As we all have heard through the media the coming
out of NBA player Jason Collins was welcomed by most of society with open arms.
He even received personal phone calls from President Obama and Hillary Clinton
to commend his courage. Collins is a free agent that averaged less than one
point per game this past season and finished off his 12th
season in the NBA. Since he is not the first gay athlete, the question arises;
why is he getting so much support and exposure? The reason is because he
is the first to do so while still being ACTIVE in his sport. There are
talks about the challenges that the NBA will find if he does not get picked up
for this next season. Society is backing Collins 100% and will be the first to
assume he won’t get picked up based on discrimination reasons against the Gay
community rather than his actual talent level. Many have even compared him to
the Jackie Robinson of our era. Yes, he is being seen as the first to put an
end to discrimination in professional sport and I believe that our society is
making huge steps in sport to put an end to all forms of discrimination.
However, we are still far away from where we should be.
In comparison we take the example of Tim Tebow.
Tim Tebow has been one of the first ACTIVE male athletes who have openly
expressed his faith in Christianity. Tebow has been a successful college
athlete and some may say not a very successful professional athlete. He has
always been open about his religious beliefs; with the “Tebow” kneel as well as
the bible versus on his face. This makes people uncomfortable and gives critics
something to disagree with. Now that Tim Tebow is in essence a free agent,
being let go from the Jets. I doubt that anyone would lose sleep or society would
care if he did not get signed to another NFL team this upcoming season. This
situation is the exact opposite from Jason Collins. Yes I would agree that
Jason had more risk of criticism than Tebow did about his beliefs, however this
is much more similar than most people think.
In conclusion these two situations show us that
our society is working towards tolerance and acceptance. However, it also shows
us we are still far from completely getting rid of discrimination. Just because
we can accept one thing our society we begin to believe that we are on the
right track but in reality we are far from it. How can we accept one athlete
for who he is and his beliefs but yet have the exact opposite reaction to the
other. Collins had more to risk possibly, yet he is now able to be who he is in
the public eye without criticism while Tim Tebow cannot do the same.
Ashley Cabrera
KIN 577
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