I take my happy stories where I can find them. So here’s my new blog favorite David Roth, at SB Nation:
… The work that Jason Collins does is not the sort of thing basketball fans talk about. Collins was there on Sunday night, as he has been for his entire long career, to give some fouls and set some picks and play the sort of humbly virtuosic defense he plays. When he does all that right, as he generally does, his work on the court is visible only in a sort of intentional absence — in negative space surrounding someone else’s success, in what and who Collins displaces to make other things happen for his teammates.
As he has grown into the sort of valuable and supremely unglamorous basketball player that he is, Jason Collins has simultaneously faded from the game. This is not just an abstract thing: Collins’ statistical contributions have dropped, from modest early-career highs to zero. Some of that is just the decline that age and attrition bring, but it can also be seen as Collins further refining his rough craft. When he is at his best, he is invisible. He’s good at what he’s good at, but he is not a player who fans talk about.
Collins is, now, a person that people talk about because he is his sport’s first openly gay player and because he put the last quiet years of his career at risk by being open about who he was. In the long, limping march of tolerance in this country and its games, Jason Collins is a significant figure because he was brave enough to be first. In this case, as on the picks and charges taken that are his gig, Collins did his modest work simply by being a large human being standing in the right place. There wasn’t dudgeon or theater or any inauthentic salesmanship — a pinwheeling flop in the service of drawing a charge doesn’t count — so much as there was Jason Collins and his big body and his oblique skills, and there were teams that could use him.
There was nothing to insist about. One of the most useful 7-footers not in the NBA happened to be a gay man. Collins believed that some team would need him and he stayed in shape. The Brooklyn Nets eventually needed him, and in his first game with his new team — his first team, now coached by the first point guard ever to pass him the ball in the NBA — he was ready to play….
… Collins deserves the chance to inhabit the enlightened anonymity that he cultivates on the floor. His job is to disappear into the oscillations and surges and stagnations of the game, into his job’s least obvious and ostentatious tasks, which also happen to be the ones at which he is best. He has earned that applause. He will earn the silence that follows, too. Jason Collins will do what he does, how he does it and as himself.
************
What’s on the agenda for another ragged-end-of-February day?
Mustang Bobby
I know it sounds like a bit of schadenfreude to be talking about baseball while Polar Vortex Part [n] bears down on the Midwest, but today is the first spring training game between major league teams for the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland, Florida. Yay.
Schlemizel
I know nothing about basketball so I do not understand what this guys role on the team is that would make a lack of stats an admirable thing. His coming out, particularly in a world full of jocks and wannabe jocks? That I can fully appreciate as an act of courage worthy of praise.
We got our southern style ice storm a week ago but, unlike the good folks of GA an NC, there was no warm up after. The result is that side roads are still a disaster and any shady spot on the highway is an ice patch. It never use to be like this. In the past the state spent money to get roads cleared, now they save money by doing a half-assed job. Lost wages and productivity, increased auto insurance costs, personal injuries and much more are the hidden cost of gutting the government and preventing it from making life better.
BTW – it is -9 at the moment with a -30 wind chill. The assholes have managed to make this a frozen Florida, a shithole where its every man for himself but with tons of snow and frozen weather.
raven
Raining again.
BruceFromOhio
Hump day as the next arctic plunge takes hold, and a bit of lake effect to make everything pretty. Again. Starting to see signs of SAD in my co-workers, short tempers and bizarre behavior, everyone needs some bright colors and some laughter. Time to break out the clown suit? This is definitely past getting old, folks will start going crazy soon.
I blame that Gaia-damned groundhog.
OzarkHillbilly
Snow, 13 (I think). Forecast: Tomorrow, 20s. Friday, 20s, snow. Saturday, 30s (woohoo). Sunday, snow, 20s.
Sigh. I am glad we are having an actual honest to Dog winter. Really, I am. Should put a decent sized dent in the tick population. But if it keeps this up, there won’t be any ticks left.
OzarkHillbilly
@OzarkHillbilly: And just to think, Saturday the high was 62.
Mustang Bobby
@BruceFromOhio:
That describes my office, and we’re in sunny subtropical Miami.
