We both know he’s not the only one. But for now he’s the only one brave enough to come out of the locker room and admit he’s gay.
Statistically speaking there is no possible way that Jason Collins is the only homosexual athlete to earn a living in the NBA, NFL, CFL, MLS, MLB, or NHL. Yet from the protective confines of a room full of teammates, only Collins has braved to step onto the lonely stage of disclosure, as a one-man show.
You can’t underestimate his bravery. He’s a 34 year old free agent journeyman with limited skills, seeking a new contract. Will his coming out prevent him from ever going back in? Back into the sacred hollow that is reserved for the best athletes in the world? Will he be welcomed with open arms and hearts, or will he be perceived as a freak who could be stealing a glance at an unexpected moment?
You can’t oversell the romance of a team dressing room. The locker room is the most amazing place in the world, although it’s not a real world.
In the locker room you are a physical god, regardless of whether you play house league, minor league, or beer league.
In the locker room you are surrounded by friends, even if you’re eight years old and don’t know the names of half the occupants, or you’re twenty-eight and on a 10-day contract.
In the locker room nonsensical motivational rants, “the only team that can beat us….is us”; sound almost as logical as the media sound bites, “we just have to play our game.”
But has the locker room also played bully in the situation of homosexual athletes? Does the machismo, the testosterone, the bravado expel those uncomfortable with their personal choices? On male teams, do the derogatory references that refer to less skilled players as “girls”, or the timid as “gays”, or the opponents as out and out “fags”, torture the soul of those who are trying to understand their sexual identity.
A colleague suggested this theory to me recently. That sports has less homosexuals than gen pop, because its pack mentality tends to scare people off.
He may be right. And that’s downright sad. Because every locker room needs a Jason Collins. Because Jason Collins is an athlete who has courage, an athlete who has fortitude, an athlete who isn’t afraid to come out of the locker room and answer the buzzer. The buzzer that is sounding a key message, “It’s about time.”