Jason Collins Signs With Yahoo Sports

Outsports has the announcement from Yahoo:

At Yahoo Sports, we're always look to guide our readers to the best, most relevant, original content we can. And today I'm happy to welcome the latest addition to our lineup, former NBA player Jason Collins. Jason will provide original video programming for the Yahoo Sports studio including basketball analysis for both the upcoming men's NCAA basketball tournament and the NBA. Jason played 13 seasons in the NBA. During his career, he competed at center and power forward for six franchises: the Brooklyn Nets and New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards, Boston Celtics, Atlanta Hawks, Minnesota Timberwolves and Memphis Grizzlies. Jason was an All-American at Stanford University and played in the Final Four his freshman year. Jason will debut on Yahoo Sports "Tourney Bracket Live" show on March 15 at 7:30pm ET.

POLL: 73% Back Gay Athletes

Via the Public Religion Research Institute:

Roughly three-quarters (73%) of Americans say they would support a professional sports team signing a gay or lesbian athlete, while about 1-in-5 (19%) say they would oppose this action. There is broad support for a professional sports team signing a gay or lesbian athlete across demographic and political groups, including 66% of Republicans, 75% of independents, and 79% of Democrats. A majority of all religious groups would support a professional sports team signing a gay or lesbian athlete, although white evangelical Protestants register lower levels of support. Roughly 8-in-10 white mainline Protestants (77%), Catholics (78%), minority Protestants (66%), and the religiously unaffiliated (84%) favor teams signing gay and lesbian athletes. In contrast, a significantly smaller majority (54%) of white evangelical Protestants say they would favor a team signing a gay or lesbian athlete, while 36% would oppose such a move

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NBA's MLK Spot Features Jason Collins

Jason Collins Retires From NBA

"It has been 18 exhilarating months since I came out in Sports Illustrated as the first openly gay man in one of the four major professional team sports. And it has been nine months since I signed with the Nets and became the first openly gay male athlete to appear in a game in one of those leagues. It feels wonderful to have been part of these milestones for sports and for gay rights, and to have been embraced by the public, the coaches, the players, the league and history.

"On Wednesday at the Barclays Center, I plan to announce my retirement as an NBA player. The day will be especially meaningful for me because the Nets will be playing the Bucks, who are coached by Jason Kidd, my former teammate and my coach in Brooklyn. It was Jason who cheered my decision to come out by posting on Twitter: 'Jason’s sexuality doesn’t change the fact that he is a great friend and was a great teammate.' [snip]

 "There are still no publicly gay players in the NFL, NHL or major league baseball. Believe me: They exist. Every pro sport has them. I know some of them personally. When we get to the point where a gay pro athlete is no longer forced to live in fear that he’ll be shunned by teammates or outed by tabloids, when we get to the point where he plays while his significant other waits in the family room, when we get to the point where he’s not compelled to hide his true self and is able to live an authentic life, then coming out won’t be such a big deal. But we’re not there yet." - Jason Collins, writing for Sports Illustrated.

New From Florida Gov. Rick Scott

Brooklyn Nets Advance In Playoffs

Next up for the Nets are defending NBA champions Miami Heat.

LOS ANGELES: Chapter Head Of NAACP Resigns Over Donald Sterling Scandal

CNN reports:

The Donald Sterling scandal has claimed collateral damage: the president of the NAACP's Los Angeles chapter. Leon Jenkins resigned Thursday, after the civil rights group came under fire for its plans to present a lifetime achievement award to the Los Angeles Clippers owner. The NAACP chapter rescinded its offer Monday after Sterling's racist remarks came to light. But the damage was done. The backlash the group faced was brutal. "Please be advised that the legacy, history and reputation of the NAACP is more important to me than the presidency," Jenkins said, in announcing his resignation. He said he was stepping down to separate the organization from the "negative exposure I have caused."

Tweet Of The Day - GQ Magazine

The Tea People are furious.

David Geffen Might Buy The Clippers

Gay billionaire and Hollywood mogul David Geffen is reportedly interested in buying the Los Angeles Clippers. Earlier today the commissioner of the NBA ordered Clippers owner Donald Sterling to sell the team. Via the Wall Street Journal:

With a potential sale on the horizon, attention turned to possible buyers, such as Ron Burkle, founder of private-equity firm Yucaipa Cos. and the owner of the National Hockey League's Pittsburgh Penguins, and Patrick Soon-Shiong, a doctor and biotech entrepreneur. Both were in talks with potential investors during the bidding for Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011. Neither could be reached for comment. Entertainment mogul David Geffen —who made a bid for the Clippers several years ago—remains interested in buying the franchise, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Geffen, the multi-billionaire music- and film-industry magnate, offered Mr. Sterling $600 million for the team about four years ago, according to people familiar with the matter, but hasn't been in contact with the league for many months, these people said.

