Former NBA All-Star Tim Hardaway on Wednesday unleashed what may be the most homophobic series of comments ever uttered publicly by a major pro-sports figure. On Miami's 790 The Ticket, host Dan Le Batard asked Hardaway about the revelation by former NBA player John Amaechi that he is gay.

The Miami Herald carried a transcript of the interview that included this exchange:

Le Batard: "How do you deal with a gay teammate?"
Hardaway: "First of all I wouldn't want him on my team. And second of all, if he was on my team, you know, I would really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think that he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room, and it's just a whole lot of other things and I wouldn't even be a part of that. But stuff like that is going on and there's a lot of other people I hear that are like that and still in the closet and don't want to come out of the closet, but you know I just leave that alone."

Later in the interview:

Le Batard: "You know what you are saying there is flatly homophobic? It's bigotry?"
Hardaway: "Well, you know I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States. So yeah, I don't like it.''

These comments are the complete antithesis of the tenor of most of the comments by present and former NBA personalities who have overwhelmingly been positive about Amaechi's declaration that he is gay.

Hardaway was drafted by the Golden State Warriors in 1989; He retired while with the Indiana Pacers in 2003. He also played on the gold-medal U.S. Olympic basketball team in 2000. Hardaway is presently the head coach of the American Basketball Association's Florida Pit Bulls.

In the end, Hardaway's comments can be a very good thing for the discussion started last week when it was revealed that Amaechi would announce he is gay. Hardaway's comments were so negative, so hateful, and so vicious that the response from the media and others in sports should be overwhelmingly critical of the former NBA All-Star.

coltraning wrote:Thanks, pest. Disturbing to see such hate.

TMC wrote:Well, at least he's being honest. There are an awful lot of people that feel the same way without ever saying so. That's way worse that Timmy's words (that's not to say I support what he said, tho. The fact that he's being honest doesn't mean he's right).

TMC wrote:

coltraning wrote:Thanks, pest. Disturbing to see such hate.

Well, at least he's being honest. There are an awful lot of people that feel the same way without ever saying so. That's way worse that Timmy's words (that's not to say I support what he said, tho. The fact that he's being honest doesn't mean he's right).

coltraning wrote:I see far less homophobia among my son's generation than among mine.

TMC wrote:

coltraning wrote:I see far less homophobia among my son's generation than among mine.

I don't know about that. You're probably right, but I don't think we have advanced enough... I really believe it will develop the same way racism has done (as Thunder said), but it will take time. No matter what people say, still there's too much... disdain towards it.

And I think that's the natural way of things. We cannot expect to have a perfectly tolerant society from one day to the next. It will take time...

The NBA banished Tim Hardaway from All-Star weekend in Las Vegas because of his anti-gay remarks. Hardaway, who played in five All-Star games during the 1990s, was already in Las Vegas and scheduled to make a series of public appearances this week on behalf of the league. But after saying, "I hate gay people" during a radio interview, commissioner David Stern stepped in.

"It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours," Stern said in a statement Thursday.

Hardaway apologized for his comments, which came a week after John Amaechi became the first former NBA player to say he was gay.

"As an African-American, I know all too well the negative thoughts and feelings hatred and bigotry cause," Hardaway said Thursday in a statement issued by his agent. "I regret and apologize for the statements that I made that have certainly caused the same kinds of feelings and reactions.

"I especially apologize to my fans, friends and family in Miami and Chicago. I am committed to examining my feelings and will recognize, appreciate and respect the differences among people in our society," he said. "I regret any embarrassment I have caused the league on the eve of one of their greatest annual events."

Hardaway represented the NBA in Las Vegas this week at a Habitat for Humanity event and a fitness promotion. The former U.S. Olympian was originally scheduled to be an assistant coach at a wheelchair game Thursday night and later appear at the fan-oriented Jam Session.

"I don't need Tim's comments to realize there's a problem," Amaechi told The Associated Press in a phone interview earlier in the day. "People said that I should just shut up and go away _ now they have to rethink that."

On a Miami radio show Wednesday, Hardaway was asked how he would interact with a gay teammate.

"First of all, I wouldn't want him on my team," the former Miami Heat star said. "And second of all, if he was on my team, I would, you know, really distance myself from him because, uh, I don't think that is right. I don't think he should be in the locker room while we are in the locker room."

When show host Dan Le Batard told Hardaway those comments were "flatly homophobic" and "bigotry," the player continued.

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people," he said. "I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

Hardaway also said if he did find out that a teammate was gay, he would ask for the player to be removed from the team.

"Something has to give," Hardaway said. "If you have 12 other ballplayers in your locker room that's upset and can't concentrate and always worried about him in the locker room or on the court or whatever, it's going to be hard for your teammates to win and accept him as a teammate."

Later that night, Hardaway apologized during a telephone interview with WSVN-TV in Miami.

