On Thursday, the NBA told Timmy to go away. Tim Hardaway, who told a Miami radio station this week that he "hates gay people," will not be participating in the NBA All-Star week in Las Vegas. Hardaway was scheduled to make a number of appearances in Vegas. NBA Commish David Stern told a radio station Thursday, "We removed him from representing us because we didn’t think his comments were consistent with having anything to do with us. His views are not consistent with ours." Finally the NBA is making a statement. I wrote yesterday sarcastically about how the NBA's elder statesmen would be more tolerant of a teammate like John Amaechi, the gay former player who recently came out. Truthfully, I don't expect anything from these guys. I think this generation of NBA players is terribly childish, insecure and is more consumed with being "hard" than anything else. Except for one guy in particular who throughout his career has always managed to keep all of this macho stupidity beneath him. Here's what Shaq had to say about having a gay teammate: "'If he was on my team, I guess I would have to protect him from the outsiders. I'm not homophobic or anything.... I'm not the type who judges people. I wish him well." Who knows whether Shaq genuinely feels this way or not. It would be nice if he did. But at least he has the sense of decency to others, the sense of loyalty to his employer and the sense, in general, to not gay bash on the radio four days before the All Star Game. I think the NBA should use Tim Hardaway as an example, and use this event to set the the league straight. And maybe sometime soon, we'll have some respectable, interesting guys on the court, people like Shaq, who are actually worthy of fans' admiration.
NBA Banishes Hardaway
On Thursday, the NBA told Timmy to go away. Tim Hardaway, who told a Miami radio station this week that he "hates gay people," will not be participating in the NBA All-Star week in Las Vegas. Hardaway was scheduled to make a number of appearances in Vegas. NBA Commish David Stern told a radio station Thursday, "We removed him from representing us because we didn’t think his comments were consistent with having anything to do with us. His views are not consistent with ours." Finally the NBA is making a statement. I wrote yesterday sarcastically about how the NBA's elder statesmen would be more tolerant of a teammate like John Amaechi, the gay former player who recently came out. Truthfully, I don't expect anything from these guys. I think this generation of NBA players is terribly childish, insecure and is more consumed with being "hard" than anything else. Except for one guy in particular who throughout his career has always managed to keep all of this macho stupidity beneath him. Here's what Shaq had to say about having a gay teammate: "'If he was on my team, I guess I would have to protect him from the outsiders. I'm not homophobic or anything.... I'm not the type who judges people. I wish him well." Who knows whether Shaq genuinely feels this way or not. It would be nice if he did. But at least he has the sense of decency to others, the sense of loyalty to his employer and the sense, in general, to not gay bash on the radio four days before the All Star Game. I think the NBA should use Tim Hardaway as an example, and use this event to set the the league straight. And maybe sometime soon, we'll have some respectable, interesting guys on the court, people like Shaq, who are actually worthy of fans' admiration.
