NBA: Tim Hardaway's Living in His Own World Occupied by Plenty
Posted February 15th, 2007 by George Thomas
Yes, I'm chiming in on the John Amaechi and now Tim Hardaway thing late.
Actually, Amaechi coming out of the closet barely registered on my personal or professional radar - primarily because someone else's sexuality isn't a big deal to me. I've been around gay folks all my life. I had a gay babysitter and to dispel a common stereotype, Skeeter didn't molest me. I had gay friends throughout college and currently in my professional career and - my gosh - they've never hit on me. This despite the fact that I think I'm a rather dashing fellow. So when Amaechi dealt with the issue of being in the closet as a professional basketball player, I shrugged.
And I was perfectly content to never deal with the topic. Then Tim Hardaway, another former NBA player, had to open his mouth and insert his rather substantial foot. The comments - the essence of which were "I hate gay people" - were hateful, putrid and almost unbelievable in this day and age. I have little problem with individuals thinking that homosexuality is wrong, such beliefs are usually a matter of religious doctrine and personal moral code. What upset me is that Hardaway said that gay people shouldn't be allowed on the planet and especially in the United States.
Those comments brought back a feeling I'd not had since my early teen years - I was actually ashamed of being African-American. No ifs, ands, buts or maybes. I was ashamed. Why? His comments reminded me of a prominent African-American contributor to USA Today who supported a boycott of Walt Disney World and the Walt Disney Co. because they had a day for gays at the world famous theme park. That and Hardaway's comments make me sad as an African-American because it shows that after 400 years of de facto, de jure and perceived oppression that many black people haven't learned a damned thing when it comes to discrimination and bigotry.
Hardaway suggested that if he knew of a gay teammate, said individual should be traded and most definitely he shouldn't be allowed in the lockerroom with all of his muscular, desirous teammates. Obviously such an individual wouldn't be able to contain himself, so isolation and exclusion is the only answer.
Just like it was when African-Americans were forbidden to drink from the same water fountains as whites in the South.
Just like it was when African-Americans couldn't eat at the same counters as whites in the South.
Just like it was when African-Americans couldn't use the same bathrooms as whites in the South.
Just like it was when blacks and whites who just happened to fall in love couldn't marry one another.
According to news reports, the NBA, for whom Hardaway worked, have stripped him of his duties and banned him from attendance at this weekend's NBA All-Star Game.
To that I say good. Now he knows what it feels like to be isolated and excluded.
February 16th, 2007 at 6:18 am
Did you and old Skeeter shower together?
When NBA players have voiced concern about gay players it seems to revolve around the shower/locker room thing. Why is that such a non-issue, or even evidence of homophobia, to the enlightened folks in the media?
If I go to the gym today I wonder if it will be okay to shower with the women I see there, especially if I promise I can control myself and not "hit on" them? Or would my very presence sexualize a situation the women have every right to assume will be private on non-sexualized?
February 16th, 2007 at 7:48 am
No, Larry, but Skeeter did bathe me a couple of times and by the way, he was in his 20s at the time.
Such sarcasm Larry. It has nothing to do with being enlightened and it has everything to do with realizing that nudity doesn't aways equate to sexuality. A shower is a shower. Sex is sex. Or can you not handle that?
And gee, Larry, if you go to the gym today, I wonder if it would be OK for the women who see you there to shower with you, especially if they promise to control themselves and not hit on you? Would their very presence sexualize a situation that you have every right to assume will be private or non-sexualized?
Your logic is flawed.
February 16th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Let me first say that I disagree with what Tim Hardaway said about homosexuals, but I don't have a problem with him saying it. Particularly if that is how he truly feels. I've always been down with the real and I don't have ANY problem with people that tell the truth.
I'm a black man. If somebody out there hates me as a black man, I'd much rather they tell me than go behind my back and pretend to like me in public.
Tim Hardaway told the truth. I can deal with that. I can't deal with liars. People who say they like you, who then when you're not around talk bad about you and your race/sexuality/views/etc.
The only mistake Tim made was that he made his views known while under the employment of the NBA. The only reason he was doing interviews this week was because of the work he was doing for the league at All-Star weekend.
