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179 pro athletes’ reactions to Jason Collins

Mon, 06 May 2013 18:50:00 +0000

We'd been told for years that professional athletes are Neanderthals who hate gay people. Yet when asked about the coming out of NBA player Jason Collins last week, the overwhelming majority of pro athletes had not just tolerant, but welcoming, comments.

We've compiled a list of all the pro-athlete reactions we could find. If you find some we haven't yet included, please send them my way at cydzeiglerjr@gmail.com

NBA

Tony Allen: Ain't no problem with it. You are what you are.

John Amaechi: Congratulations to Jason - society couldn't hope for a more eloquent & positive role model

Chris Andersen: "he's going to have a tough road, but you know what, I think he's in the right part of a state of mind that he's going to be ... a tough leader."

Is the NBA becoming gay friendly?

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 16:55:00 +0000

You may have missed it, what with the Super Bowl and the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, but NBA superstar Kobe Bryant joined Twitter last month. For devoted basketball fans, his feed has offered a fascinating and occasionally harrowing glimpse into the mind of a psychopathically competitive athlete. For most everyone else, it's been a ho-hum collection of shout-outs and insipid announcements, with an amusing aside about the value of a good pedicure (quoth Bryant: "Pedicure. Very necessary. Take care of ur feet. Ur feet will take care of you") — that is until yesterday.

After a skirmish on the social network prompted one of his followers to make a homophobic remark, the Black Mamba swatted him away like he might an errant jump shot:

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And when a separate follower reminded Bryant that he called a referee a "fucking faggot" as recently as April 2011, Bryant was quick to admonish himself:

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Why I wasn’t rooting for the U.S.

Sat, 04 Aug 2012 21:30:00 +0000

With just over five minutes left in the game on Saturday, Lithuanian power forward Paulius Jankunas scored inside to give his team an 84-82 lead over the United States. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. The U.S. team, whose Olympic basketball roster boasts a combined seven NBA championships, four MVP awards and 43 All-Star game appearances, had entered the game as a 34 ½-point favorite, fresh off a record-shattering 83-point dismantling of Nigeria.

The suddenly real possibility of an epic upset got my juices flowing, and I posted this message on Twitter: “There’s nothing more American than pulling for the underdog. Go Lithuania!”

Within a few minutes, two things happened: 1) LeBron and Team USA woke up and reeled off 17 of the next 23 points, grabbing control and averting a humbling defeat; and 2) outraged responses to my tweet began tricking in, with messages like: “Wow. U suck. Plz self deport.” And: “Revoke your US citizenship dumbass.”