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NBA Rebukes Tim Hardaway for Anti-Gay Rant (cancels all assignments for All Star Game)
Miami Herald ^ | Posted on Thu, Feb. 15 2007 | Barry Jackson

Posted on 02/15/2007 2:27:25 PM PST by meg88

The NBA today removed Tim Hardaway from its All-Star weekend activities, a day after he said, ''I hate gay people'' in a radio interview with a Miami Herald sports columnist.

''It is inappropriate for him to be representing us given the disparity between his views and ours,'' NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a statement issued by the league.

Hardaway issued an apology several hours after making the comments on The Dan LeBatard Show on 790 The Ticket. ''Yes, I regret it,'' he told WSVN-Channel 7. ``I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that.''

Members of gay organizations reacted swiftly to Hardaway's comments.

''Obviously, I'm disappointed in Tim Hardaway being that Tim Hardaway was one of my favorite basketball players,'' said Donnell Morris, managing director of Black Gay Pride of South Florida. ``It creates a hostile environment for any player contemplating coming out of the closet.''

He added: ``For Tim to be a person from Miami where there has always been a diverse community, he should have been more sensitive to his environment. . . . I've always looked up to Tim as a leader. For him to take a stance that way really hurts me.''

Steve Adkins, president of the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said Hardaway's apology makes no difference. 'It is a very simple process to say `no' or 'I'd rather not comment' than to go on the record and make malicious and bigoted statements,'' Adkins said.

``. . . Let's just say I'm very disappointed that if someone in this day and age has these kinds of feelings, they're not intelligent enough to keep them to themselves. Beyond that, there is no place in our society for that kind of hatred and bigotry. End of story.''

(Excerpt) Read more at miami.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: gays; hatespeech; pc; timhardaway
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To: txroadkill

Its off to the PC re-education camp for Mr. Hardaway.


81 posted on 02/15/2007 4:43:09 PM PST by samadams2000 (Someone important make......The Call!)
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To: Christian4Bush

I agree with you, however, why does a person expressing their own opinion, as a person, mean you have to pay a price? How many people going to NBA games would go if they thought the NBA was a gay friendly venue? All this guy did was to be honest, so what? All people in the group may or may not share his views. I don't disagree with you, I am just saying, why is it so? Just thought food. What effects this idea that there has to be any punishment at all? Who decides this and why?


82 posted on 02/15/2007 4:43:14 PM PST by dforest (Liberals love crisis, create crisis and then dwell on them.)
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To: lmr

Tim Hardaway is retired, and no doubt a millionaire. He can say what he wants. 99% of NBA players probably agree with him. Hell! 99% of straight men probably don't like gays. Were just supposed to keep quiet.. Shhhhh...


83 posted on 02/15/2007 4:43:47 PM PST by Smogger (It's the WOT Stupid)
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To: kb2614

Where do you think it is on the Rocker Scale?


84 posted on 02/15/2007 4:44:18 PM PST by AmishDude (It doesn't matter whom you vote for. It matters who takes office.)
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To: pipecorp

"If you require ky, vaseline, or crisco, you aren't a man, you're an abomination."

A bumper sticker just waiting to happen..


85 posted on 02/15/2007 4:45:36 PM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Never bring a knife to a gun fight, or a Democrat to do serious work...)
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To: AmishDude

The sports media are leftists for the most part. This is to be expected.


86 posted on 02/15/2007 4:50:51 PM PST by jimfree (Freep and ye shall find.)
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To: meg88

I hate being around gay people!
What's wrong with that?
Are there any straight guys who don't feel uncomfortable around gay guys who look at them as potential dates?


87 posted on 02/15/2007 4:54:18 PM PST by G Larry (Only strict constructionists on the Supreme Court!)
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To: txroadkill

" They never seem to have an answer when I ask them if that means pedophiles can't choose who they love either."

What answer were you lookin for? What we love isn't particularly within out conscious control.


88 posted on 02/15/2007 4:56:23 PM PST by gcruse (http://garycruse.blogspot.com/)
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To: meg88

If he went into a shopping mall and gunned down 5-10 white heterosexual Christians the MSM would consider it a big yawn..... the DBM is already deep-sixing the story of the Bosnian Muslim who just shot up the mall in Utah, without even bothering to aggressively investigate. But an NBA player makes a nasty remark against one of the PC-favored groups and it's treated as worse than mass-murder.


89 posted on 02/15/2007 5:03:31 PM PST by Enchante (Chamberlain Democrats embraced by terrorists and America-haters worldwide!!)
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To: texas_mrs
Let's just say I'm very disappointed that if someone in this day and age...

