First ex-NBAer out of closet

Two sad parts to John Amaechi’s story.

One is that he’s doing it as an ex-player, showing that fears of homophobia — and likely actual homophobia to generate those fears in spades — still abound in sports locker rooms.

Second is that not all current NBA players sound all that tolerant, even in public.

LeBron James, said he didn't think an openly gay person could survive in the league.

"With teammates you have to be trustworthy, and if you're gay and you're not admitting that you are, then you are not trustworthy," James said. "So that's like the No. 1 thing as teammates — we all trust each other. You've heard of the in-room, locker room code. What happens in the locker room stays in there. It's a trust factor, honestly. A big trust factor."

Hey LeBron, it’s not that he isn’t trustworthy, it’s that he estimates people like you aren’t, and you just proved it.

At least one star player sounds more enlightened.

Orlando's Grant Hill, who said he didn't know Amaechi when he was with the Magic, also applauded the decision to go public.

"The fact that John has done this, maybe it will give others the comfort or confidence to come out as well, whether they are playing or retiring," Hill said.

Meanwhile, the commish shanked his tee shot on this issue.

NBA commissioner David Stern said a player's sexuality wasn't important.

"We have a very diverse league. The question at the NBA is always 'Have you got game?' That's it, end of inquiry," he said.

Nice as far as it goes, but unless he says something specific to address comments of people like James, it doesn’t go very far.

Of course, LeBron sounds the model of enlightenment compared to this:

Injured Philadelphia Sixers forward Shavlik Randolph acknowledged it's a new situation.

"As long as you don't bring your gayness on me I'm fine," Randolph said. "As far as business-wise, I'm sure I could play with him. But I think it would create a little awkwardness in the locker room."

It’s both homophobia and rampant egotism that you are “jump-worthy” to be worried about being “jumped’ by a gay man, first of all.

Second, it’s incredibly ignorant at least and incredibly disgusting at most to think of gayness as some sort of “disease” or similar, as it sounds like Randolph is doing.