edwin

Homosexuality and Peanut Butter

I first off want to say that yes I am a sports fan. I grew up on sports. I play sports all the time. My whole life I walked the fine line between jock and geek. I was athletic and artistic. The combination isn't too common I suppose and I base this opinion on the reaction I received throughout my life when the geeky side would pop up at the "wrong" time. My point is that sports culture is a very stubborn and narrowed culture. When I say culture, I'm referring to athletes, fans, people who bet on games, people who buy tickets to games, all of that stuff. The culture of sports is harsh sometimes. It is unforgiving, strict and disciplined. It's really like a religion for many sports fans. They believe in the competition, they worship the athletes and they pray to the sports gods to win the games and championships that their team is seeking. Sports culture is not to be taken lightly. If you don't blend in with that culture but are in that culture whether that means you are a warrior poet type like I was or something thought of as much, much worse you try to blend in as best you can and in effect censor yourself to an extent to avoid the hassle and ridicule. Now when I mentioned being something worse than a warrior poet, I think you understand what I am getting at.

Lately, sports culture has been under the microscope due to a recent book by a former professional basketball player where he comes out and reveals he is gay. The player's name is John Amaechi. He played in the NBA for a handful of years in the late 90's and early part of this decade. I remembered him because he was a near 7 foot tall player who was English. There are very, very few English basketball players in the NBA so to hear one speak with an English accent is memorable enough but the other thing I always remembered about him was that he was a very articulate man. He didn't sound like a basketball player. He didn't offer the same vibe, the same attitude and the same slang most players offer when being interviewed.

When hearing last week that he was releasing a book and coming out of the closet, I didn't think much of it. I just thought hey, I remember him, good for him and I hope his book does well. That's just how I am. When I was a teen, yes I was a homophobe. I was a homophobe out of ignorance though, not for any good reason. Over time I grew into a man and away from my childhood friends from the neighborhood with their tired narrow attitudes towards the world. I grew further away from the opinions of my 60-something year old dad who grew up poor and in the military. I grew up and my mind opened. I think having a gay half brother helped too. When you are forced to tackle an issue head on, you will find resolution. It's like the 3 nippled topless fortune teller in Mallrats said; "from confrontation comes understanding".

So now fast forward to many years later and I find that I don't even think about it anymore. If I meet someone and they are gay, I don't care. I'm not afraid to touch them, befriend them, play sports or talk about life with them. They are people like I am, so whatever. For the record I am in favor of gay marriage. I say love is love man. All you need is love. Who does anybody think they are to tell someone who they can love or marry? In India this past year, a woman married a snake because she thought it saved her life and loved her. Now when I say snake, I'm not talking about some dirtbag guy who cheats on her, I'm talking about a freaking snake. You know the kind that Samuel L. Jackson is tired of. "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I'M TIRED OF THESE MUTHA****IN SNAKES ON THIS MUTHA****IN PLANE!" Actually to be honest with you I am against humans marrying animals, but that's just me. If you want to carry on an affair with your goldfish that's your business, but if the goldfish can't at least head down to City Hall and say I do, I don't think you should marry it. So where am I? Oh yeah, gay people are no different than anyone else to me. I hate when people bash them or want to even take away some of their rights and make them less like the rest of us. After all we've been through in this country. After all the fights that have been fought to strike for equality no matter what our culture is, no matter what gender you are, we are still so consumed with hate. It saddens me.

This brings me to yesterday. Yesterday I did something I haven't done in a long time; I listened to talk radio. The big story of the day was a retired basketball player who was being interviewed on a radio station in Miami. This player, Tim Hardaway is well known by sports fans as he was a great player for nearly 15 years and is still fresh in the minds of sports fans as he has only been retired for about 2 years I believe. He was asked about the Amaechi book and how he would feel if he had a gay teammate. His reply? "You know, I hate gay people, so I let it be known. I don't like gay people and I don't like to be around gay people, I'm homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

What did Amaechi have to say about Hardaway's comments; "I don't need Tim's comments to realize there's a problem," "People said that I should just shut up and go away -- now they have to rethink that." "His words pollute the atmosphere," Amaechi continued. "It creates an atmosphere that allows young gays and lesbians to be harassed in school, creates an atmosphere where in 33 states you can lose your job, and where anti-gay and lesbian issues are used for political gain. It's an atmosphere that hurts all of us, not just gay people." And his comments about the requisite and predictable half hearted apology from Hardaway the next day; "It's vitriolic, and may be exactly what he feels. Whether he's honest or not doesn't inoculate us from his words. It's not progress to hear hateful words." For the record, Amaechi is only the 6th professional male athlete from one of the four major U.S. sports (basketball, baseball, football, and hockey) to openly discuss his homosexuality. Now we all know just by the numbers that there had to have been far more than 6 gay professional athletes in the 4 major sports. Now we also know why they won't come out fans aren't ready, America isn't ready and sports culture certainly is not ready.

Before I depart I want to tell you about this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070215/ap_on_he_me/peanut_butter_salmonella

"A foodborne illness which has affected 288 people across 39 US states has been linked to the consumption of varying types of Peter Pan peanut butter, US officials said. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Wednesday that it was warning Americans not to eat the contents of certain jars of Peter Pan peanut butter or Great Value peanut butter "due to risk of contamination with Salmonella Tennessee, a bacterium that causes foodborne illness." US packaged foods giant ConAgra, which produces the popular Peter Pan peanut butter spread, has initiated a voluntary recall of all varieties of the spread and all Great Value varieties with the product code 2111 printed on the lids of both brands. The FDA said an investigation involving the government and local health agencies had linked 288 cases of foodborne illness in 39 states to the consumption of various types of Peter Pan peanut butter."

When I was really sick for a weekend about a month ago that's right I had a jar of Peter Pan peanut butter in my desk at work that I used to make sandwiches with that week. I didn't have the noro-virus despite similar symptoms; I had some kind of salmonella thing. Isn't that reassuring? That I could get so sick from an everyday household-type item. After seeing this article the other day I opened the food drawer of my work desk to find a jar of peanut butter that was pretty much empty with the dreaded product code "2111". I'm so pissed at Peter Pan so pissed that you may all consider me a choosy mom because now I choose Jif.