Collins, indeed, started the conversation. But he also created a few unintended consequences with his revelation.

The search for other gay athletes will heat up

On Tuesday, it was reported that Sports Illustrated recorded is biggest traffic day ever. The site pulled in 3.71 million unique visitors all thanks to Jason Collins. Every other website or news organization would gladly take half, or even a third of that amount of visitors for doing a story on the second or third gay athlete to come out of the closet.

So for better or worse, the race to find the next gay athlete willing to share his story is on. And while most would refrain from speculation and basically forcing someone out, there are those who won’t. That’s why former NFL player Wade Davis, who himself is gay, told Jason Whitlock on his podcast that he’s careful about hanging out in public with closeted gay athletes because he doesn’t want people speculating.

And if you need an example of what this type of speculation can breed, I point you to the Kerry Rhodes situation.

Anyone that disagrees with Collins’ lifestyle will be roundly criticized for doing so

Chris Broussard and Tim Brando have muddied the water a bit on this one. But their reactions aside, it seems it will be almost impossible for any athlete in any professional sport to publicly disagree with Collins’ lifestyle. Even if it’s done the right way.

No one can just simply say, “I wish Jason Collins the best, but I don’t agree with his lifestyle.” Because all that will be heard is, “I don’t agree with his lifestyle.” And from there, nothing but criticism awaits.

So we’re left with athletes tip-toeing around this subject. And coincidentally, Robert Griffin III tweeted on Tuesday something that sums this idea up perfectly.

If we speak..we say it the wrong wayIf we do not speak we are cowards….

— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) May 1, 2013

The wackos will come out in droves

The wackos coming out of the woodwork was an inevitable byproduct of Collins’ revelation, but it was certainly unintended. But now they’re here and Collins and the NBA have to deal with them.

Collins and the NBA are undoubtedly prepared to handle the wackos that are willing to protest outside of a playoff game. But are they prepared to handle a wacko inside the locker room.

Don’t think it’s a possibility that a) there is a wacko in a NBA locker room and b) he will say something wackos say? Don’t be naïve. There are wackos all around us.

Some will resent the NBA when Collins easily gets a job next season and possibly beyond

If we’re all honest, it’s fairly obvious that Jason Collins was probably in line for a job next season. Mainly because there’s just not many seven feet guys that are able to play in the NBA walking around. So almost by default, some team would probably pick him up to help with younger players and occasionally spell starting big men.

But this isn’t as cut and dry as it once was. Now the door is open for some other veteran to question why they’re out of the league and Collins isn’t. Now the door is open for some veteran to think to himself that Collins is holding a job that he shouldn’t have only because David Stern wants an ambassador in the league for gay issues.

Again, that won’t be the reason Collins is still in the league, but that wouldn’t stop some veteran with bills to pay and the desire to still play from thinking it is.

A much bigger name, if there’s one, will be chased back in the closet because of Collins’ move

Many believe that Collins has opened the door for other athletes to come out of the closet. I agree to some extent. It’ll never be easy, but Collins has definitely made it easier for some. But not all.

In fact, Collins may have made it harder for that big name to come out of the closet. The name that’s someone’s favorite player. The All Star. The pitch man for products. It’s harder for him now.

Personally, Collins put himself on the line with his revelation and that can’t be ignored. But professionally, Collins basically had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The big name player? He risks losing everything. And now he can’t even lean on being first to take that risk. So what does he gain by taking that risk? Not much after Monday.

Jason Collins’ mission in all of this was just to tell his story. He’s not looking for the spotlight or trying to draw attention to himself. He also wasn’t looking to affect others with his revelation. But his revelation, though unintended, does affect some.

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But apparently, Kobe had a change of heart when he caught wind that his mother was planning to auction off the items, which would be worth about $1.5 million, to buy a house in Nevada. So through his lawyer, he has sent a cease and desist letter to Goldin Auctions L.L.C citing that Pamela Bryant does not own the items.

“Mr. Bryant’s personal property has ended up in the possession of someone who does not lawfully own it,” [Kobe Bryant's Los Angeles lawyer, Mark Campbell of Loeb & Loeb L.L.P. ] said in an e-mailed statement.

“We look forward to resolving this legal matter through the legal system. There will be no further comment at this time.”

In response, Goldin Auctions owner, Ken Goldin filed suit in federal court “asking the judge to clarify ownership of the memorabilia and clear the way for the auction.”

According to the lawsuit, Pamela Bryant had been storing some of her son’s memorabilia for at least 15 years – his high school uniform shorts and jerseys date back to 1994 and there’s even a Sonny Hill League Future Stars Champion trophy from 1992, when he was still in middle school.

Seven or eight years ago, well after Kobe had gotten married, Pamela Bryant asked her son’s wife, Vanessa, if she wanted the items. She said no – those items belonged to the past, according to the suit.

And so, five years ago, the lawsuit says, Pamela Bryant packed up the jerseys, the championship rings, and award plaques, spending $1,500 a month to store and insure them in West Berlin.

