Former Villanova player Will Sheridan comes out of the closet

If you are going to read anything college basketball related today, I strongly suggest you give Dana O'Neil's piece on Will Sheridan a chance.

Sheridan is a former player for Villanova. He was on the team until 2007 -- including a 2006 Elite 8 run that saw the Wildcats get ranked as high as No. 2 in the country. He's no longer playing basketball, as Sheridan is now pursuing a career as a musician.

There have been a number of instances in which high-profile athletes have come out of the closet. Most notably in basketball, former NBA player John Ameachi announced that he was gay. On Sunday, a Vice President for the Pheonix Suns came out of the closet. There have been NHL and NFL players that have come out of the closet as well, but all of them were after their playing days were over.

What's most intriguing to me is that Sheridan's teammates knew that he was gay while his playing career was going on. He had a serious boyfriend while still at Villanova, although that person went to a different school. That is a good sign. You never know how 18 and 19 year olds are going to react to a difficult situation, and discovering that one of your teammates is gay isn't exactly typical. They handled themselves perfectly, focusing on the fact that Sheridan was there to help them win games, not there to steal a peak in the showers.

Its also a bit disheartening.

This is 2011. This is the age of twitter and smart phones and worldwide connectivity and instant access to news and information. The fact that a relative no-name that hasn't played in four years is gay should not be a breaking news story. It shouldn't be that big of a deal.

But it is. And stories like this will continue to be breaking news so long as the locker room remains a place of homophobic intolerance.

Gay men can now get married. They still aren't allowed to play sports.