ChicoMax

By Mary Buckheit
Page 2
Tim Hardaway hates me.

The former five-time NBA All-Star has never met me. He doesn’t know me. But he hates me.

I swore a long time ago that I would never write a “coming out” column. And believe it or not, this isn’t intended to be one. It’s just that this is the first time I’ve been provoked to the point of a certain ancillary admission. I’ve never had an inclination to disclose anything to anyone really. Sure, the frequent inaccurate assumptions can be frustrating, but in an age of too much information I prefer to err on the side of less rather than more. This isn’t to say that I live out an especially clandestine operation, but I’ve never actually said those three declarative words to a boss or a coach … or even to my parents.

But this column is not a partiality disclosure — or worse, an Internet announcement to my mom and dad (my father has passed and my poor mother doesn’t know the Internet from her elbow.)

This column is about athletic professionalism.

While I believe Tim Hardaway’s comments were tactless and hurtful, especially because they were stridently directed at me, I still believe them to be permissible. We can say whatever we want in this country. That’s generally a really good thing — with freedom comes variety. But inherent in that privilege is a regrettable truth: Free, unfiltered speech sometimes brims with hate.

And sometimes frightening messages are projected through very large microphones.

And sometimes the result is devastating.

Still, just because Tim Hardaway’s comments were so bluntly hard-hitting and happened to be uttered on ESPN Radio doesn’t necessarily make them of automatic interest to the general sports consumer. A professional hoopster who makes a forthright statement of hate is just that — a basketball talent with a vengeful agenda and loose lips. Even coming from a basketball player, personal beliefs shouldn’t necessarily interest you, the sports fan …

… until the player proclaims that his hate is so severe it would affect his ability to play his sport.

That’s when it becomes relevant to the sports consumer. (Just as an athlete’s sexuality can be a dormant nonissue until it affects him and the sport he plays.)

You may react any way you choose to this issue, which is by many counts politically and religiously charged. Like with all personal differences, you may choose to tolerate, accept or support unreservedly. Or you can roll your eyes, close your ears and throw up your hands in exasperation. You can disapprove with abandon and hope it never happens in your family (then look the other way when it does). Or you can hate — absolutely and unconditionally. You are entitled to that. Tim Hardaway is entitled to that. Hate is a filthy and disgusting emotion that is yours for the taking.

Tim Hardaway said, “I hate gay people.” You may hate gay people too. You may respect Tim Hardaway more because he is willing to unshakably declare his hate for people like me.

Those sentiments make you and Hardaway unequivocally homophobic, which is personally disheartening to me but nonetheless irrelevant to some sports fans.

But what if a professional athlete claims hate and homophobia affect his or her ability to play? As a sports fan, don’t you question the mental toughness of an athlete who allows himself to be affected by off-court matters (that aren’t even his own)? Personal ideology — even hate — should never inhibit job performance, especially in an elite profession.

Which I suppose makes Tim Hardaway unprofessional at best.

He says he just couldn’t do his job next to someone he doesn’t like or believe in. Shoot, it sure would be great if we didn’t have to work with people we didn’t like. And maybe our co-workers could all lead upright and respectable private lives too! (Workplace euphoria? That’s right up there with the dreamy idealism that someday this will all be a nonissue and nobody really hates gay people these days anyway. It’s all in our heads.)

Bottom line — you don’t have to agree that Tim Hardaway’s homophobia makes him a bad person. You can stick to your hidebound guns. But you have to admit, as a sports fan, that Tim Hardaway’s homophobia is a weakness that detracts from Tim Hardaway the professional basketball player.

An apparent unwillingness to roll off a pick set by a teammate he hates, or D-up an opponent who personally disgusts him, is evidence of an indisputable lack of focus on the objective. An athlete who allows himself to be distracted by anything outside of the objective is inferior. Stats, salary, divorce, injury … the hot bartender from last night … the fact that the sixth man is gay — none of them should cross his mind in the workplace. Ever. Because he should be in a zone far above that.

We preach focus in athletics. We are taught to block everything else out. It’s that ability that allows elite athletes to regroup and successfully compete hours after the death of a loved one. But Tim Hardaway couldn’t play basketball on any given night if his power forward was spending his life with a dude.

I had a coach in high school — a big, gruff, gray-haired purist who loved to bark at us. He would call us together and open every single practice and game with the same forceful speech.

