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Collins is considered a decent third string big man, and has been for most of his career. He hasnt really ever been asked to be a focal point for a team. He's always been considered more of a 'banger'. A big, smart guy with 6 fouls to use on the opponents best big man. His offensive game basically consists of setting screens, which he does well, and not a whole lot else.
Let me engage in some far-fetched fantasy. I don't know what the average basketball player is like, but six teams in twelve years and both points and rebounds under four sounds pretty light to me. Is his career coming to an end? If so, does this announcement help or hurt him? From the same Reuters article:
I can't know what his intentions were, but the article claims that his announcement will give him a slightly better chance to play another year.
I think the fact that he is near the end of his career probably made it a little easier on him to come out than it would for, say, a 20 year old just coming into the league. Imagine if, say, Lebron James came out of the closet as gay. Can you IMAGINE the fervor that would surround that?
If he doesn't get signed, he won't have to worry about any locker room mistreatment, and can claim, if he wants, that he is being discriminated against. Meanwhile, millions of people call him a hero, something that likely few did while he was playing basketball.
If I was a better writer I wouldn't have caused the confusion I obviously did. That is not intended to be a self-deprecating comment, but a realistic observation.
Then what does the headline of the thread mean when he is described as an "active player?"
I am not saying that Collins will be hired, in part, because of his preferences, but it is not impossible.
That there can be no gay men in Basketball? I've never heard of that one.
Originally posted by dontreally
Nevertheless, it has been shown that through cognitive therapy someone who had a homosexual before scan can normalize his brain to have a heterosexual after scan. In effect, he changed his brain, he changed the way he felt about his feelings. Now, this individual feel attracted to the opposite sex.
The recently retired and now recently unretired Rogers, who phoned Collins yesterday while driving to a Los Angeles Galaxy tryout, said, "It feels a little weird to congratulate you for being honest."
Read More: sportsillustrated.cnn.com...
Damage to the DL-PFC can result in the dysexecutive syndrome,[4]which leads to problems with affect, social judgement, executive memory, abstract thinking and intentionality.[5]
Originally posted by dontreally
reply to post by Aleister
Saying something is one thing, but feeling "ok" about it, is quite another.
Personally, if I were a gay athlete, the locker room would be an "exciting" experience. I don't see why not. Handsome muscular men walking around nude. Seems stimulating.
Of course, as a libertarian, I wouldn't interfere or comment on another persons life choices; but at the same time, I could understand the awkwardness other male athletes would feel when in the locker room with someone they know is gay. You can try as hard as you like to hammer it in: Don't Feel that way! But I'm sorry, it's awkward, and a tad uncomfortable. This doesn't mean I wont maintain a respectful and friendly relationship with that person, but it is also ok to feel uncomfortable with it.
I'm a little sick of a society that not only wants to change the way you act, but also the way you feel about things.
It's my duty and responsibility as a citizen to treat others with respect, regardless of their sexual orientation. But it is most assuredly not the media, government, or intelligentsias prerogative to dictate to me a moral viewpoint that doesn't jibe with my philosophical worldview. And perhaps, that is what makes this so distasteful.
I am happy, to a degree, that Jarron Collins feels relieved. My cousin is gay, and all the time I have to 'put up' with things that I otherwise disapprove of. But, its a compromise I have to make. My love for him trumps my disapproval for his life choice. And yes - it is a choice. With all the wondrous advances in neuroscience and in understanding the mind boggling plasticity of the human brian, it is downright scandalous that people are claiming that homosexuality is a 'genetic" permanency. If the brain can rewire its motor cortex after serious injury, than there is no shadow of a freaking doubt - nay, some neuroscientists are veritably perturbed with the politicization going on around this subject - that the hypothalamus, which deals with our sexual feelings, can be tweaked through cognitive therapy. This is completely beyond dispute.
So, to return. Given sexual preference is a choice, a choice which is motivated by a genetic predisposition (which can be altered through cognitive therapy), than ultimately, this is a philosophical issue, not a moral.
By telling people "what is morally right", they are in fact subverting your ability to understand the world in any other way besides the one which this moral decision supports.
What, you might be wondering, would compel me to oppose homosexuality? There are many ways to approach a moral situation, be it from a perspective of the immediate benefit (the gay persons relief), and so his good, or, from a metaphysical angle. Metaphysically, I believe the world works along the premise of a perfect asymmetry: between male and female energies. I believe all constructive relationships operate from this organizing principle. All things can be reduced to a male-female relationship, which is intrinsically asymmetrical. The sky and the Earth, the brain and the body, or the transcendent Creator and His Creation - they fit together. From this vantage point, homosexuality - which ultimately, from the perspective of a free will, is a CHOICE - is an aberration, a deviation from the natural condition of perfect asymmetry.
