Jason Collins was a member of the Washington Wizards during the second half of the season. (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)
Story Highlights
OutSports.com manager Cyd Zeigler believes Jason Collins is the right person to come out
Collins' twin brother Jarron, who played in the NBA from 2002-2011, supports his decision
ESPN reporter Chris Broussard expressed religious reasons for coming out against Collins
When Mark Madsen got a text message from Jason Collins early Monday morning asking him to call, Madsen thought the two were going to discuss graduate school options.
Madsen just completed his MBA at Stanford, where both he and Collins played basketball as undergrads, and Madsen knows Collins is interested in graduate school.
"He said, 'I'm actually coming out. I'm gay,' " Madsen told USA TODAY Sports. "I said, 'Jason, thanks for letting me know. I got your back.' "
The two talked privately for a few minutes, Madsen said, before Collins began calling others in advance of a first-person Sports Illustrated story hitting the web.
FREE AGENCY: Collins' immediate NBA future
POSITIVE REACTION: Kobe, Clinton offer support
Collins will be a free agent this summer. Where he'll play next season, if he does, is one of many questions about the first openly gay male athlete in North American team sports while still an active player. Here are some others:
Q: Why is Collins a good fit for this role?
Cyd Zeigler, a manager of OutSports.com, a leading website on gay sports, has covered this issue for years.
"We've talked about who this person could be in the past. And Jason kind of fits the mold. A really good player who's been in the league for a long time who doesn't have a lot to lose in endorsement deals. He is set for the rest of his life financially. I never thought it was going to be a superstar."
Q: Why is the timing right?
Zeigler has written before that the best time for an athlete to make such an announcement would be early in an offseason. Collins' timing "just two weeks after his regular season ended, and six months before the season starts, it couldn't be a better time to do this. The media will get the story out of its system before tip-off of the next season."
BACKLASH: ESPN reporter calls Collins a sinner
BRENNAN: Just call Jason Collins a team player
Q: Are pro team sports ready to accept gay athletes in their locker rooms?
Madsen said he thinks NBA locker rooms are ready: "Do you respect others, how do you treat others and how do you play? Those are the rules of the locker room. Religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation ... all those things are secondary to the goal of winning basketball games. It's a meritocracy in the NBA. People perform or don't perform."
But Doug Plank, who played for the Chicago Bears in the '70s and '80s and coached in the NFL, said on Orlando radio this month: "Everybody tries to be politically correct ... especially people who operate in business and other public occupations. But you get inside an NFL locker room, I tell you what, it's something else. It's a jungle in there. ... Last time I was in an NFL locker room, changing clothes every day and getting ready to go out to practice, I just think that would be a very, very tough environment for someone to come forward and say they have different sexual orientation."
Outside the locker room "we've certainly seen so much more acceptance," Plank said. "It's almost normal now. It's not a big issue. But there are still those last bastions that are left and sports is one of them. You get into a locker room with these type of individuals that are very, very driven and very physical, and I think it's still an issue."
