Sportscaster Bob Costas believes Jason
Collins was the “perfect guy” to become the U.S.'s first openly
gay professional athlete.
Collins, a 34-year-old 12-year NBA
veteran, came out gay two weeks ago on the cover of Sports
Illustrated.
“I think he's a perfect candidate for
a couple of reasons,” Costas told CNN's Piers Morgan. “One.
He's obviously an extremely bright, well educated guy, and he's able
to understand, and if he chooses to, speak articulately about the
issue. But also, he's been in the league for a long time. So some
of these vague notions that players may have – 'Well, geez how will
he act in the locker room? [Do] we want to take a shower with him?'
– you know, all that sort of thing. Well, wait a minute, not only
has he been in the league for 12 years, he's been with a half-dozen
teams. He's probably been a teammate of yours or a teammate of
someone who you know. And none of these fears has ever come to
pass.”
“He's the perfect guy to deflect all
of these either bigoted, or, let's be kind, some people are
uncomfortable and haven't come around on it yet. He's the perfect
person to give the lie to those notions,” he added. (The video is
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