“Pamela Bryant indicated to Ken Goldin that Kobe Bryant has never demanded the return of any of the items, nor were they in any way taken from [him] without his permission,” the suit says.

Along with the $1.5 million that the items are expected to bring, Pamela Bryant has already received a pre-auction consigning fee of $450,000. So in other words, she’s found herself a pretty good come up.

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But even that can’t compare to the reason why Mack Brown gave his players rings.

Brown decided to give his players rings for their win over Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl. And if that wasn’t ridiculous enough, he also added that the rings were also for “momentum”.

Brown gladly tweeted the rings out to his followers as well.

Just gave guys their Bowl Champ rings. Told them It’s reward 4 winning Bowl game vs #13 Oregon St &momentum for 2013 twitter.com/UT_MackBrown/s…

— Mack Brown (@UT_MackBrown) May 2, 2013

Really, Mack?

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The Golden State Warriors eliminated the Denver Nuggets with a 92-88 win in Game 6 on Thursday night. Shortly after the game, something bizarre happened.

Reggie Miller made his way to the Warriors locker room and gave the team a congratulatory speech complete with hugs for former teammate Warriors head coach Mark Jackson. Obviously, that’s not the bizarre part.

The bizarre part in all of this is that Miller had just worked the game and is supposed to be an objective observer seeing as though that’s what TNT pays him to be. And to make things even more bizarre TNT cameras followed Miller into the locker room and let a national television audience see their analyst who just worked the game celebrate with one of the teams from said game.

Bizarre.

Oh, and Reggie Miller said “sh*t” too.

The post Reggie Miller joined the Warriors in the locker room after series ending win over the Nuggets, says sh*t on live TV appeared first on No Guts, No Glory.

According to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports, Bryant not only wants Howard back, he wants the entire core from this season’s team back. A core of players that led the Lakers to an eighth seed in the Western Conference.

LOS ANGELES – Kobe Bryant wants Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol back with the Los Angeles Lakers next season. He says he “would really love” to see that happen and believes there will be a title reward in the end.

“I’m sure I’ll talk to Jimmy and I’m sure I’ll talk to Jeanie as well, the Buss family, and figure out what we need to do,” Bryant told reporters Tuesday. “It’s obviously a lot on the table for them with the [financial] penalties and so forth. It’s a tough call to make. But then again, it’s one more year, one more year. That’s how I look at it.

“One more year. I don’t know how I’m going to suit up and my contract is up after next year. Pau is done after next year. Hopefully, we get Dwight locked up so he’s here for a while so the future is kind of set and take a crack at this thing.”

Even Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak reiterated that Kobe really wants to keep the team together.

“Yes, it’s true that Kobe would like to keep the team together,” Kupchak said. “But a lot of the players are free agents. They are going to have a say in this as well. Whatever we choose to do, if a player decides to go somewhere else that’s not possible.”

But like clockwork, Dwight Howard is the buzz kill in all of this because he’s not quite ready to commit to the Lakers.

“I’m just going to get away,” Howard said. “I think that I should be a professional and not let anybody make the decision because this decision is for myself, and myself only. Making a decision like this, you don’t want to make it off emotion or what other people are saying.”

Despite the buzz kill that is Dwight Howard, Kobe still has hopes that Howard will be in a Lakers uniform next season.

“I hope he [returns],” Bryant said. “It’s just a matter of what he feels in his heart and what he wants to do. He kind of has reached a crossroads in his career. I think Los Angeles is a perfect spot for him to assert himself and put his foot down and have his career really take off and be what it should be. There is no better place for centers to be than Los Angeles.

“I will talk to him. Bring him out to the house, chill with him a little bit and watch another cartoon movie or something. We’ll have a good time.”

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Busy doing what in Madrid, you ask? Busy dancing, of course.

[CBS Sports]

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Erik Kuselia is part of the media business and when former Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward joined him on NBC Sports radio, Kuselia followed suit and asked about his reaction to Collins’ revelation.

And while Collins’ revelation seemed to have gone over quite well, Ward thinks that the same reaction couldn’t be expected for a gay football player. Because in his mind, the time isn’t right.

“I don’t think football is ready,” Ward told host Erik Kuselia. “There’s too many guys in the locker room and, you know, guys play around too much.”

Ward, who retired before the 2012 season, said he will have nothing but support for any active player who does decide to come out publicly.

“Hopefully one guy comes out of the closet and [will] be comfortable with himself,” Ward said. “I don’t have anything against a gay football player or a gay person period, so if he does, he has support from me. I want people to live their lives for who they are and don’t have to hide behind closed doors to do that.”

If you recall, Mike Freeman of CBS Sports reported back in March that some believe that the time is right for a gay NFL player to come out. And that the concern isn’t in the locker room, but outside of it.

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What was supposed to be a nice little series where the Denver Nuggets wouldn’t have too much trouble taking care of the Golden State Warriors has quickly turned into the best series of the playoffs thus far.

Stephen Curry almost singlehandedly beat the Nuggets in Game 3 on a bum ankle and it’s abundantly clear that he’s the best player in the series.

