Wednesday morning it relayed this tidbit: Former NBA player John Amaechi will announce that he is gay during an exclusive interview on Sunday's Outside the Lines.,”

The crawl at the bottom of the screen on ESPN provides the impatient viewer with constant updates on scores, injuries, hirings, firings and the like.

Wednesday morning it relayed this tidbit: Former NBA player John Amaechi would announce that he is gay during an exclusive interview on Sunday's "Outside the Lines." Amaechi would be the first NBA player, retired or active, to come out.

As promised, Amaechi did announce Sunday morning that he is gay, and my reaction was, "So what?"

Amaechi played five seasons in the NBA with Orlando, Utah and Cleveland. He was a serviceable forward who could score and rebound enough to contribute but not enough to make too many highlights.

The man was good enough to keep a job playing a professional sport. What else do you need to know? Why is this newsworthy?

"For me, the only newsworthy item of this story is that it says that this country, our communities, our sports teams are not ready," said the Rev. Patrick Dorsey, the team chaplain for the women's basketball team for 11 years. "They have not educated themselves concerning gay people and are not ready to accept diversity."

During Dorsey's tenure, he has had countless discussions with student-athletes about a wide range of personal issues.

The issue of Amaechi formally announcing his homosexuality to the public doesn't register as worthy of national media attention to Dorsey. He thinks it's a bit na've.

But he also thinks it begs the question of why exactly Amaechi has decided it's important to tell everyone a secret he has kept for so long. Is he looking for support? Is he trying to make way for others? Dorsey views both of those reasons as acceptable.

The cynic in me makes me think Amaechi is trying to create hype for a book he has written, published by ESPN Books (surprise, surprise), titled "Man in the Middle," that will be released later this month. ESPN did not return multiple messages seeking comment.

Whatever the true reason may be, it will not make society any more ready to hear the news. And, sad as it may be, society still is not prepared to absorb such an announcement, as well as the baggage it carries.

Whether you want to accept it or not, there is probably a good number of homosexual college athletes. So what might the reaction be at Marquette if one of its student-athletes announced he or she was gay?

Dorsey described Marquette as gay-friendly but not always tolerant. By that, he meant that the school has groups, such as the Gay/Straight Alliance, that are supported by the administration. But the school also has its share of students who, at times, demonstrate intolerance for those who do not share the same sexual orientation.

As for the coaches and teammates at Marquette, Dorsey believes they would be supportive if a student-athlete were to announce he or she was gay, because the team's success would be prioritized higher than the sexual preferences of the individual players.

Perspective, according to Dorsey, is valuable in looking at a scenario in which an athlete, collegiate or professional, announces he or she is gay. Would it make any difference if the athlete were not gay? Was the athlete able to prove himself during competition? Was the athlete able to get over bad games and pull through to have a good season?

"It's important not just to look at the future or the present but also to look at the past," Dorsey said. "Then, it might be easier to support someone in their journey."

Given such perspective, we arrive back at the original question: So what?

So what if an athlete is gay or straight? Can he or she perform at a level that is acceptable to the rabid fan base that many schools, Marquette very much included, have for their sports teams? Can he or she play well? Yes? Good. End of discussion.

Unfortunately, it's not the end of the discussion. For some reason, we still care about gay and straight. For some reason, we're still not ready to accept, not secure enough with ourselves to realize "different" does not equal "threat."

That's why Amaechi's announcement is newsworthy. Because it raises eyebrows. Because it makes a little part inside each of us uncomfortable.

One day, the crawl at the bottom of the screen will just provide updates on scores, injuries, hirings, firings and the like.

One day, we will know better.

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