We Should Praise Hardaway, Not Criticize
Sure I'm a little late on this article but I've been busy. Real busy. But I'll try to stay on topic.
Hardaway.
Actually Tim Hardaway and his comments.
In case you were under a rock, Hardaway went off on how he hates gay people, he's homophobic, wouldn't be on the same team as a gay player and (the best one) gay people "shouldn't be in the world or in the United States". I particularly like how he differentiates between the two, in case you didn't already think jocks were morons.
Of course, everyone now agrees that a) he's truly ignorant, b) he should be used to it because all black people are on the "down low" (just kidding) and c) he should have at the very least not mentioned his comments in public because he'd be lynched by the media.
But this is exactly the reason why I think we should praise Hardaway. Sure he had no preconceived notion what he was doing but by coming out against a possible gay teammate he has helped further the discussion of gays in male team sports. Without his admission, the "I'd be okay with it" public admissions by players would continue being commonplace even though privately they'd totally be against it.
It's like the AA meetings that start with people admitting they have a problem. Well Tim Hardaway was the first athlete to stand up. And he's admitted his problem. Now is the time when discussions take place on how to help him (and athletes in general) on coping with a potentially gay player.
And that is precisely what is happening. People are rationally discussing playing with gay players and all of their fears in playing alongside them. They are admitting their ignorant beliefs and others are educating them. Soon (theory goes) they realize that gay people are pretty normal people like themselves. Most of us know this, but I guarantee locker rooms everywhere are having these conversations. And they're slowly realizing that it's okay to have a gay player as a teammate. Of course, it will still be a long while before a players outs himself before retiring but it will happen sometime (Jeff Garcia you can do it!).
So everyone, take a deep breath and stop throwing rocks at Tim Hardaway. Thank him for broaching the subject and making athletes and non-athletes talk about it. Because the more it's out of our minds the more it's out of our sights. But now that the topic is in our minds, the possibility of one coming out is in our sights.
Hardaway.
Actually Tim Hardaway and his comments.
In case you were under a rock, Hardaway went off on how he hates gay people, he's homophobic, wouldn't be on the same team as a gay player and (the best one) gay people "shouldn't be in the world or in the United States". I particularly like how he differentiates between the two, in case you didn't already think jocks were morons.
Of course, everyone now agrees that a) he's truly ignorant, b) he should be used to it because all black people are on the "down low" (just kidding) and c) he should have at the very least not mentioned his comments in public because he'd be lynched by the media.
But this is exactly the reason why I think we should praise Hardaway. Sure he had no preconceived notion what he was doing but by coming out against a possible gay teammate he has helped further the discussion of gays in male team sports. Without his admission, the "I'd be okay with it" public admissions by players would continue being commonplace even though privately they'd totally be against it.
It's like the AA meetings that start with people admitting they have a problem. Well Tim Hardaway was the first athlete to stand up. And he's admitted his problem. Now is the time when discussions take place on how to help him (and athletes in general) on coping with a potentially gay player.
And that is precisely what is happening. People are rationally discussing playing with gay players and all of their fears in playing alongside them. They are admitting their ignorant beliefs and others are educating them. Soon (theory goes) they realize that gay people are pretty normal people like themselves. Most of us know this, but I guarantee locker rooms everywhere are having these conversations. And they're slowly realizing that it's okay to have a gay player as a teammate. Of course, it will still be a long while before a players outs himself before retiring but it will happen sometime (Jeff Garcia you can do it!).
So everyone, take a deep breath and stop throwing rocks at Tim Hardaway. Thank him for broaching the subject and making athletes and non-athletes talk about it. Because the more it's out of our minds the more it's out of our sights. But now that the topic is in our minds, the possibility of one coming out is in our sights.
posted by christopher at 11:33 AM
1 Comments:
i'm confused. i remember hearing about this thing a while back, but aren't all sports players homosexual already? they're constantly playing this never ending game of grab ass with other players, not to mention the euphemisms that are all over the place.
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