It’s Friday, so it must be time for us to identify some of the most contemptible individuals and sagas of the week…
5. Gonzaga forward Josh Heytvelt…The 6-11 sophomore was booked around midnight last Friday for possessing marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms. He was joined by freshman Theo Davis, who is redshirting this season. Part of the reason Heytvelt makes the cut is for shrooming like it was the ’60’s, but mostly he’s here for letting his teammates down. With the Zags already suffering through a bubblicious season, his indefinite suspension robs his team of its second-leading scorer and puts their NCAA bid in further jeopardy. There’s nothing quite like public embarrassment and potentially throwing away your basketball career. Let’s hope those were some good drugs.
4. Nancy Pelosi…Just because I feel like it. I caught some of the Speaker’s comments the other day, and here’s what I heard: “Bark, Bark, Bark, Bark, Bark.” And something about listening to the American people. Here’s a tip, Nancy…you’ll have to shut up long enough to hear the American people…
3. NASCAR…What the hell is going on at Daytona? Apparently so much cheating is going on at the 500 that Bud Selig thought they were hosting spring training. You want to give Mike Helton and company credit for actively policing their sport, but I have to ask, why just throw out crew chiefs? What does it take to get a driver dismissed. I realize that crew chiefs are integral to the success of a race team, but kicking crew chiefs out and taking away points does not ensure that a team that has attempted to circumvent the rules won’t win the race. I’m not a big NASCAR fan; frankly, I’m nothing more than a casual follower of the sport. But it would appear to me that NASCAR needs to set more concrete and uniform penalties for those that flaunt the rules, and secondly, they need to consider kicking entire race teams out of events if they want to send a serious and consistent message. I can’t imagine anyone associated with the sport can be happy with the publicity coming out of the Great American Race this week…
2. Gene Wojciechowski…The ESPN.com writer was kind enough to divide the world into gay advocates, gay bashers, and the enlightened few. His column had some merit, but his simplistic view of the issue makes anybody who has a problem with homosexuality a villain or an ignorant fool. And I have a problem with that. Which I will explain as we discuss the gentlemen at number one…
1. John Amaechi and Tim Hardaway…Just seems fitting that the homosexual and the homophobe get to occupy this spot together. If there’s one thing Wojciechowski had right in his column, it’s that nobody should much care about this issue. But the media does…Wojo does…or the columns and the coverage wouldn’t be spilling out all over the place. People care. They do. How do we know? We know because Tim Hardaway got asked the question. How would you deal with a gay teammate? He did not volunteer his views. Asked, answered. Were Hardaway’s comments foolhardy, given the public environment they were made in? Pretty much, yes. But ignorant or not, Tim Hardaway is entitled to not like gay people. He is entitled to not approve of homosexuality. You wish he hadn’t gone as far as hate…and we’re pretty sure he really wishes he hadn’t gone as far as hate…but better to be honest than to lie like so many other public figures have when asked about Amaechi’s coming out.
We are all uncomfortable with things we don’t understand and that we see to be different. Such was the case with racial tensions that dominated this country for years. I would be willing to guess that the majority of heterosexual individuals, especially in areas where open homosexuality isn’t prevalent, are still quite uncomfortable with homosexuality. And there are a great many people who have legitimately held religious beliefs that find homosexuality to be both wrong and offensive.
Amaechi offended me, not with his sexuality, but with his general intolerance of anybody who didn’t understand his orientation. If you read his book excerpt on ESPN.com, you will find that Amaechi goes out of his way to rip Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan. Amaechi has an axe to grind with Sloan because he didn’t like being screamed at, and he tries to paint Sloan as an angry homophobe who had him banished from the Jazz because he was gay. Amaechi doens’t provide any hard evidence that was the case (just comments from ‘unnamed’ Jazz employees). But it’s clear that he has a real problem with Sloan. Well…Jerry Sloan has yelled at lots of players, and I don’t imagine their sexuality had anything to do with the yelling. Gay or straight, you fail to do things Jerry’s way, then you are going to get your ass chewed (hmm…there’s a joke there, isn’t there?) Amaechi has spent a lot of time, both in this excerpt and in his recent interviews making it clear that he is smarter than the rest of us, and a better human being to boot. He might be. But it’s not because he’s gay. But if he’s truly so enlightened, then maybe he could have been understanding of Jerry Sloan, of the time and the place that Sloan comes from. Understanding is a two-way street, and Amaechi doesn’t get a pass just because he likes dudes.
We are, it seems, now living in the days of the oppressed majority. I believe that every person should be allowed to live their life any way that they choose, so long as they don’t infringe upon that same right for everyone else. So whatever John Amaechi wants to do is fine with me. But I’m not going to sit around and act enlightened and endorse his lifestyle when it isn’t something I really understand. And I won’t criticize Tim Hardaway for anything he thinks on the matter, either…except for the fact that he pushed this thing through at least two or three more news cycles.
And cheer up Timmy…you may not be welcome at the All-Star festivities, but you’ll always have a home in Moscow, where officials recently banned a gay rights parade…
Chief,
How can NASCAR be on your contempt file when their unofficial slogan is “If ya ain’t cheatin ya ain’t tryin” NASCAR was started by outlaws who made their living running whiskey. We need more of this excitement in NASCAR or it will start looking like INDY CAR racing with fenders.
tol•er•ant (t l r- nt)
adj.
1. Inclined to tolerate the beliefs, practices, or traits of others; forbearing. See Synonyms at broad-minded.
2. Able to withstand or endure an adverse environmental condition:
. tolerant – showing or characterized by broad-mindedness; “a broad political stance”; “generous and broad sympathies”; “a liberal newspaper”; “tolerant of his opponent’s opinions”
large-minded, liberal, broad
broad-minded – inclined to respect views and beliefs that differ from your own; “a judge who is broad-minded but even-handed”
I posted the above from an online dictionary. I must ask why at my advanced age living in America do I have to be tolerant of anything or anyone who does not share my beliefs.
I am tired of all the PC people of the world telling me I cannot speak against people whom I believe are ripping up the fabric of my country. However they can bad mouth me and my beliefs. Let me bring up one final point the most discriminated people in the world right now are the White Male Christians who are straight.