I am John Amaechi

My dad asked me what I thought of tim hardaway today and I could not help but go into a near tirade. It went like this:

Tim Hardaway is the epitome of a dumb jock. I am really put off by his comments. What a jerk. I am not into it. I don’t go the gay way. But for him, a black man, to say what he said, I think he should be forced to live as a poor black man for a season so he can see what discrimination feels like again, because obviously since he made his cash he has lost touch with it. Doc rivers had a far more reasonable opinion about john Amaechi, a player I recently wondered about and whom I thought played a great brand of basketball and had a great attitude, work ethic, and he was smart, too, not a caveman like hardaway. It is what it is, right? the guy was gay. He wasn’t infecting anyone with aids or anything. He was not a lazy player, or a selfish player. I mean, seriously, I would rather hang out with a gay guy who reads literature and can hold a reasonably smart conversation than a straight dumbass jock who can’t discuss anything outside of his realm. If, like john maeche, he can play ball too, well damn, I’d be friends with that person any day.

So John Amaechi has become like Spartacus. He makes a heterosexual man, (formerly of a measure of homophobia,) like myself, want to stand up and defend the gay man. It is ironic too. When Amaechi came into the league, (or, “the association,” as my friend and favorite sports encyclopedia adam janeiro calls it,) I remember the human interest stories the network aired at halftime about his relationship with his mother and the good people of merry, old England. I remember him talking about his charitable endeavors and how he was lead to engage in those endeavors because of events from his childhood. I liked him then, both for defying stereotypes and for defying the hoops culture that is so prominent today, the culture of thump your chest and put up those horns and expose a nipple and wag a finger and say “not in my house,” and all that noise so embodied by the lesser talents.

Amaechi threw elbows only when they flew naturally because of his body contortions as he chased a rebound. He was always polite with the press, never once choked his coach, showed grace in being thankful for his opportunity to play pro ball, complimented his teammates and respected his foes, gave back to the community, both that of his club team, (Orlando,) and the community he truly called home across the pond, and all stops along the way. Further, I was impressed with how nonplussed by basketball culture and his own celebrity John Amaechi was.

John Amaechi was and is a stand up guy.

The extent of my knowledge of homosexuality begins and ends with the fact that I am not homosexual. I am lucky for that fact asI know it is a cross to carry. At the same time, I feel remiss for mentioning my heterosexuality. At this time, more than any other, I want to stand up and say, “I am John Amaechi.” And I can, because I am. I have been discriminated against or downtrodden. I have had dumbass people cast aspersions about me. In fact, you have too. You have had people say things about you that were untrue or that were meant to harm you and for no good reason. And in that way and for that reason, you too, are, or should be, Spartacus, er, John Amaechi.

Amaechi has written a book. (http://www.booksamillion.com/ncom/books?id=3682318018691&isbn=1933060190) By publishing this book and speaking to the New York Times about his sexuality and tolerance, (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/sports/basketball/13gay.html?ref=basketball) Amaechi, like Spartacus is standing up to an opposing army. He is surely getting support also from the enlightened and empathetic but sports is the realm of the caveman, (no offense to those geico spokesmen.) The athlete has been the singularly focused doer of daring deeds who has received a veritable pass from the public at large for small-minded acts of ignorance.

The ease with which Rafael Palmeiro lied to the public should be admonished. However, I can’t say I ever saw Tim Hardaway, nor any unimplicated MLB players save Chad Curtis, (somewhat,) come out against the obvious lie or the obvious liar. Amaechi should be lauded for his honesty.

Some have suggested Amaechi is merely trying to sell a book, which is a gross mischaracterization. Darryl Strawberry sold lousy books. Phil Jackson sold a boring one just a few years ago. Amaechi received a book deal because he had something interesting to share, namely, what it is like to be the antithesis of a jock inside of the professional sports culture. I have not yet read the book, and certainly his homosexuality would be among the most glaring examples of how he defied the expectations of the jock strap set but it should make for compelling reading to gain his perspective on how he felt on plane trips when the rest of the team huddled up to play dice or dominoes a la the firemen of Fahrenheit 451 while he might have sat up front reading a Ray Bradbury book.

Last I heard, one in ten humans is gay. Forget any traces of misogyny or aloofness or foul body odor or anything else, Tim Hardaway is content with spurning 10% of all humans right up front. And for us, those who use celebrities to cast passive judgments partially in order to exercise our moral barometers, we have to take a stand. (It’s different, and yet the same, but the last time I saw everyone stand down when they should have been speaking up and making a judgment, our great nation ended up invading a poor and nearly defenseless country on the far side of the globe.)

The point is, Tim Hardaway deserves public derision. If his current employer can terminate his employment, great, but more important is that he hear about it. His comments wreak of someone who has gay tendencies and feels threatened by them. Makes me wonder if when he looked at Mullin but passed to Richmond on the break, he wasn’t looking at Mullin because he wore his shorts tight. I wonder if when he crossed over on Darrell Armstrong, he got by him so fast because he was trying to get a look at his backside. On some level, isn’t that what homophobia is all about? Isn’t this about Timmy’s own recognition that he could just as easily kiss a man as a woman and the thought frightens him so much, because so much of his self esteem is built upon the machismo he has clung to since childhood, that he feels the need to overcompensate by making jokes and public comments to the effect of, ‘I’m so straight I can’t even keep my mouth closed publicly about how much I destest faggots.” Isn’t that it? Isn’t it pathetic? Isn’t it transparent?

As far as I’m concerned, whenever I think of Tim Hardaway or any other homophobe, I am John Amaechi. What a fine example of a man he is. I am John Amaechi.