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Hardaway homophobia

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Jim Tom Pinch, Feb 14, 2007.

  1. JackS

    JackS Member

    At least we now know Tim Hardaway is honest.

    That may have been the most straightforward answer I've ever heard. Holy cow, Tim, don't run for office. ;)
     
  2. runningman

    runningman New Member

    I understand the theory that, here in America, each person is entitled to his or her own opinion. However, problems arise when that opinion is shared. Despite anything else, Hardaway said what he said and he was not taken out of context. But so what? Listen, his viewpoint is politically incorrect. Okay. His viewpoint is overwhelmingly unpopular. Okay. But isn't he allowed to have an opinion? While I deplore his personal opinion and suggestions to fix a team with a gay player (by "having him removed"), I would rather deal with someone's honest opinion than a lie. When did anyone lose the right to free speech - even when that speech is unpopular? Yeah, I know, I know. I should have masked my name (Zorro probably would have worked) and all that stuff, but seriously, folks. He has an opinion. It's a bad one. That's my opinion.
    Now, if anyone thinks any of my rant is a defense, proper or not, of Hardaway's statements or others like his, then they clearly do not belong in the field of journalism. I'm not defending anything he said, how he said, where, etc.; only his right to say it.
     
  3. alleyallen

    alleyallen Guest

    Running, I don't think anyone is questioning his right to say what he said. However, with the freedom of speech also comes the responsibility to accept the consequences that come with said speech.

    There's a pretty large group of people out there who think it was idiotic, but no one is suggesting anything actually be done to him.

    However, it's a good bet he won't ever get a broadcasting job because of this.
     
  4. Jim Murray

    Jim Murray New Member

    He already had a broadcasting job with the ESPN a few years back, and he was fired about a month into the gig - he'd completely forget what he was saying mid-sentence, and one of the other analysts would complete his thought. I guess when he's not talking about his hatred for gays he gets a tad bit camera shy.
     
  5. If he's not on Hannity and Colmes as a embattled victim of political correctness and the gay agenda within six weeks, I'll be stunned.
     
  6. leo1

    leo1 Active Member

    um, yeah, let's keep the whole 'he's entitled to his opinion' and 'free speech' stuff out of this. not a single person thinks he can't feel this way or say what he wants. but when you're a spokesperson - unofficially or officially - or endorser or expert or commentator or whatever hardaway describes himself as these days, you can't talk like this in public. it's your job to present a respectable image. yes, i know he's not technically on the league's or heat's payroll as an employee.

    i love that he got removed from the nba legends thing. i get a huge thrill out of seeing people face consequences for their actions, either positive or negative. too often people in his strata get away with murder. you reap what you sow.

    anyway, as nasty as this stuff is, we're a forgiving people. he'll go away to run his car wash for a year or two after this firestorm dies down in a couple weeks, then come back and be fine. maybe we'll get a nice sob story about a cousin's wife's neighbor who is gay and who hardaway learned to accept as a friend, and he'll be broadcasting nba games by 2009 or 2010, if not sooner.
     
  7. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    I gotta disagree that being against homosexuality is overwhelmingly unpopular.

    When gay marriage bans pass at rates of 80 and 90 percent, I gotta think Hardaway is more in the majority.

    Sad, though.
     
  8. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    I agree that this deserved its own thread. Too easy to miss it in the Amaechi thread.

    As far as Hardaway's comments, I can't remember hearing such blatant bigotry broadcast nationally by somebody not wearing a white hood. Ever. Ok, maybe some of David Duke's crap, but he had worn the hood in the past.

    I think the comments about Hardaway's own sexuality are a bit juvenile, though he certainly deserves it. More likely, he's just an ignorant, overgrown child afraid of something he doesn't understand.
     
  9. WSKY

    WSKY Member

    He'll always have the UTEP two-step, which to me sounds pretty gay
     
  10. Montezuma's Revenge

    Montezuma's Revenge Active Member

    I'm with ya, running man. He's going to get browbeaten to apologize for it forever, and to say that he sees the error in his ways. And what I never understand is this: When somebody says something like this, why do people want apologies. He said what he said, and he obviously meant it, because why else would he say it? His apologizing isn't going to change that.
     
  11. Double Down

    Double Down Well-Known Member

    It would be sweet if, in the tradition of Rick Santorum, Dan Savage and his army of Savage Love readers decided to name a gay sex act after Hardaway for this, helping his comments live in infamy forever.

    If only "Hardaway's Crossover Dribble" sounded vaguely sexual.

    Wait a minute...
     
  12. andyouare?

    andyouare? Guest

    I would agree that if he says he was wrong and that "he sees the error in his ways", it would be silly and a waste of time. But apologizing doesn't mean you admit you were wrong. If I tell a co-worker that he's a fat tub of lard, and he is, it doesnt' mean I don't have to apologize.

    If what he said was genuinely hurtful for some people, then yeah, I would apologize. Nothing wrong with that.
     
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