HoopsHype.com Rumors

A prominent member of the Westboro Baptist Church is drawing a link between the Oklahoma tornado's devastation and a local team's support for openly gay NBA star Jason Collins. Fred Phelps Jr., the son of Westboro Baptist Church minister Fred Phelps, tweeted the following: "OK Thunder's Durant flips God by praising fag Collins. God smashes OK. You do the math. #GodH8sFags #FagsDoomNations #FearGod #GodH8sU" Huffington Post

Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin Durant, Jason Collins 

Arash Markazi: Jason Collins: "I turned down a birthday party invite from Anderson Cooper to be here tonight. Things like that didn't happen a month ago." Twitter @ArashMarkazi

Jason Collins, Anderson Cooper 

Jason Collins, the first active player in a major male team sport to announce he is gay, Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson and U.S. women's soccer national team goalkeeper Hope Solo was honored Sunday at the 28th annual Sports Spectacular at the Century Plaza. Studio City Patch

Jason Collins 

Collins, who graduated from Harvard-Westlake in Studio City and lived in Northridge as a youth, completed the NBA season with the Washington Wizards. On Sunday, he received the Inspirational Athlete of the Year Award, presented to the athlete who has persevered, defied the odds and inspired us all, organizers said. Studio City Patch

Jason Collins 

Just 18 days ago, NBA center Jason Collins made a little history by publicly coming out as homosexual, becoming the first active gay male athlete in major American sports. Just two-and-a-half months ago, a member of an unidentified NFL team front office raised eyebrows in the wake of the Manti Te’o affair by asking Nick Kasa, “Do you like girls?” With the NBA’s Draft Combine kicking off here at Harrison Street Athletic Facility—and with team interviews beginning last night—it seemed only fair to wonder whether any teams were asking about player sexual orientation. I asked one general manager about the subject, and he told me quickly, “No, no way. The league is very sensitive to that kind of thing. We wouldn’t have asked anyway, but when you look at the NFL and how that came off, those kinds of questions are not worth it. They don’t really matter, anyway.” Sporting News

Draft, Jason Collins 

Jarron joked Wednesday on ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live that he missed "red flags" about Jason, who recently came out as the first active gay male athlete in one of the major U.S. sports. The brothers, who played together at Stanford before playing in the NBA, appeared together on the show and discussed how Jason finally let Jarron know after being hesitant for so long. "He's my best friend and any time you come out to someone, you always have that apprehension that they're going to reject, even though I knew that that wasn't going to be the case," Jason Collins said. NBA.com

Jason Collins, Jarron Collins 

Jarron was supportive but said he botched his response at first, saying things such as "Are you sure?" and "Since when?" "He's my twin brother, of course I was going to be supportive of him all the time," Jarron said. Jarron said since Jason's announcement, he's been approached by other men asking if he is Jason. To help clear that up, Kimmel gave him a T-shirt that read: "I'm the straight one." NBA.com

Jason Collins, Jarron Collins 

The Collins' story, which was broke exclusively by Sports Illustrated, did not become the lead story on ESPN.com for several hours as they continued to prominently feature the long-anticipated release of Tim Tebow by the New York Jets. "I think we did great other than we made one mistake: The mistake was not being more careful with Chris Broussard, and there is a collective responsibility there," said ESPN president John Skipper in comments to Sports Illustrated's Richard Deitsch and other reporters. "Chris Broussard's job was to come on and talk about the news of the league, how the league was representing it, and through a series of events he made personal comments which was a mistake." RealGM

Media, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

Skipper said he spoke with Broussard and producers of Outside The Lines following the telecast. "I had a discussion with everybody. They said, 'Look, we brought [ESPN.com columnist] LZ Granderson on to talk from a personal point of view, and we brought Chris on as a reporter and it was a mistake for him to cross the line into a personal point of view there.' We don't quarrel with his right to have any personal point of view, although we do assert as a company that we have a tolerant point of view, we are a diverse company, and that does not represent what our company thinks." RealGM

Media, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

Two weeks ago, President Obama dialed up NBA baller Jason Collins to congratulate him for becoming the first NBA player to publicly announce that he’s gay. Tea Party Congressman Steve King didn't like that very much, apparently. He thinks that Obama calling Collins but not Tim Tebow (who, King says, always takes a knee and prays to God before his NFL games), is a flat out degradation of America. Opposing Views

Jason Collins, Barack Obama 

King feels that Obama should at the very least be equal in his offers of congratulations. Specifically, he says: "I hear the president reducing or lowering American values by his comments that take place in the public and in the press. Think about the things he’s chosen to take sides on. [...] Then we’ve got Tim Tebow who will kneel and pray to God on the football field. Meanwhile we have a professional athlete that decides he’s going to announce his sexuality and he gets a personal call from the United States to highlight the sexuality of a professional ballplayer. These are ways that the culture gets undermined, where it gets divided. The people over on this side take their followership from that kind of leadership. One notch at a time, American civilization, American culture, western civilization, western Judeo-Christiandom are eroded." Opposing Views

