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Tag: jason collins

  • Christiano Ronaldo on TIME’s ‘Most Influential’ List

    FIFA soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo is featured this year in TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and joins other influentials like Pope Francis, Barack Obama and pop icon Beyoncé on this year’s list.

    There were only five other sports dignitaries noted on the magazine’s 2014 list. They were Brooklyn Nets star Jason Collins, Seattle Seahawks SuperBowl champion Richard Sherman, Tennis virtuoso Serena Williams and golf pro Lydia Ko.

    Brazilian soccer legend Pele heralded his fellow ‘futball’ star on the magazine page featuring the FIFA Ballon d’Or 2013 winner.

    “Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the most influential athletes in sports today. I greatly respect his competitive mind-set on the field, and it’s no surprise that he is currently considered the best soccer player in the world. He reminds me a bit of my late friend and Portuguese soccer legend Eusebio,” said Pele.

    “I had the opportunity to share his joy onstage at this year’s FIFA Ballon d’Or ceremony in Zurich. Cristiano never ceases to give his best for his national team. He reminds me a bit of my late friend and Portuguese soccer legend Eusébio. They have the same elegance and creativity,” said Pele.

    “Back when I played, I would have loved having a teammate like Cristiano to play with up front. I would like to encourage him to keep up the hard work and to continue to fuel the passion for the sport among today’s youth.”

    The Portuguese native is the only Real Madrid player in history to have scored more than 30 goals in four consecutive seasons and the fastest player to have reached 100 goals.

    Image via YouTube

  • Derrick Gordon Comes Out as D-1’s First Gay Athlete

    After transferring to the University of Massachusetts from Western Kentucky University to be closer to his family, UMass basketball guard Derrick Gordon still found himself alone and unhappy. “There were a few occasions where he’d roll off by himself rather than with the rest of his teammates or he’d leave the Mullins Center looking like something was on his mind. We’d ask him and he’d say he was fine, but he clearly had some things he was wrestling with in his life,” said UMass coach Derek Kellogg.

    Rather than combatting the ills that plagued his day to day life, Gordon struggled internally with his emotions throughout the season. Touted as an explosive scorer who would add life to the UMass offense and spur them toward an NCAA tournament run, Gordon found himself becoming more and more insular and having his personal issues affect his performance on the court: ‘I didn’t really hang out with them as far as going to parties and stuff. I really kind of kept to myself, kept quiet. We went on road trips – I’d sit by myself and they were always wondering why. I did it because I didn’t want to put myself in a situation where maybe something happens and they end up finding out. Then what? I’m not going to know how to handle the situation.”

    Two weeks after the Minutemen’s loss to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tournament, however, Gordon decided it was time to share some crucial information with his team.

    Coach Kellogg, having already heard the news from Gordon, brought the team together for a meeting. “We’re all here together, and we need to love each other for who we are. One of your family members, your brother, wants to let you know something about himself.”

    Faced with the immediacy of the situation, however, Gordon found it hard to come forward and make the announcement. Luckily, his coach had his back the entire way: “I wanted to let you all know I’m gay,” announced Kellogg.

    Witnessing the strength of his coach making such a statement, Gordon found the courage to come forward himself: “No, he’s not. But I am,” Gordon declared.

    While the players initially sat in shock following Coach Kellogg’s announcement, immediate support came upon hearing Gordon’s announcement.

    “We got you, DG. You’re one of us,” shouted fellow guard and sophomore Trey Davis.

    And since that moment, the support has not ceased. Not only has Gordon received positive words of support from his family and teammates, but from the basketball and sporting communities writ-large.

    Fordham coach Tom Pecora weighed in on the matter, stating, “Our responsibility as people and coaches in the world of college athletics is obviously to support him in any way we can. I can’t imagine here at Fordham there being an issue with a person in the stands and certainly not with a player on our team. But if there was, I’d go into the stands on behalf of the kid. That’s gotta be the mindset. It’s important for that young man to know people have his back.”

    Gordon also received support from two of the most prominent gay athletes at the moment, Michael Sam and Jason Collins.

