Retireing Jason Collins leaves indelible mark on NBA

November 19th, 2014
by Dakota Antelman

Jason Collins played over 700  games in the NBA before he published a first person narrative in Sports Illustrated that revealed him as the first openly gay player in one of the “Big Four” American sports. After the groundbreaking article, Collins made it into 22 official NBA games.

Collins had played 12 seasons in the NBA when he came out in May of 2013. He had suited up for five different teams, started an NBA Finals game and, by virtue of over 2,000 personal fouls, carved out a reputation as being one of the NBA’s most physical defenders.

Though playing small minutes, Collins was often inserted into games by coaches when the team needed a stop on defense or they needed a big body to dominate the paint. He was respected by coaches and players alike wherever he went.

In coming out, he awarded the NBA and the greater sports world the opportunity to understand the pain that many of the discipline’s closeted members feel.

“No one wants to live in fear,” Collins said in his coming out article. “I've always been scared of saying the wrong thing. I don't sleep well. I never have. But each time I tell another person, I feel stronger and sleep a little more soundly. It takes an enormous amount of energy to guard such a big secret. I've endured years of misery and gone to enormous lengths to live a lie. I was certain that my world would fall apart if anyone knew.”

Collins tore off the veil that can often be cast over gay men; especially those who play sports. He told the world that, though painful, a player can quietly hide their sexuality for years. In doing so he stressed the need for the sports world to accept these players and create an environment where coming out will not affect their participation or acceptance in a team.

Furthermore, he gave context and real world prof that disproved the long entrenched myth that gay males are always unmasculine. He, a hard hitting, seven foot tall, deep voiced, muscular basketball player was gay in every sense despite not conforming to pretty much all of society’s stigmas about homosexual mannerisms.

“I don't let my race define me any more than I want my sexual orientation to. I don't want to be labeled, and I can't let someone else's label define me,” Collins wrote after an anecdote about a visit he paid to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington D.C.

“I go against the gay stereotype, which is why I think a lot of players will be shocked: That guy is gay? But I've always been an aggressive player, even in high school. Am I so physical to prove that being gay doesn't make you soft? Who knows…?” He later questioned.

But as much as Collins made certain about himself and his past experiences, he did not try to hide the uncertainty he had in regards to guessing how the NBA would react to his announcement. On that day, there had never been a player who had been out while still playing.

Would he be heckled?

Would his teammates refuse to be in the locker room with him?

Would he even make a team (when he came out Collins was a free agent)?

At the time, the answers to those questions were blank; but without Collins’ announcement, they would have stayed that way for many more years. He forced the NBA to make a decision and whether it was ready or not he made the world aware of his cause.

It took several months but late last season the message got across and Collins made history. He signed a 10 day contract with the Brooklyn Nets. On February 23^rd, 2014, he became the first openly gay player to participate in a regulation Big Four game.

Collins was greeted with a standing ovation by the LA Lakers crowd present for his debut and responded by playing 11 minutes and logging five fouls.

When he returned home to Brooklyn later that week, he was greeted with cheers of his name and resounding walls of supportive noise.

"It was cool," Collins said of the support. "It was a lot of fun going into the game, but the most important thing was that we got the win."

The fans cheered, the owners finally signed him. Jason Collins proved to himself, the NBA and fans of sports across the country that not only do gay players exist but that they can also excel in the most physical of roles.

 When he announced his retirement Wednesday afternoon (once again to Sports Illustrated) we as fans of these sports were allowed to step back and look at all that he has done. Though he played just over 20 minutes per game and though only what was done in his last 22 games will be what will have him remembered for generations, it was what Jason Collins did over the course of the entirety of his career that has changed the sports forever.

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UMASS Men's Basketball team doing equality the right way

November 17th, 2014

by Dakota Antelman

22 year old UMASS shooting guard Derrick Gordon who came out as gay this past offseason has been excelling in his first week of games as an openly gay player. He has defied false stereotypes and opened a door for gay athletes in sports. But perhaps the greatest feat he has accomplished so far has been one shared with the rest of his team; their 2-0 start.  

