own your words.

Despite the fact that I'm late to the party, I clearly need to opine on Tim Hardaway's nice little radio interview reaction to John Amaechi's coming out, since he decided to lay it all on the line with his homophobia. I don't usually get in a huff about these things; I know there are ignorant assholes in the world, and I expect it. Hell, I cover them every single day.

But what gets me is that, when confronted with his Cro-Magnon line of thinking, he decided that it would work if he apologized.

Hardaway, later saying he regretted the remarks, apologized for the remarks during a telephone interview with Fox affiliate WSVN in Miami.

"Yes, I regret it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said I hate gay people or anything like that," he said. "That was my mistake."

Note how he said he shouldn't have said it; it doesn't occur to him that it was a questionable line of thought. It was an amazing display of stupidity, ignorance, and top-shelf bigotry; it is the epitome of the word "gaffe." That said, own your words. You had no intention of apologizing for your remarks; otherwise, you wouldn't have said it in the first place. Tim Hardaway doesn't regret saying he hated gay people; he regrets that anyone was paying attention and called him on it. That's all his attempts at apology mean. I have more respect for the person who gets caught saying something idiotic, admits it, and owns up to it than a weasel like Hardaway, who, when confronted with his stupidity, regrets not the thought pattern, but that someone heard it.

Amaechi took the high road:

"Finally, someone who is honest. It is ridiculous, absurb, petty, bigoted and shows a lack of empathy that is gargantuan and unfathomable. But it is honest. And it illustrates the problem better than any of the fuzzy language other people have used so far."

Stop faking for your image, Tim; you are the one who covered the bridge in gasoline and lit the match, and you get to live with the consequences. Just when I thought Amaechi's coming out meant less than what ESPN was hyping, too. I think I was proven wrong.

Other takes: Leave the Man Alone, One More Dying Quail, The Hater Nation, and Just Call Me Juice.