    It was Collins who initially inspired Gordon to come forward after announcing his sexuality to Sports Illustrated in April 2013: “That was so important to me, knowing that sexuality didn’t matter, that the NBA was OK with it,” stated Gordon.

    Since the decision to come out as Division 1’s first openly gay athlete, Gordon feels like a new man: “Before, I usually just kept to myself because I didn’t want to lie or be fake. But not anymore. I feel so good right now. It’s like this huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”

    Image via Instagram

  • Jason Collins Says He Has Been Taunted With Gay Insults From One NBA Player

    After receiving tons of positive support following his coming out, it seems that Jason Collins is still feeling negativity from at least one person. He is the first openly gay player in the NBA, and is a center for the Brooklyn Nets.

    Another player in the NBA, from an opposing team, has reportedly been taunting Jason Collins because of his sexuality, something that people may have feared, but others might not expect at this time.

    Collins recently revealed that he has received negative comments from another player during a game. He has not let it get to him during the game, and will not reveal who it is, but it is not something that he should have to tolerate as a player.

    He said that he chose not to retaliate during the game when it happened because he is entitled to his opinion, and he did not want to let it ruin his focus on the game. Collins is a 13-year veteran in the NBA, but had been a free agent until the Nets signed him just over a month ago.

    The NBA veteran should feel at home with the Nets since coach Jason Kidd is a former teammate of his on the Nets several seasons ago, and he also played with Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett on the Celtics.

    In a recent interview with ESPN, Jason Collins explained the situation when saying “In the flow of the game, you have emotions going. It goes back to controlling what I can control — having self control and having the discipline to recognize it for what it is and keep the focus on the game.”

    He did reiterate that he has received positive support overall, and after facing over 100 players and coaches, he was bound to interact with at least one player who would choose to act in a negative way toward him.

    Due to his courage as an athlete, and fans who want to support him, his jersey has been a top seller on NBAstore.com since he signed with the team. The Brooklyn Nets are currently 36-31, and in 6th place in the Eastern Conference.

    He originally explained the situation to the New York Daily News, and said ““He’s a knucklehead. So I just let it go. Again, that goes back to controlling what you can control. That’s how I conduct myself just being professional.”

    Jason Collins signed a second 10-day deal after his first one expired, and on March 15, he was signed for the remainder of the season. Since joining the Brooklyn Nets, he has played in 10 games, averaging only 8.4 minutes.

    Image via Facebook

  • Jason Collins Signs with NBA’s Nets

    Jason Collins became the first openly gay athlete in one of North America’s four major professional sports Sunday, when he signed a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets in the afternoon and then appeared in uniform hours later against the Lakers, for the first time since announcing he was openly gay last season.

    The N.B.A. center played 11 scoreless minutes in the second quarter at the Staples Center and was met with applause from the crowd.

    “Sometimes in life something happens and there’s an opportunity,” Collins said shortly before taking to the court Sunday night.

    “I’m very thankful for this opportunity. That’s why I work so hard, why I train the way I do so that when I do have an opportunity physically I’m not worried about my conditioning or cardio or anything along those lines,” he said.

    The 35-year-old player announced last spring that he is gay, but he was a free agent and remained unsigned. Sunday marked Collins’ first time appearing on the court since April 17, 2013, when he appeared with the Washington Wizards. He had been training on his own in Los Angeles after failing to receive an offer from any of the basketball league’s 30 teams since his revelation of his sexual orientation to Sports Illustrated last year.

    Until Sunday, no publicly gay participant had played on the court for the N.B.A. North America’s other three major sports leagues – the N.F.L., N.H.L. and Major League Baseball – had never had an openly gay player.

    Collins played 11 minutes in the Nets’ 108-102 win, finishing with no points, two rebounds, a steal and five fouls.

    Collins will wear No. 98 for the Nets, but was unable to wear it Sunday because it was not available in time for the game against the Lakers, so he wore No. 46 instead.

    His choice of the No. 98 is in honor of Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student who died in a notorious anti-gay hate crime in 1998. Collins also wore the jersey number when he played with the Celtics and Wizards.

    The California native said he was ready to be back in the game.

