Jason Collins Says In SI That He's Gay...

((HT: Sports Illustrated/Wertheim et al.))

Jason Collins only came out to his twin brother a year ago...

He's a free agent in the NBA and would like to keep playing the sport...
But this is how he started his first person account in the magazine for this week's cover story...

I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay.

I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, "I'm different." If I had my way, someone else would have already and done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.

It will be interesting to see if people look at him differently, if the NBA looks at him differently, or if they're just going to be franchises looking at a serviceable, back-up big.

Collins wants to start a family and he determined that, after the Boston Marathon bombings, that he shouldn't wait any longer to have the "right time" to tell everyone around that he's gay.

More from his account:

I go against the gay stereotype, which is why I think a lot of players will be shocked: That guy is gay? But I've always been an aggressive player, even in high school. Am I so physical to prove that being gay doesn't make you soft? Who knows? That's something for a psychologist to unravel. My motivations, like my contributions, don't show up in box scores, and frankly I don't care about stats. Winning is what counts. I want to be evaluated as a team player.

Loyalty to my team is the real reason I didn't come out sooner.

Now, let's see if those around him, regardless of the size of the circle will do in kind...

Here's some of what the next NBA team will be getting if they take hold of Collins...
((HT: NBAE))