February 15, 2007
THE NO LOVE LOST THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME:
Hardaway comments honest but hate-filled (DAN LE BATARD, 2/15/07, MiamiHerald.com)
How do you deal with a gay teammate?''First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team,'' former Miami Heat star Tim Hardaway said Wednesday. ``Second of all, if he was on my team, I'd really distance myself from him. I don't think he should be in the locker room when we are in the locker room. I wouldn't even be a part of that. . . . I'd ask for him to get traded. Something has to give. The majority of the players would ask for him to be traded, or they would want to get traded. Or just buy him out of his contract and let him go.''
But, Tim, you realize that's bigotry and homophobia?
''I hate gay people,'' Hardaway said in an interview on 790 The Ticket. ``I let it be known. I don't like gay people. I don't like to be around gay people. I'm homophobic. I don't like it. There shouldn't be a world for that or [a place] in the United States for it. I don't like it.''
There it is, ignorance and hatred without a filter, coming from one of the most popular players in Heat history. And Hardaway is hardly alone, even though he is the first to voice it so plainly since former player John Amaechi last week became the first former NBA player to come out of the closet.
Amaechi's response?
''I'm actually tempted to laugh,'' Amaechi said Wednesday. ``Finally, someone who is honest."
It is inappropriate to hate someone for their mental illness, so Mr. Hardaway should have been clearer about hating homosexuality rather than homosexuals, but it is pretty amusing to see how folks are reacting to the first honest comment about the whole Amaechi kerfuffle. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 15, 2007 7:28 AM
Boy, ESPN radio has been non-stop Hardaway. Guess who publishes the Amaechi book? ESPN. I'm not saying they manufactured Hardaway's comments but they are using this the promote the hell out of it.
The Dan Patrickless Dan Patrick Show had former baseball player and gay guy, Billy Bean, and he said that being prejudiced against homosexuals is the last acceptable prejudice. Hogwash. Hardaway got banished from NBA appearances by Stern and he will probably not work for ESPN or Fox Sports. It is over for him professionally. On the other hand, Amaechi is going to sell a lot books and be the darling of the sports networks.
On another level,
Especially appalling was their fretting that it was inappropriate for a black guy to be bigoted towards another "minority."
Posted by: oj at February 15, 2007 6:59 PMI happened to be listening to the John Thompson Show on DC radio today. One guy, who was clearly black, called in an explained how his minister had counseled him that homosexuality was a sin after he had to deal with it in his family. He quoted the Bible. Thompson simply said that there are a lot of other things in the Bible we should follow as well.
This 2 weeks after a Superbowl in which Tony Dungy noted that both he and Lovie Smith did it the "Lord's Way" after he received the Lombardi Trophy from daily communicant Tom Shula.
As OJ often notes, we are a uniquely religous Western country to the point that even our sports culture includes overt religious references. Though, a Catholic who does not wear his faith on his sleeve, I must agree it seems to work well for us.
Posted by: JAB at February 16, 2007 2:00 AM