Sorry for geeking out like a couple little school girls, but we got a real thrill this weekend at the Nike LGBT Sports Summit when openly gay NBA player Jason Collins told the crowd that two publications he read regularly while he was in the closet were our very own Outsports, and the Advocate.

He said that the stories of LGBT athletes we tell on the site were particularly helpful to him. It was really nice to hear and a reminder of the importance of that piece of what we do here.

Plenty of high school and college athletes have told us they found our site a key resource in navigating the labyrinth of the closet; Some even said it was on Outsports.com that they first realized they weren't the only gay athlete. We've long assumed closeted pros were reading us as well, and it was nice to hear from a stand-up guy like Collins that the entire Outsports community — in some small way — helped him while he was struggling with his own identity.

Bucket list. Check.

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