Jason Collins, Barack Obama 

Being mistaken for your sibling is a daily part of life for identical twins. The mistaken identity has a little more meaning now for ex-NBA player Jarron Collins after his brother, Jason, recently became the first active male pro athlete in a major American sport to announce he was gay. "I get people looking at me, especially kids, teenagers," Jarron Collins said after a television appearance Thursday night. "They look at me and they do the double-take. They look at their smart phones and double-check for a profile pic. But I would say that the interaction in public has been supportive. It's, 'Hey are you Jason?' 'No, I'm Jarron.' 'I just love what your brother did,' sort of thing. Yahoo! Sports

Jason Collins, Jarron Collins 

Jason Collins had 41 points and 60 rebounds while playing in 38 games with Boston and Washington this past season and has 713 games of NBA experience. He is hopeful to get signed this offseason. "He's gearing up like he always does in the summer to come back and do his thing next season," Jarron Collins said. "Whether or not he gets the opportunity remains to be seen. I'm optimistic that teams will value my brother. I understand you have to take into account everything in its totality. "But my brother, when it comes down to it as a basketball player, I hope that the guys in the locker room, the coaches and hopefully the people evaluating say, 'OK, he's gay. But what does he bring to the team?' You're talking about a guy who has played 12 years, is extremely professional and, talking to his coaches, is a pro's pro." Yahoo! Sports

Jason Collins, Jarron Collins 

More details about Jason Collins’ compelling personal story may be headed to print. The NBA vet sparked a media storm by revealing he is gay in the May 6 issue of Sports Illustrated, and now his former fiancee, Carolyn Moos, says she is penning a book about her experiences with him. The Hollywood Reporter

Jason Collins, Carolyn Moos 

She shared the news on her personal website: “Carolyn will be writing a book as she reflects on her recent life events about her former fiance. She welcomes submitted questions from the public about what they would like to hear more on given topics that were discuss at the surface level in the interviews. Send your questions to questions@carolynmoos.com and Carolyn will review all of them as she begins to write.” The Hollywood Reporter

Jason Collins, Carolyn Moos 

Jason Collins continues to ride the wave of positive momentum since he came out as the first active openly gay athlete in one of the four major professional sports. Already this week, Collins has done sit-down interviews with “Good Morning America” and “Oprah’s Next Chapter” and been chosen to join first lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Committee’s annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender gala on May 29 in New York. But on his Twitter account, @jasoncollins34, Collins disputed reports on Monday that he is shopping a book deal: “I have no current plans to write any books. Sorry to disappoint my literary loving fans. #GoingToTheGym.” Washington Post

Jason Collins 

Jason Collins, the NBA veteran who last week announced he was gay, is seeking a book deal, the Associated Press reports. Jason Collins Calls Support for His Coming Out 'Mind Boggling' in 'GMA' Interview Collins denied the rumors tweeting, "I have no current plans to write any books. Sorry to disappoint my literary loving fans," he said, adding a hashtag "GoingToTheGym." But officials at three publishing houses said on Monday that they had been contacted about a planned memoir by Collins, the first active player in any of four major U.S. professional sports leagues to come out as gay. The Hollywood Reporter

Jason Collins, Showbusiness 

At least one publisher turned down the book, said one official, who noted the extensive media coverage of Collins and expressed concern that his story already has been told. The Hollywood Reporter

Jason Collins, Showbusiness 

BRITTNEY GRINER: I first came out to my mom in the ninth grade. Even though the story is kind of boring (comparatively), I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was leaning against a wall in our house at the time, not doing anything in particular. For whatever reason, at that moment I let my mom know I was gay. It wasn’t planned. It just popped out. She gave me a hug, smiled and told me she loved me, and I went back upstairs to my room. Simple as that. I knew then that it didn’t matter what my sexuality was; my mom and family would always love me for who I am. For me, the simplicity behind coming out was both powerful and beautiful. No drama, just acceptance and love. New York Times

Jason Collins, Brittney Griner 

But that doesn’t mean life was easy growing up. I was bullied in every way imaginable, but the worst was the verbal abuse. (I was always a strong, tough and tall girl, so nobody wanted to mess with me from a physical standpoint.) It hit rock bottom when I was in seventh grade. I was in a new school with people I didn’t know, and the teasing about my height, appearance and sexuality went on nonstop, every day. People called me a dude and said there was no way I could be a woman. Some even wanted me to prove it to them. During high school and college, when we traveled for games, people would shout the same things while also using racial epithets and terrible homophobic slurs. (That’s nothing compared with the horrendous things people call me online today — if you don’t believe me, look at the comments about me on Twitter and Instagram.) New York Times

Jason Collins, Brittney Griner