Shortly before today's edict from the NBA, Sterling told Fox News that he will refuse to sell the team. However if three-quarters of his fellow NBA owners vote against him, Sterling will have no choice.

RELATED: Should Geffen purchase the Clippers, he will join Chicago Cubs co-owner Laura Ricketts as the only openly gay owners of an American major league sports franchise. Ricketts is the daughter of the founder of TD Ameritrade and is a board member of Lambda Legal. She owns the Cubs with her three brothers.

Celebs Praise NBA Commissioner

Andrew Sullivan On Sterling's Ban

"If Brendan Eich had made comments telling his friends to keep away from faggots, if he’d used any such terminology or had ever been shown to have discriminated against gays in the workplace or in his daily interactions, then his case would be very similar. But no such comments are in the public or private record, and there’s zero evidence that he ever acted in the workplace to harm gay employees. Au contraire, which is why gay Mozilla employees were divided about his ouster, with some supporting him. Sterling’s remarks, in contrast, reveal him to be a crude, foul bigot – which is why there is no division at all among African-Americans in the league – or beyond the league – about his fate." - Andrew Sullivan.

Sterling Banned From NBA For Life

The NBA commissioner just announced that Donald Sterling has been banned from the NBA for life. Sterling is being fined $2.5M and the commissioner added that the league will force him to sell the team.

VIDEO: Watch the commissioner's blistering statement.

Sponsors Bail On LA Clippers

Less than 72 hours after racist comments by Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling went public, the team has lost almost all of its corporate sponsors.

The Chumash Casino, the presenting sponsor of the Los Angeles Clippers, jumped ship Monday along with used car dealership chain CarMax and airline Virgin America as advertisers pondered their partnerships with the team in the wake of racist remarks allegedly made by owner Donald Sterling. Virgin America said in a statement that it was cutting ties with the team "while we continue to support the fans and the players." State Farm, Kia Motors America, Red Bull, Lumber Liquidators and Sprint have condemned the remarks and said they will suspend their sponsorship and advertising obligations, closely monitor the situation and assess their options.

Taiwanese Animators On Donald Sterling

Watch for the Betty White shirt.

LA Clippers Stage T-Shirt Protest

HomoQuotable - John Aravosis

"It was only a few weeks ago that America was lecturing the gay community about its intolerance for intolerance, for objecting to a bigot (in fact, an anti-gay activist, Brendan Eich) running a major American corporation (in this case, the Mozilla Foundation). Republicans, including gay conservatives, were particularly upset that anyone would judge a man’s job performance, especially the man running a company, by his personal animus towards minorities, many of whom would be his own employees. So long as he didn’t discriminate against his own employees, he was free to be a bigot, they told us. Now, they’re all eating crow. Today, even conservatives are saying (on CNN) that the NBA simply must investigate whether the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, Donald Sterling, made racist remarks to his girlfriend, who is black and Mexican. Apparently, Donald Sterling made the mistake of buying a basketball team rather than taking over a high-tech company." - John Aravosis, writing for AmericaBlog.

Tweet Of The Day

"I brought a black guy to the game." -- Awesome sign by a Warriors fan. pic.twitter.com/hJg58qBJZS
— NBA Legion (@MySportsLegion) April 27, 2014

Magic: I'm Boycotting The Clippers

Obama: Clippers Owner Is "Ignorant"

NBA Owner Donald Sterling To Girlfriend: Stop Bringing Black Friends To Games

The sports world erupted last night after TMZ posted an audio recording in which Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling told his girlfriend to stop bringing black friends to NBA games.

TMZ Sports has obtained audio of Sterling making the racist declaration during a heated argument on April 9th with V. Stiviano ... after she posted a photo on Instagram posing with Magic [Johnson]. Sterling rails on Stiviano -- who ironically is black and Mexican -- for putting herself out in public with a black person (she has since taken the pic down). But it doesn't end there. You have to listen to the audio to fully grasp the magnitude of Sterling's racist worldview. Among the comments:

-- "It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?" (3:30) -- "You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that ... and not to bring them to my games." (5:15) -- "I’m just saying, in your lousy fucking Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people." (7:45) -- "...Don't put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games." (9:13)