Filed Under » NBA

One week ago, Karen Rinaldi though it was pretty cool to live in the same neighborhood as former NBA center Jarron Collins.

"It's good conversation at parties or whatever to tell people that you live near a former pro athlete," said Rinaldi, who lives three houses away from Collins in Los Angeles. "But that's all ruined now."

Rinaldi said she mentioned to a friend yesterday that she lived near Jarron Collins and the friend replied: "Oh, wow? The gay athlete who came out?"

"No. No, not him," said Rinaldi. "That's Jason Collins. I live near Jarron Collins, his twin brother."

"Oh. Too bad," he friend said. "Well, maybe Jason will come visit sometime. He's really famous."

"Yeah," said Rinaldi.

It's the same for friends of the now much lesser-known Collins twin.

"Jarron is a great guy and I think the world of him," said lifelong friend Doug Mason. "But now I kind of feel like I'm friends with Steve Robinson, Jackie Robinson's brother. Or Jeff Armstrong, the brother of Neil Armstrong. You know what I mean? It would be cooler to know the guy who walked on the moon, not the guy who once shared a bedroom with the guy who walked on the moon."

A caller just now into Nashville's Sports Talk 980 drive-time show, "Crazy Mike and The Pete Show," says he has something to say about NBA player Jason Collins revealing he is gay.

"Alright, we've got Jimmie Ray from Smyrna calling in and he wants to talk about gay athletes," Crazy Mike just said. "You're on the air, Jimmie Ray."

Oh, God. His name is Jimmie Ray. This is going to be even worse than you feared.

"Yeah, hey, Crazy Mike. Yeah, I just wanted to talk about this NBA guy saying he's gay," said Jimmie Ray. "Now, I've never heard of him before because I don't really like NBA basketball. I don't think half of them try all season and when they do, it's only for the last few minutes of the game."

Please. Please someone stop this. Please. It's going to get racial and homophobic. Cut the line.

"And I learned in church growing up that homosexuality is a sin," continued Jimmie Ray.

Sweet mercy. This is a complete disaster. HANG UP ON HIM! You don't want sports radio callers talking about these issues! They're America's dumbest people! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook says he has settled on outfit for his next postgame press conference, a matching Speedo and lensless monocle purchased from one of Oklahoma City's most fashionable boutiques.

"Damn. I look good," Westbrook said while modeling the look in a locker room mirror. "Guys, don't I look good? You all are jealous, right?"

Westbrook's questions were met mostly with mumbles. Several teammates quickly exited the locker room to save themselves from having to answer. Nick Collison hid in his locker.

"Russell is obviously a huge part of this team and a lot of our success depends on him playing well and staying confident," teammate Kevin Durant said later. "So none of us want to tell him that he looks ridiculous. We just try to avoid the conversation."