"Yes, I regret it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that," he said. "That was my mistake."

Two major gay and lesbian groups denounced Hardaway's remarks.

"Hardaway's comments are vile, repulsive, and indicative of the climate of ignorance, hostility and prejudice that continues to pervade sports culture," said Neil Giuliano, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "And by apologizing not for his bigotry, but rather for giving voice to it, he's reminding us that this ugly display is only the tip of a very large iceberg."

Said Matt Foreman, president of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: "Hardaway is a hero to thousands of young people. And that's what makes his comments so troubling. Sadly, his words simply put the pervasive homophobia in the NBA on the table."

Amaechi, who detailed his life in his recent autobiography "Man in the Middle," hoped his coming out would be a catalyst for intelligent discourse.

"His words pollute the atmosphere," Amaechi said. "It creates an atmosphere that allows young gays and lesbians to be harassed in school, creates an atmosphere where in 33 states you can lose your job, and where anti-gay and lesbian issues are used for political gain. It's an atmosphere that hurts all of us, not just gay people."

Amaechi taped a spot Thursday for PBS' gay and lesbian program "In the Life." He said the anti-gay sentiment remains despite Hardaway's apology.

"It's vitriolic, and may be exactly what he feels," he said. "Whether he's honest or not doesn't inoculate us from his words. It's not progress to hear hateful words."

xbaywarrior wrote:I love Hardaway as a player, but even though he apologized, this is a serious matter. You can't be blurting out such comments. Look what happened to Jim Mora Jr. It's just real sad to see such a great guy come out and say this. He apologized yeah, but it just doesn't seem enough.

baytobrooklyn wrote:First off, let me say I totally agree with TMC that this new book seems pretty lame. I mean, I understand the guy has a story to tell, and he obviously deserves to tell it, but the way it's gone down has been kind of lame. I mean, I definitely hadn't heard of the the guy before he came out and what not. But besides that, peoples' response to this whole matter of gay athletes, even on this board, has been somewhat disturbing.

The main thing that people who obviously have an inherent problem with gay people but don't want to say it point out is 'it's fine, but I just wouldn't want to share the locker room with them. I wouldn't feel comfortable'. Is this a valid concern? Sure. Is it really based on anything other than the fear of the unknown or something different? No. When you play on a sports team, you gain trust in your teammates. When you play together, there has to be that trust there, first and foremost. That's what playing a team sport at a high level is all about. If you're a running back, you have to have trust that your guards are going to pull and throw a lead block so you don't get killed by the defensive end. As a baseball player you have to trust your teammates to relay the correct signs to you, and for the basecoaches to stop or wave you in accordingly. In basketball, you have to trust everyone knows the plays, and how each other player is going to run them.

Now let's say someone on a good sports team decides to tell people he's gay. What exactly has changed, here? I just don't really understand what the big deal is. It's almost comical to me how much of a deal people make about it. Who gives a ****? If this guy was your teammate, first and foremost, what makes you think he'll want to be anything but that, now that he's revelaed he's gay? If you had the trust in him before, does him being gay negate that trust? If it does, the problem does not lie with him. Are people worried about getting raped, or come on to by a gay teammate? That is perhaps the most ridiculous, completely-borne-out-of-fear thing I've ever heard. NO gay person on a sports team would EVER try to do anything of the sort. They know what's at stake. If they tried anything like that, they know what would happen to them. And the vast majority of them probably would not want anything to do with their teammates, anyways. I read an article about a gay football player at a college in St. Louis who came out, and he said he could never look at his teammates sexually, because, as teammates first and foremost, they're like his brothers, like family. The article also pointed out something else about the locker room issue - in their locker room, the gay player seems to feel the most uncomfortable. As he should. His teammates just don't care, because they accept and TRUST him as a teammate. It's not even an issue for them. You put a naked girl in a room with a bunch of guys, and who feels uncomfortable? I just can't imagine what it would feel like to be so insecure about homosexuality that I would feel uncomfortable if ONE gay guy was changing clothes or showering next to me after practice. Unfortunately, that seems to be the pervasive sentiment in American males today.

We're talking about gay people in sports. It's not like anyone's being asked to take a shower as the only stright guy in the bathroom over at 'Moby Dick' on Castro. Gay guys who play sports are not the same kind of people that dress up in leather every night and go out in San Francisco.

It's just sad that after all the prejudices this country has had towards all sorts of minorities, there's yet another one that people in some marginalized group have to deal with. Tim Hardaway is a fool. Aside from saying some really hateful things, he totally fucked himself career/endorsement-wise. I'll always like him as a player and a Warrior, but it's deinitely harder for me to outright like him as I did before he said this crap. I can't believe anyone is trying to justify that what he said has any merit (aside form the fact that he actually told the truth). Unfortunately, what he said is probably more or less how a lot of the NBA (and country for that matter) truly feels about homosexuality.