Despite openly gay NBA player Jason Collins only spending 10 minutes on the court during a game Sunday night, all three network morning shows on Monday hailed his non-scoring time off the bench as a momentous occasion. On ABC's Good Morning America, co-host George Stephanopoulos proclaimed: "A history-making moment in the NBA. Jason Collins broke through a big barrier last night when he suited up for the Brooklyn Nets against the Lakers, becoming the first openly gay player in any of the four major pro-leagues." [Listen to the audio or watch the video after the jump]
On NBC's Today, co-host Matt Lauer announced: "History was made...last night in a basketball game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers." In the report that followed, 9 a.m. co-host Willie Geist gushed: "History on the basketball court Sunday night, when 35-year-old Jason Collins became the first openly gay male athlete to play in any of the four major professional U.S. sports."
Geist touted Collins's activism: "After one game wearing 46, Collins will play in jersey number 98. In honor of Matthew Shepard, a gay teen who was murdered in a notorious hate crime in 1998. A symbolic message of tolerance Collins hopes will spread through sports."
On GMA, news reader Josh Elliott was thrilled: "I do want to say, never been happier watching the Lakers lose than last night. I'll tell you that. Congratulations to you, Jason Collins."
All three shows mentioned the short period of time Collins actually played and the fact that he had only signed a 10-day contract with the Brooklyn Nets, but none of broadcasts let that get in the way of their "historic" narrative.
ABC correspondent John Muller asserted: "He played for just ten minutes, but there is no doubt Jason Collins's performance will go down in history." Stephanopoulos later added that Collins "did his part last night."
On NBC, Geist and Lauer spun it this way:
GEIST: The line for Collins, 11 minutes, two rebounds, took one shot, missed it, five fouls for him in 11 minutes, which is exactly the way he plays.
LAUER: What he does, that's exactly right.
GEIST: He's a bruiser.
As the New York Times explained on Sunday, "N.B.A.'s 10-Day Contract Is Essentially a Job-Tryout," not exactly good news for a player who's been in the league for 13 years.
The Times' Benjamin Hoffman noted: "The contracts, while useful, are rarely a source of much production and are instead used to fill out rosters when injuries occur. Throughout the years, there have been some success stories, like Raja Bell, Bruce Bowen, Anthony Mason and Kurt Rambis, but they are outliers."
When Collins first came out in 2013, the networks eagerly cheered the news with wall-to-wall coverage:
NBC Pundit: Jason Collins Like 'Rosa Parks,' A 'Gay Hero' Starting A 'Movement'
ABC Celebrates Gay NBA Player, Still Ignores Gosnell
'Face the Nation' Spends 30 Minutes on Gay NBA Player, Still No Mention of Gosnell
They did the same when college football player and NFL prospect Michael Sam came out in February.