MikeJ
@OzarkHillbilly: January was the 3rd or 4th warmest ever recorded.
Cassidy
No worries about that polar vortex. All the northern folk are just so good at driving in it that it shouldn’t even be noticeable, amirite?
OzarkHillbilly
Anybody else notice how the sports world just wants their gay athletes to, you know, not attract attention to themselves? To, you know, focus on the game? To, you know, be the background upon which the real stars of sport paint themselves? To, you know, not be shoving their icky gayness into all our faces?
When a Jason Collins or a Michael Sam can act like a Richard Sherman, that will be real progress.
Cassidy
@OzarkHillbilly: To be fair, that was his role before he came out.
satby
I love winter and even I’m sick to death of this one. I notice that I feel better on sunny days even when it’s subzero, as it is right now though. Fools me into thinking spring will get here at some point.
OzarkHillbilly
@MikeJ: Yeah I know. But it certainly wasn’t the warmest around here. (not the coldest either, I remember several that were colder) In ’06 we didn’t get any snow until the first day of spring, March 20. I remember because that was the day my mother died. After she took her last breath, I walked outside to get some fresh air and the world was white. Hadn’t even noticed.
Aimai
@OzarkHillbilly: hell when richard sherman can act like richard sherman without all the pearl clutching from the public things will be looking up.
OzarkHillbilly
@Cassidy: Yes. And that is why he is playing. Because his skill set fits the role sport has designated for him to fill.
My opinion anyway.
Poopyman
Snowing again in the DC area, expecting a couple-three inches. Folks around DC and east are pretty much shrugging it off, which is unheard of around here.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
I hope Collins is either really good or really bad in the NFL. If he’s just so-so, then there will be a lot of handwringing about every decision that’s made with respect to him.
raven
@Baud: Collins plays da hoop, Sam’s is da gridder.
OzarkHillbilly
@Aimai: This is true, but it is accepted. If a gay football player acted like Richard Sherman and dressed like Johnny Weir????
Oh HELL no!
Baud
For the record, I think Michael Sam and Jason Collins should follow the Dennis Rodman model.
Baud
@raven:
Yep. Pre-coffee brain.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Right now Sam projects as a special teamer (read as “role player”) Given time to develop he could become something special… or not. Nothing wrong with any of that. If his career follows the normal curve, in 3 or 4 years he will be looking for a “real” job.
MazeDancer
That bit of lovely writing about Jason Collins really makes me want to see him play. Even if, I am unlikely to be able to observe Mr. Collins’s contributions. They do sound essential for real teamwork.
One would hope coaches would notice such skills. They also sound like the kind of thing color commentators could discuss to up their own appearance of ability. Aren’t there endless hours of talk to fill on all those ESPN channels for which we all pay but some of us never watch?
OzarkHillbilly
And right on cue, we get this from former PGA champion Steve Elkington:
Elkington first tweeted that ESPN’s coverage of Sam was embarrassing. He followed with this tweet: “ESPN reporting Michael Sam is leading the handbag throw at NFL combine … No one else expected to throw today.”
Elkington later deleted his tweet, and then tried to clarify his position. He posted a reply: “I’m for Sam I’m against ESPN telling me he’s gay. …”(AP)
I rest my case.
Gin & Tonic
Paco de Lucia has died. RIP.
Baud
OT: I can’t believe this made the MSM:
Mustang Bobby
@Baud: See, she went from being a taker to a job creator. Thanks, Obamacare!
OzarkHillbilly
@Gin & Tonic: My wife is in mourning.
eric
@Gin & Tonic: a giant has fallen
eric
@eric: a transformational moment in m life was when i first heard this live album and this tune, which remains in my top 5 tunes of all time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlaCZ106b5w
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: Wow. CNN? Not NR? Not FOX? Not Glenn Beck? Not Rush Limbaugh? Not Hannity? Not Breitbart? Surely they would want to report on this singular instance of bootstrapping. I mean, AMERIKA! FWCK YEAH!
maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
@OzarkHillbilly:
Not my idea of “progress,” but YMMV. In any case, there has to be a gay athlete coming out that can play like Richard Sherman. Guys with Collins’s talent and Sherman’s mouth don’t last long.