You have to know that if you make such statements that you are risking your association with that entity. I hope Tim had no plans or desires to ever be fully associated with the NBA because now he probably never will be.
We grow up being told that honesty is the best policy, but truly honesty is only the best policy if it's deemed politically correct.
February 16th, 2007 at 8:25 am
Do I have a problem with his honesty? Nope. My problem is with the fact that he is African-American and he's shown little in the way of growth based on the experience of African-Americans in this country. He essentially wants to confer second-class status on an entire group of people - not that much of America hasn't done the same by codifying marriage laws. Maybe I expect too much. Or maybe the fact that as a star athlete Hardaway hasn't had to worry about educating himself regarding things other than basketball.
February 16th, 2007 at 11:58 am
So you are saying it is okay for me to shower with the women at the gym? I do understand the difference between showers and sex, but don't their feelings of discomfort come into play?
Of course I'd be uncomfortable if women decided they had every right to shower with me. You wouldn't?
I wasn't being sarcastic at all in my post, outside the first sentence. There's a serious dilemma for the NBA, its teams and players in this issue but you could almost hear a sigh of relief among the media after Hardaway made his stupid statements. Now commentators can ignore any serious discussion of the issue in favor of the self righteous piling on that's currently going on.
When you pair that knee jerk indignation on with laughable qualifiers like "some of my best friends in college were gay" or even "my baby sitter was homosexual," it all sounds pretty hollow and one has to wonder.
By the way, as a sports journalist who has so many gay friends, why would Amaechi's announcement and book leave you initially so completely disinterested?
February 16th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
Laughable qualifiers? Please, Larry. If you read what I wrote initially you'd know why I shrugged my shoulders. Try re-reading it.
Righteous piling on? Again, re-read what I wrote, Larry. I said that he's entitled to his beliefs, but as an African American they troubled me. You missed the point.
Seeya.
February 17th, 2007 at 4:32 am
I've duly reread your original post and don't believe I've missed your point at all.
Your message is cloaked in a huge contradiction: you believe African Americans should empathize with the plight of gay people because African Americans have likewise been oppressed, yet when Amaechi wrote his book you yourself decided it had nothing to do with you, personally or professionally, so you shrugged.
Conflating racial descrimination and sexuality/gender descrimination comes with a whole set of complications that I'm really not smart enough to deconstruct. My main point is that, while Amaechi's book could be the impetus for social progress in the NBA in particular and maybe in the workplace in general, any kind of serious dialogue on the subject has been shanghaied by Hardaway's stupid statements.
It appears to me that the sports media is all a-twitter, with commentators falling all over themselves trying to show how "educated" and open minded they are by criticizing Hardaway's ridiculous words. Along the way, one points out he grew up in Greenwich Village so it's all a non-issue for him, another similarly points out that he had a gay babysitter.
It takes the debate back about 20 years.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Skeeter bathed? I had no idea.
I think the fact that (most) people are describing Hardaway as an idiot, and not as a black idiot, says something about just how silly the original post is. I am white, and I don't know why you are overly sensitive about being black. But I think it speaks far more about you personally than anything about the underlying issue of gays in professional sports locker rooms. Why did it strike such a nerve?
If it was Danny Schayes, a Jew, saying it instead of Tim Hardaway, I, as a Jewish American, wouldn't give a rat's patootie that Schayes was expressing himself. And we've been persecuted a helluva lot longer than you guys.
I respect Hardaway's candor. He was asked a question by Dan Le Batard, and he fully answered it. Probably said out loud what many professional sports athletes actually feel.
I think it is very telling that Amaechi, if he is being truthful, states not one NBA guy outside of Doc Rivers has contacted him. Why not?
On a related subject, how do you feel about Charles Barkley kissing Dick Bavetta on the lips? Proud? Or ashamed? Is it a black issue for you? Or just a gay thing?
February 18th, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Larry, no you don't get it.
THAT is plainly obvious. I mentioned a gay babysitter as a simple way of pointing out why it wasn't a big deal to me, personally. That's it. An individual's sexual orientation should be about as relevant as the color of an individual's skin.
And what I said is African Americans should know better than to broker in discrimination given our experiences in this country.
