Thursday, February 15, 2007
Now it's interesting
I found myself bored by the John Amaechi coming-out story that has been on the news recently. Aside from a mildly questionable reaction from LeBron James, there hasn't been much to report other than a former journeyman NBA player coming out in order to make some cash.
But now we get this. Tim Hardaway, who was previously best-known for the most devastating crossover in basketball, is now just known as a horrible, ignorant homophobe.
Let's take a look at what Timmy has to say about gay people.
"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."Other than the obvious problems with this statement, I like that he somehow separates the United States from the rest of the world.
"And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that's right. And you know I don't think he should be in the locker room while we're in the locker room. I wouldn't even be a part of that."Yikes.
Of course, at the end of the article, we're left with the note that Hardaway has since apologized for his remarks.
"Yes, I regret it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that. That was my mistake."That's the least sincere apology since David Carradine apologized to Uma Thurman and then shot her in the head.
Regardless, it's unfortunate that Hardaway feels this way. And it's unfortunate that he feels it's OK to say these things, then try and wipe it away with a lame sentence or two. And most of all, it's unfortunate that there are hundreds of millions of people out there who feel exactly the same way Tim Hardaway does.
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Our beloved Deadspin has another TV interview where Timmy further buries himself.
I got to thinking about this whole Amaechi story, and I think I took wrongly from the very beginning. Instead of being so distrought than a below average, retired NBA player was making repeated sports headlines, I should have been happy for this opportunity. I should have known that given the chance, some jock somewhere would say something so ridiculous that it would make the aforementioned Amaechi event tolerable. Tim Hardaway has done just that and continues to do so.
This morning on the Today show, Ann Curry the official newsreader, read the story and instantly began cracking up. She laughed through that story and the next one because of Hardaway's over-the-top, crazy statement. It's so pathetic that it's hysterical.
Timmy!
It's true; it really is pathetic.
And he just seems so certain of himself in making the comments. He just says "I don't like gays" like "I don't like wet socks." I mean, who does?
I have always had a perverted fondness for wet socks.
Amaechi himself has a point about this Hardaway nuttiness: We should be glad Tim (or somebody) had the balls to say something so flagrantly hateful, to pull back the curtain on this undercurrent of not only homophobia but ... homohaterade. Virulent homohaterade. Now we HAVE to talk about this, not just in the "heh, would you be OK showering with a gay dude? Are you afraid he might, like, suddenly start penetrating you?" way, but in the "OK we as a society have a lot of growing up to do" way.