In any sport, the only thing that should separate players on a team from each other or one team from another is skill and win/loss record.  Sexuality should not play any part in the deciding of who gets to start and who gets to sit, just as it should not and does not affect who gets into the March Madness come spring.

Such is a sentiment that has been repeated more and more often as we as sports fans have observed a cultural shift regarding the acceptance of gays in sports. As Michael Sam, Jason Collins and Robbie Rogers have all come out in the past few years, each and every official related to judging their play or coaching them in some way has said that skill is all that matters.

But it is also hard to ignore the fact that as their respective careers have unfolded, a blatant difference in what is said and what is done has become evident.

When Michael Sam came out before this season’s NFL draft, the league ensured he would be evaluated on his skill and nothing more. He, a reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year was drafted late in the final round of the draft.

When he first came to the Rams facilities soon after the draft, coach Jeff Fisher announced once again that Sam would get the same opportunity to make the team as everyone else. By the end of the preseason, he, a player who recorded 3 sacks and several other hits to the quarterback, was beaten out by a player who had just one sack.

And alas when he actually managed to stay in the league, Sam’s name lay unspoken as he trundled around the Dallas Cowboys practice squad. He was dropped after just a few weeks and has not been anywhere near the NFL since.

Not enough?

Jason Collins, who came out almost a full year before Sam did, had to wait more than a year before the Brooklyn Nets signed him to a measly 10 day contract.

More?

Robbie Rogers nearly had to leave soccer for good because of the atmosphere he faced after coming out.

In all truth, sports have a long way to go before they can be as inclusive as they make themselves seem to be in their statements and raw quotes. We have not reached a point where coming out does not drastically change the way fans and coaches view a player.

But there are outliers that, when they become evident, serve as a breath of fresh air and a beacon of hope as to what the entirety of the sports world could one day become. Derrick Gordon and the UMASS Basketball team are one of those outliers.

Gordon came out back in April saying, "I just didn't want to hide anymore, in any way ... I've been waiting and watching for the last few months, wondering when a Division I player would come out, and finally I just said, 'Why not me?'"

Since then, a UMASS team on the rise has not skipped a beat. They quickly smoothed out some brief problems with the team and moved on as if Gordon were just one of the guys. In truth that is what he is, right?

This summer though, Gordon received praise from activists and fans alike as his story was watched with a keen eye. When it became clear last month that Michael Sam might not actually make it into a regular season game, the attention turned further towards Gordon. It appeared that this 6 foot 3 inch New Jersey native was going to suddenly become the poster child of the gay sports movement.

With new scrutiny, it could have been easy for his team to fall down the same path of over compensation and thereby exaggeration of the one aspect of Gordon that might separate him from the team. But no one caved and the Minutemen simply proceeded as they would going into any season.

"When I see that it tells me they want me to be around and it makes me a lot more comfortable," Gordon told Outsports, a leading blog on gay issues in sports. "The gay thing doesn't even run through their heads. They don't care about it at all."

Derrick Gordon deserves to be treated as an equal. He does not and should not need to be isolated or even thrown onto a pedestal as a supreme role model. In fact he can still be a role model but he must, more importantly be treated as the equal he is.

As of now, the biggest difference between this year’s UMASS Minutemen team and last year’s team is the lack of the seniors who left. But even that has not changed the identity of the club. They are off to a 2-0 start. They are poised to make a charge back into the NCAA tournament and Derrick Gordon is playing well.

No one within the team has mentioned his sexuality; and just as very little has changed with the team, very little has changed with Derrick Gordon. That is a good thing. He still loves basketball and he still loves men. The team accepts him now which is amazing. But equally important is the fact that the team has insisted that he still be defined by his basketball skill.

They have lived by that statement. In doing so, they have gone farther in helping create equality for homosexuals in sports than any other team in any other league.

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