14th year in the NBA, his career may be coming to a close for Jason Collins, but he may have paved the road for many other players dealing with the same pressure.
Devan Marry
Devon,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example to use for your blog post and topic! It is really sad to me seeing an athlete, and a human being treated like that just for coming out and saying he/she is gay. I really do think however that Collins has paved a road for other athletes, and is a very strong person for doing that and jeopardizing his career. Even though he might have been very negatively affected by it, he has let other people know it is okay to be who you are. Great job with this post.
Abbie Minsker
Hearing that Collins came out recently has opened so many doors for others. I know being in the spot light as a professional basketball player has to be hard. It must be even harder when choosing to come out of the closet for the whole world to see. I applaud him and i think this a great article to have posted. Because he was not a afraid for people to see who he really was i believe more people will be willing to come out of the closet.
ReplyDelete-Midori Harrison
It's awesome that Collins came out and told the world about his sexuality. It sucks that he is facing ridicule for it and may not be signed with a team anymore, but I think this is a huge step that can be worth it in the long run. Even if his career comes to an end, he is an inspiration for SO many people! This reminds me a lot of what we talked about in class about how sports are seen as a masculine thing for men and I think it's great that Collins showed you can be good at sports and still be who you are.
ReplyDelete-Aidan Munn