Violet
@Baud: She’s such a slacker. Mooching off hard working Murkins.
maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
@OzarkHillbilly: Elkington is an alcoholic asshole with a long track record of shit like that. Predictably, lots of the good-ol’-boy parking lot pros over at Golfwrx think his latest stunt is just more proof that he’s “colorful,” but he’s been roundly scalded for his behavior in every other outlet I’ve come across.
If you don’t think progress is being made until society completely eradicates dickwhistles like Elk, you’re in for a very long wait.
OzarkHillbilly
@maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor: I would bet dollars to donuts he already is out there.
OzarkHillbilly
@maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor: If you think dickwhistles like Elk are the only ones wishing everyone would just stop talking about the gayness of Michael Sam or Jason Collins than you need to join a place the rest of us know as “the real world”. And while what we have may be “progress”, we got a long way to go. “Better than it used to be” is not acceptable.
NotMax
It is theoretically possible that, under anything like the proposed Arizona law, the owner (or manager) of a venue could legally deny Collins access to and use of the facilities should his team have a game scheduled there.
Just sayin’.
Paul in KY
@Mustang Bobby: How cold has it got down there this Winter? I lived in Homestead from 82 – 85 & one time it got down to 38 – 40 degrees & the natives were freezing.
maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
@OzarkHillbilly: Playing, sure, but not out.
And if/when a gay guy (or woman) with Richard Sherman’s talents and mouth comes out, he’ll draw the same broad band of reactions that Sherman did, just substitute your favorite gay slur for “n*****” at the ugly end of that spectrum. But he will also have a job and get paid handsomely for it. Which is really the point of the article Anne quoted.
Mustang Bobby
@Paul in KY: In my neighborhood — halfway between Homestead and downtown Miami — it got down to about 50 once this year. I came in to work in a sweater and everyone else was in parkas and jackets.
Omnes Omnibus
@Schlemizel:
Think penalty killing defenseman in hockey. Not a lot of stats, but a useful player.
eldorado
repetition is a form of change
maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m living in the real world. It’s one where Elkington–and, as I said in my post, his many enablers–will always be there. No one is avoiding the conversation because some drunk reactionary golfer or his fans don’t like it. I feel sorry for you if you don’t see something to celebrate in the fact that an aging JAG like Collins got another shot to play because a team valued what he could do for them on the court, full stop.
In any case, if “talking about it” is your metric for victory, this should make you feel warm and fuzzy:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/25/us/jason-collins-jersey/
Stuff him back in the closet, indeed.
Paul in KY
@Mustang Bobby: Not as cold as I had heard/expected.
50 is cold down there.
Thank you for your response.
Another Holocene Human
#Berkut disbanded. Authoritarian Bob has a sad. Who will terrify the “Banderivtski” now? Oh wait, the Patriarchy told him to stop calling people Banderivtski, stating, “such words can kill”. Of course, who cares what they think, since they clearly are not on board with dialectical materialism!
feebog
@Baud:
Jason and his brother have always been grinders; players who come off the bench, play to their capabilities, and contribute to the team. Both of them have been in the NBA for over ten years, and each has played with several teams. I’ve never met Jason, but I have met his parents on multiple occasions. They are wonderful, generous people who love both their sons and are completely supportive.
Roger Moore
@NotMax:
Under the laws of the State of Arizona, perhaps. Under the rules of the NBA, I expect doing so would count as a forfeit.
Origuy
@Gin & Tonic: @eric: Wow. Why have I never heard of him until now? That was amazing.
Mino
Have to say, a lovely bit of writing.
burnspbesq
@OzarkHillbilly:
You’re completely misreading that. I don’t know of anybody who is saying it’s OK for role-players to be gay, but stars can’t be. Collins isn’t a star because he doesn’t have a star skill-set. I don’t know whether anything would be different if it had been, say, Stephen Curry who came out. Maybe. Maybe not.
Jason Collins is never going to be Richard Sherman. He wasn’t raised that way. Yes, they’re both Stanford grads, but Dominguez High and Harvard-Westlake School might as well be on different planets.
Jason Collins is Shane Battier without a jump shot. The stat that captures his value is plus-minus.