The Easy Way or the Hardaway
- Monday, September 21, 2009 1:52 PM
- Written By: Colin Ward-Henninger
You have to love this country.
People honestly have the memories of goldfish around here. Not only is there a convicted dog murderer who was once condemned a despicable human being gaining fan-favorite status in Philadelphia, but now we get word that the Miami Heat are going to retire the jersey of Tim Hardaway.
What's so bad about Tim Hardaway you ask? Let me refresh your memories ...
Yes, you heard that right. The words, "I hate gay people" and "I am homophobic" actually did come out of the former All-Star's mouth. At least he's not giving us mixed signals.
The Miami Herald article I linked to mentions the comments, but not until the 12th paragraph. Talk about burying the lead!
One thing about America, for better or worse, is that we're an extremely forgiving country. Manny Ramirez was suspended 50 games for performance-enhancing drugs, yet at the Dodger game I went to the other night there were 50,000 fans chanting his name.
Did we all get sports roofies slipped into our drinks?
I waited all weekend to hear about protests, outrage, and calls for Heat owner Micky Arison's resignation. Instead all I saw was college football and NFL predictions.
At least players like Ramirez and Vick can play themselves back into favor with the fans. Hardaway made these comments when he was retired! All he can do to win us back is host youth basketball camps or guest star in a "This is SportsCenter" commercial.
There's no reason we should embrace him the way we have embraced the others, yet here he is getting his jersey retired.
Perhaps there was some strong reaction to Hardaway's jersey retirement, but I certainly didn't see it. The fact that it wasn't front-page news speaks to our incredible ability to forgive and forget when it comes to athletes and their baffling mistakes.