February 18th, 2007 at 7:08 pm
Mr. Tucker:
You feel how you feel about your Jewish heritage. I'll speak my mind about being black in America. Let's start there, OK? Because to be quite honest, my intitial guess is you don't know a damned thing about it. Capeche?
I'm not overly sensitive about being black and I'm sure as hell not about compare notes with you about who's been oppressed more in the United States.
You sound like one of these individuals who want to take the issue of ethnicity out of any given argument. You know what, Mr. Tucker? I would too, but it's not going to happen in my lifetime or yours.
You can appreciate Hardaway's level of candor all you want. Good for him, he spoke his mind, as is his right. Now he has to deal with the repercussions. But ANYTIME any African-American speaks hateful words, I cringe because it shows a basic lack of understanding of where WE and I say "we" meaning AFRICAN-AMERICANS came and what we've endured to get where we are.
As for the Barkley and Bevetta kiss, how do you feel? What do you care how I feel about it? Well it makes me all warm and gooey inside. I think I'll go sing Kumbaya, wanna join me?
February 18th, 2007 at 9:15 pm
Based upon your second-to-last paragraph, you must be awfully uncomfortable every day of the week. Because like people of every color, blacks in the public eye say some dumb things in public everyday.
When that black guy on "Grey's Anatomy," or whatever the name of the show is, went off on a gay actor on the show, did you get all hot and bothered, too? Maybe you did.
I want to take the ethnicity out of this argument because it is irrelevant. You're using a black guy's poor timing and poor judgment to go off on your own tangent. There indeed may be some validity to your words, but it obfuscates the "real" argument.
But then again, it's your blog, so maybe it doesn't obfuscate a thing.
George, you're a good writer, and frankly, I've been surprised by how good a sportswriter you've been. In the Northeast Ohio market, it's incredibly refreshing to read actual words in a sports section that don't sound like they were written by a neutered puppy or by a lipstick salesman. But with that said, if you feel as strongly as you do about your heritage, then perhaps another new career as Jesse Jackson's press secretary might be in order.
And, to answer your question regarding the Barkley-Bavetta kiss, I am very neutral about it. I have a high-definition 57" television, and I did not notice any tongue action going on. Just a simple peck on the lips. So I suppose it was O.K., but I can't really say I feel all warm and gooey inside. If anything, just gassy.
February 19th, 2007 at 4:43 am
Most commentators seem to agree that gay athletes currently participate in our major sports leagues and that these athletes feel compelled to keep their sexual preference, and hence their identity, hidden.
When current or former heterosexual athletes talk about this issue, a few have noted that the presence of homosexual athletes in the locker room would make them uncomfortable. Commentators seem to agree that this feeling among heterosexual athletes is widespread.
I'm simply asking why sports journalists refuse to discuss this problem in a thoughful way in an effort to help improve working conditions for our gay athletes.
February 27th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
Any comment on the Claude Brown / Buchtel fiasco?
(Also, agree with your take on WKNR needing a local morning-drive show. Do NOT agree that Kendall Lewis is needed back, just because of his skin color. Too little substance. And Hanford Dixon is even worse. All he does is laugh and laugh, then say "Alright Dawg, anything else?" Just atrocious)
February 27th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Dick:
We're going to have to disagree on a number of things.
First of all you assume that I want Kendall back on 'KNR because of his skin color. That's not true. Far from it.
Secondly is your statement regarding him lacking substance. I have no idea when you listened to him or how often, but you couldn't be more wrong. I listened when he had his own show and I listened when he was with Brinda. There was no one in Northeast Ohio in the media with as much pure football knowledge as Lewis. NONE. ZIP. NOBODY.
To this day he continues to put out his own comprehensive draft guide. He knows football in and out and he knows basketball as well. He's never been wishy washy when it comes to his opinion. Color in this instance has NOTHING to do with it, but knowledge and the ability to articulate an opinion does.
Apparently FSN Ohio thought enough of him to hire him.
March 16th, 2007 at 3:50 pm
Only a 57 inch high definition set, Alan? Gee, mine is 61 inches.
March 16th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
George, it's not the size that counts, it's how you use it.