Jason Collins, the guy who got famous for being gay in a league full of sweaty dudes, is dead at 47. Brain tumor got him. Stage 4 glioblastoma, the kind that doesn't mess around. Guess all that woke virtue signaling couldn't cure cancer. Sad trombone.

Look, nobody's celebrating death, but let's be real: Collins' main contribution to society wasn't his mad ball skills (which were, let's say, adequate). It was his historical 'courage' in announcing his orientation back in 2013. Brave, sure, in a culture that increasingly demands total and enthusiastic acceptance of… everything. The Overton Window just keeps shifting, doesn't it?

Thirteen years in the NBA, bouncing around from the Celtics to the Nets. Made his mark, I guess. But the headlines were always about the gay thing. You gotta wonder if that was what he truly wanted to be remembered for: not basketball, but identity politics.

His family's all broken up about it, naturally. "Jason changed lives in unexpected ways," they said. Translation: He made liberals feel good about themselves. And that's fine, I guess. Someone's gotta do it.

He even got some 'Global Champion' award from the Green Sports Alliance right before he croaked. His brother, Jarron, took the award. Can't wait till athletes are just athletes and not social justice warriors. I'm sure Bill Walton would agree.

Here's the thing: It's okay to be skeptical. It's okay to roll your eyes at the constant pushing of agendas, even when it comes from genuinely nice people. The world is complicated. Nuance matters. And sometimes, a dude dying of cancer is just a dude dying of cancer. No need to turn everything into a morality play.

Glioblastoma's a beast, no doubt. Nasty stuff. You'd think with all the money and research, they'd have figured out a cure by now. But hey, maybe funding rainbow-colored basketball nets is more important. Priorities, am I right?

So, RIP Jason Collins. You played the game, on and off the court. You'll be remembered, for better or worse, as a pioneer of… something. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go watch some highlights of actual basketball players dunking on people.

It's not that his announcement was unneeded, or that he did not act as a role model for members of the LGBT community, it is more that his career was relatively unremarkable aside from his being the first, so it became a defining characteristic for him in the public consciousness.

One could argue that he set an example for others, which he did, but at the end of the day, sports are about skill, and his impact on society would have been much greater had he been better at his craft. Regardless, his contributions to civil discourse should be noted.