There are two ongoing debates firing up the blogosphere right now, neither of which has anything to do with the games on the floor.
One is Tyrus Thomas vs dunk contests. The other is John Amaechi and his inner gay.
Let’s tackle them both in one post, which should allow us to condense our personal thoughts and save some time, while also creating as much confusion as humanly possible.
First of all, we already discussed Thomas and his statements, and we called for him to be removed from the dunk contest. Henry at TrueHoop is praising the young Bull for his honesty – we agree. It’s just that if that’s the way he feels, he shouldn’t be in the event.
It’s kinda like if you work at an office, and you’re getting OT to go do a day of charity at the soup kitchen, but you’re like “I’m just gonna go pour soup on poor people’s heads and get my cash while using both versions of the word ‘poor’; this is so gay.”
Y’know what? Don’t bother, we’ll get somebody else. Same thing, right?
Now, let’s use that to transition to Amaechi, who wrote a (we assume) sexually explicit book about being gay. Players are now reacting, and some, such as LeBron James, might be better off keeping his mouth shut on the subject.
“We’re like family and you take showers with each other,” James said Wednesday. “We’re on the bus together and we talk about a lot of things and if you’re not trustworthy, like admitting you’re gay, you can’t be trusted. It’s a trust factor.”
Because it’s the secret gays you can’t trust. They’re dangerous. Especially when they’re on the bus talking.
We also question the logic of making the primary thing you reference doing with your teammates as “taking showers with each other”. Look, we’ve played on sports teams, and while many times everyone is in the same shower room, we wouldn’t classify that as “taking showers with each other”.
It’s not like a team effort or anything. At least it wasn’t for us – maybe some of you needed help or whatever. Also, showering was never a family activity in our home, either, so that’s kinda confusing. We don’t judge. Live your life.
Anyway, the correct answer here is the Coach Doc route, which is the “Who cares?” You really can’t be criticized for that, except when you make that your coaching philosophy, such as when losing your 16th straight game.
As for Amaechi, this would all be a lot more impressive had he done it when he was actually playing. Right now, it doesn’t really matter – the true litmus test is fan reaction, and he’s not submitting himself for evaluation.
We tend to think nobody would care at this point – he’d get a lot of publicity and some crap about it in some places, same as ‘Toine gets it for being fat/lazy, or Yao gets it for being tall, or Kobe gets it for being so good.
Fans need a reason to yell at and try to rattle you – if they think your dude-kissing lifestyle is gonna give ‘em ammo, they’re gonna try it out.
In the blogosphere, opinions on this are coming from many direction, most in the Coach Doc area. Not all, though – for example, Jim at HoopAddict takes the “gays are sexual predators” stance. Maybe Jim has never played pick-up ball with a girl before – we dunno. What you tend to do is act like a professional and just play basketball. You don’t try to hump them in the post. Dear lord, Jim at HoopsAddict!
To sum up – even if others are in the room, you’re really showering alone. Stop doing dunk contests, the Celtics are gay, don’t cheer for the Bulls, honesty might mean exclusion from the soup kitchen, and it just had to be the British guy, didn’t it – with the tea and the accent and the classiness and all that stuff? It couldn’t be like Kenyon Martin or Chris Kaman?
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Why even go to LeBron for comment? That’s one of those things about professional sports that separates it from the “real world.” In what other capacity would you ask a 22-year-old male with a less than cosmopolitan upbringing and a high school education for his opinion on gay people? Can we also get LeBron’s thoughts on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Well I see your point but is “gay people” really that complex of a subject?
On another note, it’d be really awesome if that’s how the reporter asked the question – “Hey LeBron, what about gay people?”
1) This site is like a whole new world when visited in IE as opposed to Firefox
2) Yes, a bit of an extreme example
3) Wow, that would be funny, especially if it were totally unexpected in the middle of a post-game press conference.
4) This is reaching back a bit but I have shared your Larry Hughes fan site URL joke (with credit of course) with many people and it’s gotten a laugh, every time.
5) 6
That hughes blog is real – I had nothing to do with it.
I’d also like to amend my LeBron press conference question to “Bron – how ’bout them gays?”
No, not the blog, this joke:
Larry Hughes DOT NET FORWARD SLASH ANKLE INJURY IMMINENT
Did I say that?
Yup:
http://www.yaysports.com/nba/2007/01/lebron_james_is_in_phoenix.html
That hoopsaddict article reads much better as a spoof. wowza.
Yeah! I’m hilarious!
Cavalier, I don’t know how you roll but everytime I play a girl in basketball I always try to feel her up in the post. Maybe that’s just me? You’ll also find me desperately reaching for her killer cross-over in the hopes that my hands might find something in desperation. The Winter is cold in Indiana.
Good Lord Jack,
How did you ever give up post position to a female? Your forearms must look similar to homemade noodles.
On purpose Brandon Dean Price, on purpose….I like to use my ‘reach around’ from off the court while I’m on the court as well…
I should have also noted that I never used this move when I played my sister. When we played I would throw the ball off her foot when I ‘checked it’, then I would pick it up and make a lay-up. Some would call that cheap, I call it a minor victory for a younger brother.
I’m just saying most girls that play decent ball you wouldn’t want to grab anything on them in any sexual way! Exception made for Sue Byrd, I’d try to drive it down her lane hard any day.
I have respect for women, you jerks.
I only kiss them during appropriate times, like in the car and the movie theater and behind Orange Julius or in my parents’ basement or in bars in front of a bunch of people I don’t know or also at lunch.
