42 Quotes by Jason Collins

I knew that I was choosing the road less traveled but I'm not walking it alone.

I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay. I didn't set out to be the first openly gay athlete playing in a major American team sport. But since I am, I'm happy to start the conversation. I wish I wasn't the kid in the classroom raising his hand and saying, 'I'm different.' If I had my way, someone else would have already done this. Nobody has, which is why I'm raising my hand.

I'm a veteran, and I've earned the right to be heard. I'll lead by example and show that gay players are no different from straight ones. I'm not the loudest person in the room, but I'll speak up when something isn't right. And try to make everyone laugh.

Openness may not completely disarm prejudice, but it's a good place to start.

When I was younger I dated women. I even got engaged. I thought I had to live a certain way. I thought I needed to marry a woman and raise kids with her. I kept telling myself the sky was red, but I always knew it was blue.

We're playing good defense against him. It's obviously bothering him for him to say something like that.

He got fined $15,000? Well, maybe we need to get fined, too, because there were some calls tonight that didn't go our way.

He got fined $15,000? Maybe we should get fined, because there were a couple of calls that didn't go our way. But this is the NBA. Referees are going to make calls as a player, you have to play through them.

He might be getting a little frustrated. I think any player that gets in foul trouble consistently might be a little frustrated. There's a number of reasons, but probably number one, he's not on the court as much as he wants to be. That all goes back to playing him tough on the offensive end and attacking.