Jason Collins addresses Tony Dungy’s comments about Michael Sam
By Mike Dyce
Former NFL head coach Tony Dungy made news when he said that he wouldn’t have drafted Michael Sam, an openly gay player, to avoid the distractions. It brought a lot of backlash on Dungy, who beforehand was widely respected, for being somewhat of a hypocrite as well as a homophobe.
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Well Jason Collins, who was the first active openly gay player in the NBA, came out and addressed the situation, specifically the distraction notion.
“There were games, even a month after I was signed that reporters didn’t even ask me any questions,” he said. “It will always go back to the sport because there are only so many ways they can write the article. There are only so many ways they can keep talking about LGBT issues when you’re a professional athlete because you’re a professional athlete first.”
Collins went a step further, saying he understood exactly was saying.
“I kinda laugh every time I hear a code word being used…,” Collins added. “Any kind of minority group, and you hear people use different code words and you’re like, ‘I know what you’re really saying and I’m above that.’”