Cav, I say I’m sorry after I do it. I then pat them on the ass after the game and say, ‘Good game’. That allows me to continue to be a gentleman.
Tyrus Thomas wouldn’t like it if you said he and John Amaechi were friends the end… he’d say empty-headed ramblings like Drew Gooden and then act like you owe him something…
Putting aside the difficulty inherent in saying empty-headed ramblings, I can’t really convey how much that patch of hair on Gooden’s head bothers me.
So many people love hamburgers
But don’t you think they love cheeseburgers even more?
So many people love hamburgers
But don’t you think they love cheeseburgers even more?
Not if they’re vegans … those people are filled with hate
I thought BDP died….HOLY SHIT!
“Players are now reacting, and some, such as LeBron James, might be better off keeping his mouth shut on the subject.” Cavalier, since when did you become Big Brother or gain the right to silence someone because they disagree with you? Lebron has the right to say whatever he likes, as does John Amaechi, and as do you.
You can check out the John Amaechi “Man in the Middle” book at Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933060190?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwmymobi-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1933060190
P.S. The book is coming out February 20th so it’s available for preorder.
midwest I don’t care what he or anybody says – I’m just saying from a pr standpoint, he might get some backlash on that.
So there was no post on hoopsaddict or what?
Looks like it was removed – that’s even more wronger!
Way to erase that post, Jim at Hoops Addict!
(damn you Carlo!)
Seriously though, was there a post or not? If so, was it “OH MY FUCKING GAWD HE’S A FAGGOT!” or like “Oh my gawd he’s also a faggot!!”?
You are right that he should be careful in terms of PR backlash, that’s fair. The comment as it was just seemed very unlike your usual style; perhaps I should have given you more the benefit of the doubt.
Jim at HoopAddict write his whole long thing how he’d be afraid that if he was posting up that a gay player would get aroused, and he’d have to leave the game or something. There was more than that, and Matt’s right – it read like something that would be on the Onion, except it was serious.
I want to interview that Jim from HoopAddict. Look out for the gays – they’re coming to get you, Jim from HoopsAddict!
Jim from HoopsAddict did write an article and it was amazingly hilarious for many reasons…One part said (not verbatim, but not made up) In basketball teammates smack each other on the butt at times to say ‘nice job’, if a gay player was on the team, that smack on the butt may not have the same meaning.
*He also went on to say how he doesn’t believe in dinosaurs because they aren’t in the Bible and how he actually worships Carl Everett.
*that part was made up.
Whoever you are Mr. SP, I’m glad someone has been concerned about my well-being.
I should probably admit to everyone that I’ve been to 5 Phoenix Mercury games in the last two years, if there’s one female human in the world who could be me in 1 on 1 it might be Diana Taurasi, but she wouldn’t get post position on me, that’s for sure.
Guys…this is Jim from Hoops Addict…here for that interview
Friends to the end? That term would probably be better used when refering to Carlo and zack kay. Or maybe The Cavalier and Boney. Except friends that bufu one another and might propose engagement this Valentine’s day. Free James White.
I just looked in my feed reader and Jim from HoopsAddict’s missing article is still in there. There’s also a part about how there are secret gays out there in the NBA and he’s glad he doesn’t have to worry about playing against them. lol
Guess what – there are secret gays in your rec league, too! In fact, there are secret gays everywhere, and they’re even more dangerous than the regular ones!
Did anyone read the quote to start the article???
The one about machine-gunning down all the women and children? Yes – very offensive.
Everybody needs to listen to the BDP. His knowledge is vast.
Well atleast I’m not in the closet anymore. Unlike Tony Pee.
Wait, am I gay? Hu?
the saint in me predicts that the book will be an instant cult hit among gays and will make the new york times best seller list
“The book is coming out February 20th ”
Jeez, the book is gay too?
during the summer prior to my senior year in high school, i was awarded a month-long program at Duke University to study a career in business. roughly 40 other students from around the country met me in durham, north carolina. all of us were minorities.
i was asked by other students what my plans were to help minorities in my community. i had no answer. i ws embarrassed. all i thought about was to make money and get rich. that summer at Duke really opened my eyes. initially, i was very embarrassed. but i learned a valuable lesson on where my goals should be. the discomfort that i felt, taught me.
it was a wake up call for me.
we should attack homophobia with aggression, not violence. we need to clearly and strongly prove to homophobes that they must change their thought process.
john amaechi has taken a large step towards that end.
hopefully, we’ll see progress soon.
but we have to be satisfied with the fact that we have taken/are taking steps in the correct direction.
i am a heterosexual Christian
during the summer prior to my senior year in high school, i was awarded a month-long program at Duke University to study a career in business. roughly 40 other students from around the country met me in durham, north carolina. all of us were minorities.
i was asked by other students what my plans were to help minorities in my community. i had no answer. i ws embarrassed. all i thought about was to make money and get rich. that summer at Duke really opened my eyes. initially, i was very embarrassed. but i learned a valuable lesson on where my goals should be. the discomfort that i felt, taught me.
it was a wake up call for me.
we should attack homophobia with aggression, not violence. we need to clearly and strongly prove to homophobes that they must change their thought process.
john amaechi has taken a large step towards that end.
hopefully, we’ll see progress soon.
but we have to be satisfied with the fact that we have taken/are taking steps in the correct direction.
i am a heterosexual Christian
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