Jonathan Mahler, Columnist

Jason Collins Should Be on the Court, Not at the Capitol

Tomorrow night, when President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address, the First Lady will be seated next to the former NBA player Jason Collins.

January 27, 2014 at 6:18 PM UTC

By Jonathan Mahler

Jonathan Mahler is a sports columnist for Bloomberg View. He is the author of the best-selling "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning," the basis for the eight-part ESPN mini-series. He also wrote "The Challenge," the winner of the 2009 Scribes Book Award, and "Death Comes to Happy Valley." A longtime contributor to the New York Times Magazine and the Times Book Review, Mahler has written for numerous other publications including the Washington Post, Slate, the New Republic and New York magazine. He lives in New York.

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Tomorrow night, when President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address, the First Lady will be seated next to the former NBA player Jason Collins.

Last spring, of course, Collins became the first active American professional athlete in a team sport to come out of the closet. Which makes this a big deal. But you know what would be a much bigger deal? If instead of sitting in the House gallery in a suit, Collins was in uniform on the floor of an NBA arena.