Jason Collins’ impeccable qualifications

Posted by hpayne on May 1, 2013

Jason Collins is no Jackie Robinson, but his coming out as a gay NBA athlete sheds light on the difficulties of being a minority in an athletic culture – even as sports sets a noble example of meritocracy.043013_NBAGay_UFSCOLOR

Some onlookers celebrated Collins as a 21st century Jackie Robinson, but the comparison diminishes the fire Robinson went through as Major League Baseball’s first black athlete. Black segregation was a horrible reality in the 1940s – segregated drinking fountains, buses, even a separate “Negro League” for black ballplayers. Robinson broke those barriers. The same-sex marriage debate aside, no equivalent barriers exist for the 7-foot tall Collins. Even so, being gay in the testosterone-soaked culture of male sports has surely been uncomfortable for Collins. I played competitive basketball through college – and while I don’t know if any of my teammates were gay, it would have been uncomfortable to admit in swaggering, cheerleader-chasing locker rooms.

Majority cultures work both ways. A talented male classmate of mine had his heart set on a career as a professional dancer in New York theater – but as a straight man he found it difficult to fit in to the gay theater culture and eventually left despite a bright future with a top New York dance company.

Collins “outing” this week also was a refreshing glimpse into sports meritocracy.

“Whether he is straight, gay, black, white, from Earth, or from Mars is immaterial. Just help us win,” tweeted the Miami Heat’s Sane Battier, a former Detroit Country Day High School superstar. Battier’s sentiments echoed that of most players and coaches who put a premium on skill – not color, sex, or creed.

That’s an example to the political and academic world’s which still insist on retro- “diversity” quotas for college admission. Higher ed’s lawsuit against Michigan’s civil rights law, for example. In a telling intersection of sports and politics during the MCRI debate in 2006, Michigan State Basketball Coach Tom Izzo was dragged out to the microphones to lend his support for his university’s admission quotas. A savvy MCRI student supporter – about 5’5″ and Asian – put on an MSU basketball jersey and attended the press conference to mock Izzo for the lack of short Asian players on his NCAA team.

Point taken. Regardless of his sexual orientation, Jason Collins belongs in the NBA because he’s qualified. The same standard should hold in the classroom as well.

Comments are closed.