pretty neat to know you're living through a little bit of history

Absolutely. I know there have been rumors about several NFL players coming out recently. I wonder if this news will open the floodgates. It would be cool if it does.

‏@kobebryant Proud of @jasoncollins34. Don't suffocate who u r because of the ignorance of others #courage #support #mambaarmystandup #BYOU

We've come a looooong way from Karl Malone not wanting to play an All Star Game with Magic.

2) Being an SI coverstory, this is a high profile event, and possibly a major step forward for gay athletes, but I think it will take a better-known athlete to open the floodgates.

The initial reaction I'm hearing (which is similar to my initial reaction) is: "Who? Well, good for him."

Several professional soccer players have come out, and it hardly made a ripple in the ocean of sports media.

I'm looking forward to reading Collins' story.

4) Soccer isn't the same as basketball. Collins is a respected veteran. If you don't follow the game, though, I'm sure you wouldn't have heard of him until now. But I think this does get the ball rolling. And it will likely be role players, not stars, who do take the first steps. But a star won't be too far off.

Yeah, I think "respected veteran" is about right. Has had some pretty good years for good teams in the past and has been more of a solid backup type in recent years. Basically this would be like if Lyle Overbay or someone like that came out.

5) yeah, I'm a casual NBA fan (college hoops first), almost exclusively interested in the Knicks, and his name didn't immediately register with me.

Internationally, soccer is a much bigger game than NBA basketball. It's THE world sport, so I thought the American players would have generated more interest.

I do think, given the SI platform, Collins will probably have a bigger impact than the soccer guys.

also, playing 12 years in the league for a few teams means his roots within the league go pretty deep. Everyone in the NBA KNOWS Jason Collins, which I think will help inform the reaction of a lot of the players you'll hear from today.

Soccer is bigger worldwide of course but it's not in the States. It doesn't have the same impact, emotionally or institutionally.

8) Yeah, they play on the "Three Degrees of Jason Collins" theme in the article.

Here's more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/magazine/news/20130429/jason-collins-reveals-gay-nba-interview/?sct=hp_t11_a4&eref=sihp

[8] yeah damn near half the league.
interesting follow-up from his twin too.

hopefully this is more of a positive than negative experience for him.

Who he loves, marries, sleeps with, or befriends is none of our business, but whoever hates him for any of those things should be all of our business. Very simply, judging a person by the content of their character is still not a "dream" that has been fully realized -- given some of the comments I've read already.

After all these years, I still think Magic is bi ...

(not that it should matter, but ...)

12) yeah, who cares who he loves...

I think the Knicks should pick him up. He's a free agent, 7 footer. Who doesn't need that?

[14] in today's nba - no one, unless you have an actual low post game or can ably defend the pick-and-roll.
his main skill is he has 6 fouls to give.
he is a fa though, so will be interesting.

15) 6 fouls to give, and the truth. This town has made bigger stars of athletes who have had far less to offer than that.

[16] haha, definitely true.

Just saw "42". The parallel is obvious and I won't haul out the trite stuff.

My state (I'll let you guess) is about to pass its Marriage Equality bill, and the senate warded off some tactical attempts to water it down. This is a very Catholic state. The light is dawning.

Oh, and good for Doc Rivers, too.

[14, 15 16] I mean just from a pure basketball standpoint, he played 48 games this year and was logging pretty regular bench minutes for a playoff team as recently as last year. So I think he could provide something more to a team outside of curiosity value.

He's not John Amaechi is my point, he's had a legitimate career.

[19] true that he's had a legitimate career. but with many teams opting not to play a traditional center, and especially moving away from zeros offensively, he (and many others like him) have less value in today's game (obviously speaking about basketball value).

[18] it is good to see a lot of intelligent support.

The Red Sox invited Jason to throw out the first pitch.

Hmph.
It's a lot harder to hate the Sox these days.
I'm sure I'll get back into the swing later in the season, but, hmph.

21) So true. And very cool.

21) That's a very nice gesture. I hope the Red Sox fans with the "Jeter's Gay" t-shirts stay home that game.

History repeats itself -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodom_and_Gomorrah

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iV8X8ubGCc