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Bubba Watson shows support for ESPN analyst that condemned Jason Collins

Shane Bacon

It has been a day since NBA player Jason Collins announced he was gay. And despite the fact that it's 2013, people apparently still get divided on this issue. While most everyone in the sports world seemed to show support for Collins, there were a select few that took the other microphone.

ESPN brought analyst Chris Broussard on during a special "Outside the Lines" to talk about his views, and he was emphatically against the idea of homosexuality.

Here part of what he said, courtesy of Balls Don't Lie:

"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. [ESPN's] L.Z. [Granderson] knows that. He and I have played on basketball teams together for several years. We've gone out, had lunch together, we've had good conversations, good laughs together. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands. I don't criticize him, he doesn't criticize me, and call me a bigot, call me ignorant, call me intolerant.

Now, as my buddy Kelly Dwyer pointed out in his post about Broussard's comments, there are plenty of things the Bible says that people don't abide by (working on Sundays? Golfers strive to make that happen), but that didn't stop Bubba Watson from going to Twitter on Tuesday to show his support for Broussard.

I know that this country we live in is based on freedom of speech, so Bubba is allowed to agree with whatever he wants, but that means I can say something as well.

Golf is basically the good 'ol boy's club. We live in a world where, up until 2012, the only golf course that consistently hosted a PGA Tour major championship didn't have a women member. This is a world where guys have gone on Republican rants so hard that they were forced off Twitter, and a place where all-male clubs are still a big, big thing.

So why must we keep pushing the gas on these things? We live in a world that is transitioning into a more open-minded place each day, with politicians coming forward each day in support of gay marriage, yet one of our recent major champions decided to speak up against an issue that, frankly, isn't affecting his day by day life. Is homosexuality a sin according to the Bible? Sure, but as Dwyer pointed out in his NBA post on Monday, "(The Bible has been) used as a basis to defend slavery, segregation, the oppression of women’s rights, and laws forbidden the consumption of shrimp scampi."

I'm not here to change your ideas or opinions, but to simply ask, why hate when there is no reason to hate? Why put down someone for being who they are? If you're gay, great. If you're straight, excellent, but this isn't Capture the Flag. We can stand in this great country together, as a team, patting each other on the back for whatever it is you are. To me, that's how you become a good person. Not by what you believe or what you read or even what building you pour in on Sunday, but just by going out of your way to be nice to each and every person you run into.