Elisberg Industries
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like
Decent Quality Since 1847

The Littlest Big Deal Ever

2/24/2014

0 Comments

 
Last year, basketball player Jason Collins made big news and the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine by becoming the first professional athlete in any of the major American sports to come out as openly gay. 

Except he wasn't.  You see, Collins wasn't on any team at the time.  And no team signed him during the off-season.  So, there still wasn't an openly gay player in any major professional sport.

A couple of days ago, though, the Brooklyn Nets signed Collins to a contract.  It's wasn't all that much, though, just a temporary 10-day contract.  But it's still a contract.  And last night, Collins made his professional debut.  And he officially became the first openly gay player in any major professional sport.

It was a very big deal.  Except for the part about it not being a deal at all.  That's the odd thing about the situation. 

As you'll see in the video below, there are some applause of recognition when he enters the game -- but they're smattering, and the game just goes on.  I'm not saying this critically.  It's actually a great thing, that most people just simply don't care.  You're gay?  You're playing professional sports?  Yeah, okay, can you score points for us?

Mind you, it was a big deal for Collins to come out, since no one had ever done so in professional sports, and there are still many who put a stigma on such things.  So, it took courage to do so.  But as for the actual playing part?  That moment simply came and went.

There's been commentary about Collins, of course, mostly noting how the public today is pretty accepting about such things compared to the past.  But I think it's something else entirely why the playing part isn't really a big deal.  It's not that the public is more accepting about an athlete being gay, I think it's because --

The public understand that gay athletes have already been playing in professional sports now for a very long time.  The public understands that Jason Collins isn't The First Gay Athlete to play professional sports.  He's just the first one to be open about.  So, once he got into the game to play -- any part of the "big deal" was over. 

When Jackie Robinson became the first black athlete to play professional sports -- he was the first.  (Not counting those from other countries who were described as Latin and therefore accepted.)  There was no hiding the fact.  And when he played, every single pitch the crowd could see that there was a black player there, the first black player.  The only black player.  But when Jason Collins got into his first game, he don't only wasn't even close to the first professional gay athlete (perhaps the thousandth.  Or more...), but you couldn't even tell.

Which ultimately is the whole point why it isn't a big deal.  Or shouldn't be.

Of course, it is a big deal that he was open about it.  But the biggest deal of all is that it isn't a big deal.

And here you can see all that at the same time.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    Elisberg Industries gets a commission if you click here before shopping on Amazon.
    Picture
    Follow @relisberg

    Author

    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.



    Picture
           Feedspot Badge of Honor

    Archives

    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    Categories

    All
    Animals
    Audio
    Audio Land
    Books
    Business
    Chicago
    Consumer Product
    Education
    Email Interview
    Entertainment
    Environment
    Fine Art
    Food
    From The Management
    Health
    History
    Huffery
    Humor
    International
    Internet
    Journalism
    Law
    Los Angeles
    Media
    Morning News Round Up
    Movies
    Music
    Musical
    Personal
    Photograph
    Piano Puzzler
    Politics
    Popular Culture
    Profiles
    Quote Of The Day
    Radio
    Religion
    Restaurants
    Science
    Sports
    Tech
    Technology
    Tech Tip
    Theater
    The Writers Workbench
    Tidbits
    Travel
    Tv
    Twitter
    Video
    Videology
    Well Worth Reading
    Words-o-wisdom
    Writing

    RSS Feed

© Copyright Robert J. Elisberg 2023
Contact Us    About EI    Chicago Cubs
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Products
    • Books
    • Movies
  • About Elisberg Industries
    • Our Corporate Board
    • Information Overstock
    • Elisberg Industries Entertainment Information
    • Elisberg Statistical Center of American Research
    • Consultancy Service
  • Contact
    • How to Find Us
  • Kudos
  • Good Things to Know
    • The BOB Page
    • Sites You Might Actually Like