BASKETBALL

The big story of the sports world yesterday, and arguably the biggest sports story of the decade, came out of the NBA.  10 year veteran Jason Collins, who has played for few teams and now is currently on the Wizards roster, has become the first active athlete to openly admit he is gay.  A few other male athletes have done it in the past, but only after their careers were over, as they couldn’t imagine what it might mean for their careers if they came out.  The country is sadly full of homophobia, but that has subsided a bunch in the past decade, and Jason Collins felt that now was the perfect time to come out.  An extremely brave and admirable move.
Collins is still on the Wizards roster, and definitely has playing years left, so players will have to be tolerant.  But yesterday, that didn’t appear to be a problem at all.  Many people congratulated Collins, admiring his decision to live his life openly and proudly.  This included Wizards GM Ernie Grunfeld and even Kobe Bryant.  Kobe said on Twitter, “Don’t suffocate who you are because of the ignorance of others”.  Since Collins has come out, he will surely serve as a role model to all gay professional athletes who feel they can’t come out.  He has put himself in the history books alongside Jackie Robinson as the “firsts” in sports.  Collins said in an interview, “It’s time to start the conversation”.

And in the NBA playoffs, the Indiana Pacers may have been dominating the Atlanta Hawks in Indiana in what looked to be a blowout series, but the tune changed once the series headed back to Atlanta.  That’s right the Hawks made some serious noise in “The Highlight Factory” in Game 3, absolutely destroying the Pacers.  And in Game 4, they did the same.  This looks like a completely different team — they have their mojo back.  The series now heads back to Indiana, but if the Hawks can miraculously steal that game, they have a chance to win the series in Game 6 back home.  Atlanta 102, Indiana 91.

Finally, the Bulls were hoping to close out the series against the Nets back in Brooklyn.  There is even a rumor, according to Derrick Rose’s brother that Rose might come back for the Heat series.  Magic Johnson HATES the idea, saying that Rose shouldn’t risk a potentially dominate 13 year career for one series against an extremely talented Heat team, but it’s hard to keep a superstar (who has been cleared to play) on the bench.  Before the Bulls get ahead of themselves, they still have to knock off the Nets.  And the Nets made sure that didn’t happen last night, pulling out their best basketball and pummeling the Bulls.  Chicago will hope to close out the series on their home court in Game 6.  Brooklyn 110, Chicago 91.