He has every right to an opinion at variance with what the NBA marketing team would like.

90 posted on 02/15/2007 5:29:48 PM PST by Tax Government (Defeat Islamic imperialists, democrats and...)
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To: fruitintheroom
'Sports Reporters' (I think) on ESPN on Sunday mornings

I used to watch it regularly once upon a time, about 8 or 10 years ago it turned into the "racism reporters" and I can't stand it anymore.

That, and they pontificate waaay too much on golf and tennis. And horse racing.

91 posted on 02/15/2007 5:32:11 PM PST by somemoreequalthanothers (All for the betterment of "the state", comrade)
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To: All

I may be crazy to think this, but I have this hunch that the Hardaway thing is a hoax. Somehow this is about money and publicity, maybe for John Amechie's (sp?) book, maybe for something else. Maybe a stunt to "raise consciousness." I don't know, but I have a hard time believeing that Hardaway would just pop off like that for no good reason.


92 posted on 02/15/2007 5:36:56 PM PST by zook (America going insane - "Do you read Sutter Caine?)
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To: meg88

refreshingly honest personal comment.Too bad he apologized.


93 posted on 02/15/2007 5:41:36 PM PST by photodawg (It's not about how hard you can hit. It's about how hard you can get hit ......Rocky Balboa)
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To: zook

I heard it live, he said it, he is paying the consequences, this is not a hoax. Hate is a strong word, had he said i really don't like them, it would have been different.


94 posted on 02/15/2007 5:54:04 PM PST by Armed Civilian ("Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in pursuit of justice is no virtue.")
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To: AmishDude

I had just posted these comments to a thread I was on last night. Looks like the NBA wants to make an example of Hardaway.

I tuned into my local sports station today and it was open season on Tim Hardaway on DC's "The John Thompson Show".

What was most amazing is that almost all of the callers who phoned in did so to speak up for Hardaway and his point of view. I'd say that a majority of them were African-American and more than a few began their calls by proclaiming their faith in Jesus Christ, and while they felt that Hardaway may have made a poor choice of words (hate), many supported his point of view that homosexuality was simply wrong or unnatural.

Coach Thompson and his staff took the callers to task in a number of ways; firstly focusing the entire issue on Hardaway's quote, while not addressing the cause of the discussion - the Ameachi book - he also turned the old trick of asking if Jesus hated homosexuals and disingenuously asking where it was stated in the Bible that homosexuality was wrong. Finally, Coach Thompson turned the topic into a civil rights issue, with his sideman comparing people who were not accepting of homosexuality to Nazis in the holocaust.

It was tiresome to listen to. Thompson missed the whole point of the callers being fed-up and frustrated with homosexual advocacy. I don't think this was incidental though. I felt that he and his show mates were simply carrying water for the PC police


95 posted on 02/15/2007 5:59:54 PM PST by incredulous joe ("Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious." -- Charles Shackleford)
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To: Armed Civilian

I heard it too. The words seemed so absurd, like they were phony. How do you say you hate gay people, then wrap it up by calling your self a "homophobe?" There just seems something "not right" here.


96 posted on 02/15/2007 6:01:44 PM PST by zook (America going insane - "Do you read Sutter Caine?)
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To: popdonnelly
I heard the quote. The guy sounded frustrated. Just like about every other person I know that doesn't accept homosexuality as normal and is having it jammed down their throats everyday.

He shouldn't have apologized. Nothing will be gained by it and he will still be blackballed and an NBA pariah.
97 posted on 02/15/2007 6:05:33 PM PST by incredulous joe ("Left hand, right hand, it doesn't matter. I'm amphibious." -- Charles Shackleford)
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To: fruitintheroom
And, don't ask me why I've ever watched it. Have you ever watched a car wreck?

Don't ask me why I watch the Paula Zahn "discussion" segments, where a "GOP consultant" praises the NBA homo for coming out.

98 posted on 02/15/2007 6:08:52 PM PST by montag813
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To: meg88
Steve Adkins, president of the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said Hardaway's apology makes no difference.

If that's the case Stevie, I'd just tell you to f**k off then if I was Hardaway, but that's just me.

99 posted on 02/15/2007 6:10:54 PM PST by GATOR NAVY (Naming CVNs after congressmen and mediocre presidents burns my butt)
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To: TightyRighty
And so it begins....

Go to www.wiod.com and vote in Tim's favor on the radio station's poll taking!!!

100 posted on 02/15/2007 6:17:33 PM PST by danamco
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