Tim Hardaway Wants to Launch Gays into Outer Space

For a very brief period, Tim Hardaway was a part of the ESPN studio team for NBA shootaround, where he quickly established himself as the most unintelligible analyst in the history of sports. My memory of him was that he made Magic Johnson sound like Barack Obama. Bob Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel had this impression of him:

Tim Hardaway is ESPN's version of Eric Dickerson, with a twist. Dickerson at least spoke English most of the time. With Hardaway, English is his second language. Maybe third.

"The Mavericks ain't beat nobody," Hardaway said about Dallas' 5- 0 start. "Dey beat Golden State, ah, ah, ah, Chicago. Right now, we on't know if dey real or unreal."

Hardaway has been one tough watch on "ESPN Shootaround" on Fridays.

Today during an interview with Dan LeBatard, Hardaway made his thoughts very clear (update: MJD over at the FanHouse has found the audio of the entire interview):

"You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known," Hardaway said. "I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

The best part of this- Hardaway was being interviewed from Vegas where he is currently participating in an NBA Cares event.

Now I'll bet Hardaway doesn't really hate all gay people- only the gay dudes and butch chicks. But I'm sure that the lipstick lesbians that you find in pornos and strip clubs are A-OK in Timmy's book. Cuz, I mean, that's a beautiful, beautiful thing and who doesn't love that?

While some might think that this opinion is borne out of ignorance, Hardaway actually has experience in this area. I think all of his hatred stems from a scarring incident when he was still in the league and he found himself with a face full of Baron Davis' nutsack and clearly didn't like it:


Hardaway later apologized for his remarks on the advice of his new publicist, Kim Etheredge. I guess Hardaway has abandoned any aspirations to return to the NBA as an analyst. But on the bright side, maybe Tony Dungy will invite him to speak at the next banquet for the Indiana Family Institute.