Hardaway Fires Shot at Gay Athletes

I have the perfect premise for TV's next reality hit. It will be appropriately titled "Athletes Say The Dumbest Things" and will feature such gems as Tim Hardaway's gay bashing on Dan LeBatard's Miami radio show yesterday. Hardaway may have had a killer crossover, but he never could drop jaws the way he did on the air yesterday in one of the most disturbing bigotry-laced tirades in recent history. It's a re-inforcement of how backwards thinking some people in this country can be. The worst part? His lame excuse for an apology. It essentially amounted to "I shouldn't have said it when so many people would hear it BUT I mean every word of it".

Putting aside one man's beliefs, let's look at the bigger picture. The whole scene started by host Dan LeBatard simply asking for Hardaway's take on John Amaechi's recent publication. Just a quick summary, former Orlando Magic Center John Amaechi became the first retired or active NBA player to reveal his homosexuality. It's created a media craze; one in which I felt to be completely unwarranted at first. However, since everybody feels the need to comment on it, inevitably people were going to make off-color remarks. Exhibit A, Shavlik Randolph. The former Dukie, and now Portland Trailblazer, would not want a gay teammate to "bring his gayness" on him. Even King James who suggested he couldn't trust a teammate who chose to hide their sexuality from the team needs to insert his foot in his mouth. Luckily for them, they've been pushed to the back of the bus by Hardaway's "I hate gay people" rant. Before sounding off on that, let me explain why I felt this issue received excessive attention.

For a former player to make a stunning revelation to increase book sales (and hopefully awareness, I don't mean to belittle his biographical efforts), I didn't think such disclosure from a former journeyman could impact today's league. If a current player made this kind of announcement and the league had to deal with the ramifications in the locker rooms, I would have found it to be monumental. It just doesn't seem that how an ex-player dealt with being in the closet during his playing days impacts what it would be like for a player to be openly gay in the league right now. Until an active player deals with the obstacles, it seems like these kind of stories are obsolete. However, I'm singing a slightly different tune after the vast opinions being shared.

Surprisingly, "I'm not a role model" Charles Barkley has had the most positive feedback. He has emphasized that he has many gay friends and would have supported gay teammates. He even went so far as to assert that he knew of a few players that were gay, but opted not to out them because it is clearly their decision. It's a shame that counterparts such as Hardaway are not as enlightened. Now I'm not naive. There are plenty of people in this country who do not condone homosexuality, and probably never will. But to come out and say "I HATE gay people" relatively unprovoked is indefensible. Even if the question was "Do you like gay people", his answer wouldn't have had to be so inflammatory. He purposely took cheat shots at an already alienated section of the population simply because he had the captive audience for it.

Sadly, Hardaway will now field countless interview opportunities to defend his statements. That's why "Athletes Say The Dumbest Things" would be such a hit. The dumber the better, and the opportunities to "one up" yourself in stupidity are infinite. Now I just have to find someone to pitch it to.