Jason Collins Quietly Takes the Court as NBA’s First Openly Gay Player

Sorry, Michael Sam, you may have to settle for
being the first openly gay NFL player (maybe) rather than the first
openly gay “big four” sports athlete. Jason Collins, the NBA center
who came out of the closet last year, but hasn’t played since then,
has now played since then. Over the weekend, the Brooklyn Nets
signed Collins, and he played for 11 minutes Sunday night against
the Lakers.

The Nets won 108-102 against the Lakers. The Associated Press

noted that the poor performance by the Lakers these days
prompted ESPN to drop the game from its schedule, meaning the
historical moment was not televised nationally.

So, how was Collins anyway? Collins was not brought on for flash
or for big numbers. There’s a reason people who aren’t basketball
fans hadn’t heard of him. His job is to be a big, intrusive person
who gets in the way of the opposing players so that his teammates
can score. He fouls a lot. Kevin Arnovitz at ESPN analyzed Collins’
brief appearance with the appropriate
basketball jargon:

Collins then went to work and it was vintage unvarnished
Collins. Nets coach Jason Kidd wanted a backup center who talked on
defense, and that’s what Collins proceeded to do, calling out
directions from the back line like a veteran big man. He fouled
like crazy — five in 11 minutes of court time. On the offensive
end, he appeared rusty and his timing was off. He missed his only
shot and fumbled a pass from Deron Williams while rolling to the
bucket.

On the positive side of the ledger, Collins also plastered
defenders with screens. After the game, he recounted with a broad
smile his favorite moment of the night — witnessing Lakers point
guard Jordan Farmar kvetch to the officials that Collins was
setting moving picks. For guys like Collins who perform janitorial
duties, this is among the highest compliments.

Arnovitz noted that the crowd in Los Angeles didn’t exactly
“create a moment” for Collins’ return to the floor:

[T]hose who wanted a sentimental, politically satisfying Aaron
Sorkin screenplay instead got a grainy Frederick Wiseman
documentary utterly devoid of drama. There was a smattering of
supportive applause and a few standers, but many couldn’t be
bothered to look up from their phones.

Arnovitz, though, fails to note that the Staples Center
responded to Collins taking to the court by playing the theme song
to The Addams Family, clearly a shout-out to Paul Rudnick,
the openly gay screenwriter of Addams Family Values. (Why
should sports writers be the only ones to get to traffic in
trivia?)

Anyway, it was obvious all along that should Collins return to
active competition, it was going to be this low-key fashion. This
contract is for 10 days, so we’ll just have to see how his
remaining games go.

Watch history being made before a mostly disinterested but
kindly crowd below: