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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 

Baxter Holmes: Doc Rivers also touched on Chris Broussard's opinion of homosexuality, saying, "I don’t mind his opinion either..." Twitter @BaxterHolmes

Boston Celtics, Doc Rivers, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

ESPN has issued a stern response to an on-air appearance by reporter Chris Broussard during which he stated he did not consider NBA player Jason Collins, who came out as gay, to be “a Christian.” newsmax.com

Media, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

ESPN later released a statement on Broussard’s comments. “We regret that a respectful discussion of personal viewpoints became a distraction from today’s news. ESPN is fully committed to diversity and welcomes Jason Collins’ announcement.” newsmax.com

Media, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

Broussard himself then took to Twitter to tell his followers, “Today on OTL, as part of a larger, wide-ranging discussion on today's news, I offered my personal opinion as it relates to Christianity, a point of view that I have expressed publicly before. I realize that some people disagree with my opinion and I accept and respect that.” “As has been the case in the past, my beliefs have not and will not impact my ability to report on the NBA,” he continued. newsmax.com

Media, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

Julian Wright: @Chris_Broussard I salute you for standing up for YOUR beliefs. The U.S. has gotten so hypocritical it's crazy. May the Most High bless you! Twitter @HebrewJEWright

Media, Julian Wright, Chris Broussard 

Chris Broussard: "I'm a Christian. I don't agree with homosexuality. I think it's a sin, as I think all sex outside of marriage between a man and a woman is" Twitter

Media, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

Chris Broussard: "In talking to some people around the league, there's a lot Christians in the NBA and just because they disagree with that lifestyle, they don't want to be called bigoted and intolerant and things like that." Twitter

Media, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

Chris Broussard: "... Personally, I don't believe that you can live an openly homosexual lifestyle or an opnely premarital sex between heterosexuals, if you're openly living that type of lifestyle, then the Bible says you know them by their fruits, it says that's a sin. If you're openly living in unrepentant sin, whatever it may be, not just homosexuality, adultery, fornication, premarital sex between heterosexuals, whatever it may be, I believe that's walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ. I would not characterize that person as a Christian because I do not think the Bible would characterize them as a Christian." Twitter

Media, Jason Collins, Chris Broussard 

The rumors of Bill Simmons replacing Chris Broussard on NBA countdown have grown to the point that the latter resorted to responding on his twitter account: @Chris_Broussard: Lol. This twitter stuff is crazy. I have not been fired; I still work at ESPN. The Big Lead

Media, Chris Broussard, Bill Simmons 

In the latest sign that Bill Simmons is the most powerful man at ESPN, the columnist and man behind Grantland will reportedly join ESPN’s NBA studio show this season. Simmons and former Orlando Magic head coach Stan Van Gundy would replace Chris Broussard and Jon Barry, according to Sports By Brooks. However, ESPN couldn’t confirm the report when contacted on Tuesday by FishbowlLA. “We are in the process of considering all assignments for both returning and potential new commentator roles. As we’ve said before, Stan is someone we’d be interested in exploring,” said ESPN spokesman Ben Cafardo. “For Bill, same applies, we’re exploring the best ways to utilize all of our talent, including Bill, this NBA season.” Media Bistro

Orlando Magic, Media, Stan Van Gundy, Chris Broussard, Jon Barry, Bill Simmons 

Amare Stoudemire and Allan Houston headlined a celebrity panel that converged in Harlem on Friday night to address a growing concern in America: the fatherless crisis. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau report, more than 25 million children now live apart from their biological fathers. That's a 15.3 percent increase (eight to 23.3 percent) from 1960 to 2006. But communities such as Harlem face the biggest challenges. Nearly two in three (65 percent) of African-American children live in fatherless homes, and 80 percent of those children can expect to live at least a part of their childhood living apart from their fathers. Along with ESPN NBA analyst Chris Broussard, rapper Styles P, actor Chaz Lamar Shepherd and NBA player Etan Thomas, Stoudemire and Houston -- who are all fatherhood activists through different initiatives -- discussed the topic of fatherhood and manhood in multiple ways. The event also featured poems on the topics by spoken-word artists J. Ivy, Julian Thomas and Messiah Ramkissoon. ESPN.com

Amare Stoudemire, Allan Houston, Chris Broussard, Etan Thomas 

Stoudemire, who also has a new book out for children called "STAT: Home Court," talked about losing his father, Hazell, at 12 years old, and how he turned to hip-hop, listening to 2Pac and The Notorious B.I.G. for direction. Now, as an entertainer himself, he understands the importance of helping under-served children find their way. And he wants fathers to have that commitment with their own children. Even in his 10th year in the NBA, Stoudemire, who has three kids, still feels pro athletes have a lot of work to do. "We have to be kings of the world, leaders, so we can build kings of the world," he said. "What they see on TV is that we got the big money, the big cars, the beautiful homes. But we've got to figure out ways to be positive influences to the youth because they follow us. Whatever we do, they want to do. We have to tell them to stay in school and keep their heads up. I was a history buff growing up. It seems like it's not cool to be smart, but it is." ESPN.com

Amare Stoudemire, Allan Houston, Chris Broussard, Etan Thomas 

A four-team trade that would send Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers is "very close" to happening and could be agreed upon Friday, league sources told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard. ESPN.com

Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, Trade, Dwight Howard, Chris Broussard 

Chris Broussard: OKC, New Orleans and Washington have expressed interest in free agent Roger Mason, sources say Twitter

New Orleans Hornets, Washington Wizards, Free Agency, Roger Mason, Chris Broussard 

Stan Van Gundy: My first thought is that Chris Broussard has no knowledge of coaching and wouldn’t know it if he saw it. I’d like to get some specifics from Chris on what he thinks coaching is … and what’s not happening. Sports Radio Interviews

Coaching, Stan Van Gundy, Chris Broussard 

Prior to ESPN's broadcast of tonight's Celtics-Mavericks matchup, there was an odd whiteboard round-table discussion during which we learned analyst Chris Broussard struggles with the spelling of the Bluff City. Deadspin.com

Media, Chris Broussard 

Chris Broussard: Memphis is playing so poorly, it didn't deserve to have it's name spelled correctly. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. LOL Twitter

Media, Chris Broussard 

Around the 3-minute mark of this video, Bayless felt backed into a corner because his uninformed, laughable logic had been shot to hell by Broussard, who is one of ESPN’s top NBA reporters. So Bayless came out swinging: “You’re way too close [to LeBron] to have any objectivity … you sold your journalistic soul to get close to him.” Broussard, who I hear is very religious and almost always sounds intelligent, loses it by the end of their “debate” when he shouts, “you trippin’, you trippin’.” The Big Lead

Miami Heat, LeBron James, Media, Chris Broussard