♪ the water from this stone below ♪ ♪ becomes a blue-green fountain as the southern wind sings again an island lullaby ♪ ♪ you can jump right in let the music pull you in you can jump right in oh and lose yourself again ♪ ♪ as the southern wind sings again an island lullaby ♪ ♪ la-la-la-la la-la-la-la la-la-la-la ♪ ♪ ♪ you can find me where the music meets the ocean if you get the notion ♪ ♪ stop on by

and play a while simple tune to get your love light glowing ♪ ♪ keep your heart wide open disappear just like the tide let it roll on by ♪ ♪ you can jump right in let the music pull you in you can jump right in oh and lose yourself again ♪ ♪ as the southern wind sings again an island lullaby ♪ as the southern wind sings again an island lullaby an island lullaby >> jimmy: zac brown band. i want to thank martin short, leah remini. apologies to matt damon. we ran out of time. tomorrow night, jon favreau, gabourey sidibe and music from band of horses. "nightline" is next. thanks for watching.

good night! tonight on "nightline" the surprise announcement that made this nba player a game changer. why jason collins decided to come out. who is supporting him and who is not. billion dollar trial, the jacksons are fighting back four years after michael's death. is his family crusading for justice or dollars? inside this courtroom thriller. and mown tall brawl. men dedicated to protecting everest climbers launch an attack against them. tonight an unlikely threat

>> announcer: from new york city, this is "nightline" with dan harris. >> good evening. history was made today, not just sports history but american history. a 7 foot, 255 pound nba player named jason collins surprised everyone by coming out of the closet in the pages of "sports illustrated." here's abc's amy robach. >> reporter: no move on the court could have ever landed jason collins in the record books like the one he made today. the nba veteran shocked the sports world by announcing he's gay. a bombshell announced in the pages of "sports illustrated" and on good morning america. >> i never set out to be the

first. and obviously, you know you are waiting around for somebody else to, you know, raise their hand and, you know, i'm ready to raise my hand but you still look around and are like come on guys. >> reporter: it makes him the first active athlete to come out in the testosterone charged world of professional sports. robbie rogers knows what it's like. your parents and friends and nobody knew? >> no. >> reporter: the last time rogers walked on a soccer field he too carried a secret he knew could destroy his chances to play the game that is his life. but like collins he decided he could no longer live the lie. we will be on rogers on his journey, with him as he goes home to see his family after revealing the secret he thought he would never share.

robbie rogers played on soccer fields around the world. college ball, major league, the olympics. he was even good enough to go professional in england. you knew around the age of 10? >> i knew i was gay when i was 14. >> reporter: he knew he had to hide the feelings if he wanted to pursue his dreams. by the time he made it to the big leagues he was living in fear. >> just having the feeling i hope no one figures out i'm gay. if that happens you can't play. >> reporter: did you hear gay slurs in the locker room? >> all the time. i heard them hanging out with my friends in high school and everywhere. >> my biggest goal right now the "s" to get to the world cup. >> reporter: he posted videos like this one. >> just cruising around first amazing day here in columbus. a bunch of beautiful babes out

and awesome people everywhere. >> reporter: hanging out with the guys and dating girls. what gave you the strength to say i can't do this any more the. >> i was raised to be myself and be unique and not follow a pack. >> reporter: starting last fall he started coming out. first to his conservative catholic family in california. he began telling hem by e-mail and over skype. for most 25-years-old the drama might end there but he had another family to tell. >> the guys on the team are your best friends and brothers. if you are not the same as them you are the outcast. >> jimmy: but he got the strength in a letter he posted online. >> for the past 25 years i have been afraid to show who i really was because of the fear. >> reporter: and with that, robbie didn't just come out he

walked away from professional soccer. he says after all those years living in the shadows he needed time to figure things out. what was it like when your teammates found out and your coaches found out? >> a lot of my teammates i have been friends with that i have been playing with in california or with the team i told a lot of them. >> reporter: what were their reaction? >> they were like, wait you are going to step away from soccer why? >> reporter: while his teammates have been supported those close to him had another concern. your coach said your teammates were great but he had concern about the fans. >> i think especially in europe they try to get under your skin. if i go back i will have to be strong and worry about the sport. >> reporter: reaction to jason collins' announcement today has been mostly positive. kobe bryant tweeted he is proud of collins. don't suffocate who you are

because of the ignorance of others. but not everyone is as supportive. mike wallace tweeted he doesn't understand. all these beautiful women in the world and guys want to mess with other guys. the post was later removed. >> it's just the atmosphere of sports. it's macho, macho men mentality. >> reporter: but there have to be more male gay athletes. >> hundreds of thousands i'm sure. >> reporter: when we met with robbie in new york he was on his journey. >> i'm headed back to l.a. today. excited to see my family for the first time in a year. >> reporter: are you serious? >> yeah. 2:30 new york time. i'm happy to be back. see you when i get home when i see my mom. usually i feed off her. hopefully she is too tired to be emotional.

>> how are you? >> it's been a long day. >> it was a time of sadness the a way to think there had been something that my son suffered with, maybe. by himself. and then it was a great moment of joy to think that we were all together and that we could share it and that we could start something new. >> exactly true. >> reporter: what do you hope can change based on your announcement? because right now if you do go back and play you would be the only openly gay footballer, soccer player? >> gay athletes are athletes. i want to go back to soccer as robbie the soccer player. i don't want to go back as this gay athlete. i love the sport. and i love being an athlete.

so i just want it to be that simple. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm amy robach in new york. >> tomorrow on "good morning america" george stephanopoulos sitting down with jason collins. the trial providing a shocking glimpse inside the secret world of michael jackson. >> announcer: abc news "nightline" brought to you by golden corral.