So, depending on what your perspective is - from the earthly, unconcerned with any possible meaning to the forms the world takes on - or from the perspective of the divine, to a possible ontological meaning to the dynamics of our reality, from there, we come to disagree.
Life ultimately cant be reduced to this or that. Love - my love for my cousin - should take precedence to my belief in a higher metaphysical purpose to the way things are. So, paradoxically, I can ignore, even respect and interact with gay people, but I do so knowing that I ultimately disapprove.
What's sad is that so many people are fully willing to forgo, or simply ignore, the existence of significance of a metaphysical principle called perfect asymmetry. For me, it would be a loss to renounce this view, because, despite my love for my cousin and my desire to maintain a strong relationship with him, I can't turn my back to what I see clearly indicated in natures dynamics. It would be a lie; it would be self delusion. So, I accept the compromise. It doesn't have to be this or that, but can be both.
Originally posted by dontreally
I don't see what is so difficult to understand, heretic.
Former Green Bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler sent out a simple tweet Monday afternoon: "Congrats to Jason Collins."
...
"Wow, I was schedule(d) to speak at a church in WI, and a member said that the pastor wants to cancel my event, I said ok why?"
...
"Then I was told, because I said congrats to Jason Collins on twitter. I said really? we have a contract. he said check the moral (clause)"
A few minutes later, Butler, who has been retired from the NFL for 11 seasons, posted again on his Twitter account:
"FYI the fee was 8500$, then I was told if i removed the tweet, and apologize and ask god forgiveness, I can have the event, I said no."
While we celebrate his courage, some Christians condemn him – and us – for not being offended. As they say in churches across the nation,” it’s a sign of the times that people would rather come out of the closet than clean it.”
Wow, you give yourself away as a bigot in your very first sentence. Well done!
What is really odd and silly to me about news like this is why this Collins creature
Do you really need to ask this question? Would you feel the same if it was YOU that was being asked to lie about who they were for their entire life, solely because of a handful of less than impressive IQ cant handle it?
felt the need to come out of the closet and tell the world that he's a homosexual in the first place.
You shouldnt. But you DO. You care that he is homosexual, which is kind of the point here. If it werent for the bigots, this would be a non-issue.
If I were his teammate, why the hell should I or anyone else for that matter care about his sexual orientation?
This kind of crap is embraced by the major american sports leagues and the media in general while people like Tim Tebow is cut from the NFL for his outspoken christian faith.
No, but if he was good, he might have. What a sad attempt to drag him into the conversation ...or maybe I missed the part where a journeyman fringe NBA player was now being considered great because he came out. Nope, turns out he is still considered exactly the same player he was before.
Obviously, if Tebow was openly gay he would have been heralded as the next great quarterback.
Originally posted by captaintyinknots
Tebow is out of the league right now because he is not good enough. Thats it, and thats all. Nice try, though.
No, but if he was good, he might have. What a sad attempt to drag him into the conversation ...or maybe I missed the part where a journeyman fringe NBA player was now being considered great because he came out. Nope, turns out he is still considered exactly the same player he was before.
Truly, yours is a post that should be nominated for ignorant post of the year.edit on 19-5-2013 by captaintyinknots because: (no reason given)
Please show me any other quarterback in the NFL that has a completion percentage of 48% and a qbr of 35. Analysts are there to cause controversy.
Even a lot of NFL analysts agreed that the pure hatred towards Tebow was because of his faith.
The devils don't have a problem with a player giving thanks to "god" as it is a vague term, its only when he used the word Jesus that they were ready to behead him, because they know that he is the one true God.
Who kicked Tebow out of the league? He is still an eligible free agent and can sign with any team that wants him. Teams, as a general rule, though, want their quarterback to be able to throw.
If the world hated Jesus then his followers will be hated for his name. Tebow getting kicked out of the NFL because he "wasn't good enough" is a flimsy excuse because you could say the same for a lot of NFL players.
Did he? Or did the phenomenal defense that team had?
He was apparently good enough to become the starting QB for the Denver Broncos and took them to the playoffs.
Tebow has been spewing his religious shuck and jive since he was in college. He did a pro-chrisitan anti-abortion commercial his rookie year. You have NO IDEA what you are talking about.
But OH, when he started wearing his Christian faith on his arm, he suddenly became the worst player to ever play the sport.
Thank you for once again expressing your bigotry for all to see.
Meanwhile, the media embraces an NBA player announcing his degenerate sexual orientation to the world as if its some important grandiose event.