And it was only recently that we were told that there were no gay people in basketball. Seems like that was, unsurprisingly, a whole load of garbage.

Great article. Thanks for sharing! He is very brave. I hope others will follow his example.

I hope one day this won't even be newsworthy.

I hope this starts a flood of declarations.

@Jamiet ... the only reason it's newsworthy today is because of people like ESPN's Chris Broussard that go out and attack him on the basis of a religion that he has never said to be following.

I can't wait for a Republican politician to come out and support him. I specifically can't wait for a far-right Republican to offer support. Presidents Obama and Clinton are no real surprise. That's when it would really show that he's made a stand.

ESPN is a bunch of blowhards. It took Sportscenter two hours to even acknowledge that this news came out because they were too busy rabbling about Tebow and the Lakers. Broussard is one of the worst sports reporters on the beat.

I'm happy for Collins and I'll be happier once he re-signs with an NBA team next season. Between he and Brittney Griner last week, hopefully we see more high profile athletes come out. A lower profile athlete like Collins hopefully allows more popular and well-known athletes to see that it's alright to be gay in professional sports.

Bravery is contagious. I expect to see a few more over the next week or so.

I dearly hope for more soon. He should be remembered as the first, not the only. Hell, maybe we should remember that he's still got basketball left to play too.

And yes, ESPN is a bunch of blowhards. Unfortunately, nobody can compete with them. I watch MLB and NFL Network when I can but that's about it. Nobody else is consistently better anymore.

Brousard isn't even in the running for the worst talking head on ESPN. Steven A. Smith and Skip Bayless are the worst in all sports "reporting." They just spew shit to hear themselves talk.

Someone posted this... a good article: http://deadspin.com/5929361/how-espn-ditched-journalism-and-followed-skip-bayless-to-the-bottom-a-tim-tebow-story

@bo - I'm not even going to click on your link. I remember reading that story. They all suck. I watched the draft on the NFL network and didn't miss the "world wide leader" one bit. They suck.

Big time. They had a segment on Tim Tebow's birthday. It was about Tim Tebow's birthday. 30 fuckin minutes.

Here is the problem. I'm from Florida. Love the Gators. Love the college QB Tim Tebow. Love the man Tim Tebow. The pro QB Tim Tebow? Not so much. But I am so sick of hearing that he is a polarizing figure. All he does is work hard, be a good teammate and profess his faith. He hasn't hurt anyone. If ESPN would have just left him alone, he would have been drafted down in the 4th or 5th round and had very few expectations. But as a 1st rounder? No way could he live up to that. He just doesn't have the QB skill. And remember...I like him.

He doesn't have QB skill, but in a similar way to EJ Manuel, he has the drive to get it. He'll be a QB in some league somewhere, maybe the NFL. If ESPN hadn't latched onto him, he'd be a solid backup somewhere, maybe having snuck into a potential starting spot by now. Wherever he goes, ESPN will be there. It's unfortunate that the media has been able to effectively ruin his shot at his dream.

The best thing that happened to him is being released by that joke of a franchise in NY. They ruined what was left of his chance to stay as a starter. I have no idea why they traded for him and didn't use him. Didn't they know what they were getting? Or did they do it strictly for press?

They did it for press and they did it because the old GM thought he was a good investment to play in the wildcat.

BTW...I'm sorry for being a part of hijacking this thread. It should be about Collins, not Tebow or ESPN. I just don't really care who is fucking who as long as they aren't fucking me. I deal with a lot of gay kids and this is really nothing new to me. Thinking that there were no gay professional athletes is just silly. One was bound to come out eventually. Maybe more will follow. The general attitude seems positive to his announcement, so we will see.