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michael jackson's life was a bizarre intertwining of concert halls, courtrooms and private torment. all three of those are on stark display in a trial that started today one that promises to give an unprecedented look at what led up to the king of pop's untimely demise. >> ♪ why why >> this is it not just another trial but possibly the michael jackson trial. tens of millions of dollars at stake, maybe more. not to mention the reputation of a worldwide pop music icon. >> find the defendant conrad murray guilty. >> reporter: a criminal jury made it clear where the immediate blame lies, conrad murray, the doctor who

administers propofol. but in the wrongful death lawsuit the jacksons argue that the blame lies with the concert promoter who signed the checks to pay conrad murray. >> who was conrad murray, who is in jail for killing michael jackson, who was he working for? the king of pop or the promoter, aeg live? that's the central issue. >> aeg contends that murray was hired by michael jackson and not them. and the company had no way of knowing that the doctor would prescribe a fatal overdose. but the jackson family lawyer said that the promoter knew that jackson was physically and mentally weak. this footage from a rehearsal for his tour was taken the day before he dies and included in "this is it" in it the

50-year-old jackson appears to be performing well. but behind the seas his lawyers said his reliance on prescription drugs and pain medication were widely known and the lawyers told the jury that dr. murray had a conflict of interest, so deeply in debt he may have been more concerned about his paycheck than his patient's best interest and aeg was paying him $50,000 a month. michael had a problem, dr. murray had a problem and aeg had a problem the lawyer said in his opening statement calling the aeg executives ruthless guys insisting that the show must go on. the cornerstone of the jackson family case an e-mail written 11 days before michael jackson's death by the ceo of aeg we want to remind murray that it's aeg, not mj who is paying his salary. >> the worst thing that aeg has

going for them is that e-mail. that's when aeg has real exposure. once they agree to pay $150,000 a month, you're saying they're liable. >> right. i'm going to say that is going to go a long way. >> reporter: the aeg team has celebrity on its side. diana ross, prince, quincy jones and his ex-wives and teenaged children. >> clearly the ones who will be most compelling are the kids. and i would expect that they will do well. my experience with them is now dated. it's been years since i had interactions with them. but i was always impressed how grounded they were, intelligent, quick, smart. today as her lawyer played "you are my life" for the jury,

jackson's mother fought back tears. >> everyone saw paris gave a eulogy to her father in an arena d didn't miss a beat. >> would be the surprising for conrad murray to testify more than just taking the fifth? >> it would be surprising and completely unorthodox. but who knows. >> reporter: late today as he began his opening statement, aeg's lawyer warned the jury we're going to show you some ugly stuff. the truth is michael jackson fooled everyone. he made sure no one, nobody knew his deepest, darkest secrets, putnam said, now this trial threatens to reveal them all. >> a trial that will be getting a lot of attention. up next here on "nightline" a vicious alleged attack on the slopes of mount everest. an interview with the man who says he could have been killed.

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more than 100 people have died trying to climb mount everett many from lack of oxygen and extreme cold.

now a new threat has begun to present itself. a possible threat with a human face. >> reporter: up until this weekend it had been a spectacular assent. the italian and swiss climber and behind the camera, jonathan griffith getting up past 8,000 feet and loving it all the way. and then they were attacked, they say, attacked right there on the mountain in the recorded words -- >> i was a in the tent and he just tried to kill us. >> reporter: who was they? a group of sherpas who make a living bringing climbers up and back down from everest's peak. the incident happened on saturday 25,000 feet up in camp 2. where sherpas were laying ropes for the next stage and they were

instructed to keep a distance while that was happening. the trio apparently decided to keep sliming but off to one side. >> we climbed maybe 50 meters beside them not to disturb them their work but at some point this made kind of a conflict because the sherpas did not like that and there was a big argument. >> an argument four miles high up where words were exchanged and physical contact made and the europeans said they were set upon by a crowd of sherpas. >> at this time over 100 sherpas really, really angry and they started to beat us. they were throwing stones on us. there was an american girl who stepped in between us and the sherpas. they did not touch any woman. and that was our luck. >> reporter: it was the opposite of these happy pictures. they were told to leave within an hour or someone would get killed. they headed out.

everest is a rough place. but this is different. it's not clear if the tension was something personal or whether it went deeper. one thing that everest does well is bring together strivers and risk takers of different cultures who survive by cooperating. the climbers can truly get in each other's way. some companies charge up to $100,000 for tourists who want to make the climb. youtube has videos of those who did not make it. tonight this group has been meeting with organizers, government authorities and the sherpas to figure out what went wrong and whether they want to resume the climb. on everest it's supposed to be the mountain that's the danger and the other guy who has your back. >> well said, thank you.

and switching gears now. you know her name and have seen her face. amanda knox, the american college student convicted of murdering her study abroad roommate in an italian prison, knox tells all in her new book and exclusive interview with diane sawyer. >> she-devil with an angel face, thinks of perugia. >> i have heard the gist of them. and they're wrong. i was in the courtroom when they were calling me a devil. i mean it's one thing to be called certain things in the media and another thing to be sitting in a courtroom fighting for your life while people are calling you a devil for all intents and purposes, i was a murderer. whether i was or not.