It’s also become abundantly clear that the Nuggets realize that Curry is the best player in the series so they decided to play a little rough with Curry during Game 5 on Tuesday night. A game that the Nuggets won 107-100. Curry tried to downplay the rough play after the game, but head coach Mark Jackson took another route. Jackson basically accused the Nuggets of targeting Curry’s injured ankle and even said that the Nuggets are sending “hit men” at Curry.

“They tried to send hit men (at Curry),” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said.

“The screen on Curry by the foul line is a shot at his ankle, clearly, it can’t be debated,” Jackson said of a first-quarter play. “I have inside information that some people don’t like that brand of basketball and they clearly didn’t co-sign it, so they wanted to let me know that they had no part in what was taking place.”

Curry, for the most part, remained cool throughout the game. But seemingly lost it after the game and confronted a fan while walking to the locker room.

The post Stephen Curry gets into it with a fan, while Mark Jackson accuses the Nuggets of sending ‘hit men’ at Curry appeared first on No Guts, No Glory.

Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel said two weeks ago that there was a framework of a plan that would include “more night games, a video scoreboard in left field and additional advertising throughout the ballpark.” But apparently, that framework isn’t enough for Ricketts as he upped the ante Wednesday morning when he threatened to move the team from Wrigley if he doesn’t get government approval to add more signs to the outfield.

“I’m not sure how anyone is going to stop the signs in the outfield, but if it comes to the point that we don’t have the ability to do what we need to do in our outfield then we’re going to have to consider moving,” Ricketts said at Wednesday morning event at the City Club of Chicago where he was the guest speaker. “It’s a simple as that.”

Ricketts’ comments came in response to a guest asking him, “What if opponents stop the signs in the outfield?” Ricketts tried to clarify his answer when asked about it by reporters later.

“The fact is we are committed to try to work this out. We’ve always said that we want to win in Wrigley Field, but we also need to generate the revenue we need to compete as a franchise. Having the ability to put video boards and signs in the outfield is very important to us.”

Of course, this is just an idle threat from Ricketts. There’s no way he would ever move the Cubs from Wrigley.

Or would he?

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Before joining the Champions tour, Eger was a tournament director with both the PGA Tour and the USGA. So in other words, Eger is deeply versed in the ins and outs of tournament etiquette and rules.

So when Tiger Woods took a curious drop on the 15th hole, Eger’s tournament director instincts quickly kicked in and quickly used his DVR to rewind the coverage to take a closer look. That closer look led to Eger phoning in the possible rules violation to Masters officials which ultimately led to Woods being assessed a two-stroke penalty.

Eger explained why he did what he did to Golf.com’s Michael Bamberger.

In a recent telephone interview, Eger said he was causally watching the Friday round of the Masters in his Florida home. As Woods came off the 16th green, where he got up and down for par, Eger noticed Woods had dropped a shot since he had last seen his score. Eger was curious to see how that had happened.

Through the magic of modern TV, Eger was able to rewind and watch Woods on the 15th hole. He saw Woods play his third shot, the one that famously hit the fiberglass flagstick and caromed into the water. He then watched Woods take his drop.

“I could see there was a divot — not a divot, a divot hole — when he played the shot the second time that was not there the first time,” Eger said. “I played it again and again. I could see that the fairway was spotless the first time he played the shot and there was that divot hole, maybe three or four feet in front of where he played after the drop.”

Eger knew immediately there had been a possible rules violation. He also knew he had to act quickly so that Woods would not sign an incorrect scorecard, which almost always leads to disqualification.

At this point Eger didn’t have a phone number for Masters competition committee chairman Fred Ridley. So he quickly turned to someone he knew was working the Masters.

Back at the Eger home — and in Augusta — the clock was ticking. Eger said he did not have a phone number for Ridley, but he did have one for Mickey Bradley, a veteran PGA Tour official who he knew was working the Masters. The tournament brings in rules officials from all over the world to officiate. Eger called Bradley, who, done with his work for the day, had already left the grounds.

“I was driving on Washington Road and I saw that David was calling, so I pulled over to the side,” Bradley said last Saturday, while sitting in a golf cart off the 6th hole of TPC Louisiana, where he was working the Zurich Classic.

The previous day, Bradley had become a YouTube sensation when he calmly drove alongside a three-legged alligator that had decided to watch some golf. Bradley, from Biloxi, Miss., knows his way around wildlife.

Eger described the drop to Bradley. Their call ended, and Eger sent Bradley a text message about it as well.

Bradley immediately called Ridley and Russell, the veteran PGA Tour administrator who is on the three-man Masters competition committee that is chaired by Ridley, a former U.S. Amateur champion and USGA president. Bradley also forwarded Eger’s text to Russell and Ridley. In his text, Eger wrote that Woods “didn’t appear to play by Rule 26-1-a.” He wrote that he “appeared to be 3-4 feet back” from his divot mark.
Bradley forwarded Eger’s text message at 6:59 p.m.

From there, more text messages were exchanged as Ridley began to investigate. And the rest is history.

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