So, Jason Collins, the 7-footer who made headlines back in '13 for being the first openly, aggressively gay dude in the NBA, has shuffled off this mortal coil after a tango with a brain tumor. Yeah, cancer doesn't discriminate – even if you're on a one-man mission to signal your moral superiority from the free throw line.

Let's be real, Collins wasn't exactly Jordan out there. Dude was a journeyman center, a scrub who made a name for himself by, well, not his ball skills. He was more famous for his pronouns than his points per game. Remember all the media fellating him? It was a circus.

The libs went wild when he came out. Obama gave him a pat on the back. Suddenly, Collins was a hero, a trailblazer, a social justice warrior on the hardwood. Never mind that he averaged like, what, four points a game? Facts don't matter when you're pushing the Narrative™. He became a prop for the woke agenda.

Of course, not everyone was thrilled. Some folks, you know, the ones who still cling to traditional values (imagine!), raised an eyebrow. But who cares what they think, right? They're just dinosaurs, clinging to their Bibles and their outdated notions of morality. Sad!

Collins then went on to parlay his 15 minutes of fame into a gig as a professional activist. He became the poster child for LGBTQ+ rights, yapping about marriage equality and whatnot. Good for him, I guess. But let's not pretend he was doing it out of the goodness of his heart. He was cashing in, plain and simple.

Now he's gone. And the left is going to milk this for all it's worth. Expect the eulogies to be dripping with saccharine sentimentality, the think pieces to be overflowing with virtue signaling. They'll paint him as some kind of saint, a martyr for the cause.

But let's not forget the real story. Jason Collins was a basketball player who happened to be gay. He made a personal choice, and that's his business. But he also became a symbol, a pawn in the culture war. And now that he's gone, that war rages on, more pointless than ever.

RIP, or whatever. Maybe now the woke crowd can find a new athlete to worship. It's only a matter of time before the next NPC steps up to the plate. Anyway, the sports world mourns the dude. He is survived by…crickets. The article doesn't say. How woke.