    “I’ve played for 12 years in the league so I know how to play basketball,” Collins said. “It’s just about getting timing back in the NBA game, so I’m ready. Let’s do it.

    Image via Wikipedia Commons

  • Jason Collins: 1st Openly Gay NBA Player Re-Signed

    Although Jason Collins should be admired for his courage to be the first openly gay NBA player, he should be ever more applauded for joining the slightly ramshackled Brooklyn Nets today.

    While already proven brave, Collins shows that he may also be of the shrewd athlete as well. Sports Illustrated tells us that he and the Nets have agreed on a 10-day contract, and we’ll see him play later today in a Nets jersey against the Lakers.

    Granted, the team is not doomed to failure– Despite being unceremoniously dumped by one of the most famous Brooklynites and pretty much the spokesperson of the team, Jay-Z, the team is currently doing average at best with a 25-28 record while clinging to the last playoff spot for dear life. Now, adding Jason Collins to the team is an additional plus; Collins has already played with the two power players of the Nets, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, in Boston. He was also teammates with Nets head coach Jason Kidd in the earlier 2000s.

    Jason Collins ranked first in Stanford’s field goal percentage history, and is a 13-year NBA veteran in great shape. Strangely though, Collins hasn’t been signed to a team in close to nine months. Is it just a coincidence that it has also been almost nine months since he publicly announced his homosexuality? It would be hard not to connect the two.

    Despite the issues that still seem unavoidable in today’s time, we congratulate Jason Collins as well as the Brooklyn Nets. Collins is a 7-foot defensive power player who has stifled some of the strongest centers such as Dwight Howard, and his experience and added size to the Brooklyn Nets roster might be exactly what the team needs to boost their rankings. Be sure to check him out tonight.

    Image via NDN

  • Barkley: Gay Players Were “No Big Deal” In The NBA

    Charles Barkley knows a thing or two about the NBA. He was a player for more than 15 years so surely he would know something about gay players in the league, right?

    In a radio interview on the Dan Patrick show, the subject of Jason Collins, who recently came out as the first openly gay NBA player, and gay players in the NBA became a topic. Barkley said he, and pretty much every other player, had played with a gay teammate during their time in the league:

    Everybody did. Everybody played with a gay teammate, Dan. And it’ s no big deal. First of all, I think it’s an insult to gay people to think that they’re trying to pick up on their teammates. But everybody has played with a gay teammate… It’s obviously discussed, privately, because the problem is, Dan, unless somebody tells you they’re gay, you can’t say a thing about them being gay. Ya know, until somebody has the courage, and I think it takes great courage to come out, it’s kind of an unspoken word to be honest with you.

    He used Collins to back up his claim saying that the Wizards center had played with six teams, so by extension, players on those six teams had played with a gay teammate. He also said that nobody knows a teammate is gay until they come out because “it’s none of your business.”

    You can check out the full interview with Barkley below:

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  • Howard Kurtz Fired After Jason Collins Story

    Howard Kurtz, the writer whose piece on Jason Collins drew backlash earlier this week, has been fired from The Daily Beast.

    Kurtz alleged in his story that Collins, who has just come out as a gay man, didn’t come clean about his engagement to a woman. He also made several errors regarding Collins’ essay in Sports Illustrated, then updated his article to amend his original stance and ended up just making readers angry.

    Collins’ piece read, “When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.”

    The Daily Beast retracted the article and released a statement about Kurtz’s errors, saying, “The Daily Beast sincerely regrets Kurtz’s error — and any implication that Collins attempted to hide or obscure the engagement.”

    Since coming out in the most recent edition of Sports Illustrated, Collins is being recognized as the first openly gay professional athlete in the U.S. The story went viral this week, but Kurtz’s blog post picked up major media attention and may have had a hand in his termination. Kurtz had this to say on Twitter:

    “I’ve enjoyed my time at the Daily Beast but as we began to move in different directions, both sides agreed it was best to part company,” he wrote. “This was in the works for some time, but want to wish all my colleagues continued success with a terrific website. Newsweek and the Beast are great brands, but the time had come for me to move on to other opportunities.”