“We’re on this field right now OK. Right now we’re all right here. Right here! We are all blessed to be out here OK. I don’t care about your tests or your teachers out here. Right now I don’t care about your problems or your periods. I don’t care about your boyfriends OK … hell I don’t care about your girlfriends [which he said just like that, not to be inclusive but only to re-emphasize the absolute and far-reaching tenets of his coaching doctrine]. A bomb could go off behind this bench and damnit you better not turn around! Get your minds off everything else that’s not on this field OK. Let it go and get your head in the game. This is all that matters right now OK …”

So for a few hours every day we blocked out riotous teenage emotion and focused on the game.

You’d think professional athletes could figure that out.

Mary Buckheit is a Page 2 columnist and can be reached at marybuckheit@hotmail.com

Two on Sunday to come and look at the computer and check the cable signal. Two on Friday, who did the same thing that the two from Sunday, did.  And one Saturday who came and did the work that the guys from Friday should have done.  Then there are the ten or more that I have spoken to on the phone.  The ones you talk to on the phone are the tech support people.  They of course assume that it is all user error and software problems.  Every time you talk to someone one the phone they give you a new ticket number, which the next person can’t access to see what the problem is.  This means that you have to explain the same problem over and over again each and every time you talk to a tech support person.  The tech that came on Friday, with a trainee, was rude and combative.  He had decided that it must be software or a hardware problem with my network.  He was sent to replace my cable modem.  He did not do that; in fact he refused to do so.  I had talked to someone on the phone on Thursday and set up the visit to replace the modem.  He was argumentative and would not listen to anything I had to say.  Even though I had talked to at least ten people on the phone trouble shooting my computers and router.  He wanted to argue with me.  It finally got to the point that I just told him to get out of my house.  The only service I got that day from the Comcast community was lip service.  He did not even hook things back up the way he found them he just left.  This while he had some one he was training with him.  I guess the customer service will not be getting any better since the new techs are being trained to be confrontational.  Before he left he wanted me to sign his work order ticket, which ii refused to do.  After he left I lost signal in my modem and had to wait almost an hour to use my Vonage phone to call Comcast and complain about his actions in my home.  While he was in my home he even had to call his supervisor to ask if what I was telling him was true and that I was not making it up.  He was talking to his supervisor like I was stupid right in front of me.  This from the company with the slogan “Comcast Cares.”
 
It was finally determined today after another call to tech support that it is either Comcast or my hosting company that is blocking my IP address and keeping me from publishing or even receive email.  I can’t even view my own website on my own computer with out using a proxy.  A proxy is a program that changes the IP address.  Now why should I have to use a proxy all of a sudden two weeks ago to view and access my website?  Even though three of the tech I spoke to on the phone admitted to me that Comcast has been having problems in the area, they still insist that it was my equipment and software that was the problem.  Now I have three computers of different ages and all have different version of software and operating systems and it is the same result on all three.  Sounds like an outside problem to me.  The older computer, which is only used for backup and has no security or firewalls and I still could not view my websites and others.  They were saying it was just my website, but the problem was occurring on several site that I work on and maintain.  Comcast was obviously having a problem with communicating with the hosting company.  It comes down to people in my area with certain IP addresses are being blocked from viewing my website for sure and who knows how many thousand of others.
 
Comcast cares, now there’s a joke.  They are a monopoly and they know that there are no real alternatives.  There are alternatives but they also involve getting into business with other huge communications companies who don’t care about their customer either.  Every year the prices for services from Comcast go up at least one a year and sometime more than once in a year.  Comcast also makes you pay for your service before you receive it; most companies have the decency to charge you after you use the service not before.
 
Stay tuned; I am afraid there will be more to come.

We have been experiencing some disturbing problems with customer service. One of the main companies we have been having trouble with has been Comcast. We have been experiencing some technical difficulties. Comcast only cares about site that they host and not those hosted with other companies. They are just another example of what is wrong with corporate culture these days. Their only concern is how much money they can make and do not really care about serving the paying customers. Anyone who has tried to get help from Comcast technical support people will understand what we are talking about.

They seem to want everyone to use their company for hosting and all other Internet needs. If it is not on their servers they do not care to and are not able to help. As we move forward into the service based job market good customer service is something that all companies need to learn. People expect certain support and service for the hard earned money they pay for these services. It is unacceptable that customers should have to suffer with bad service. The total lack of regard for anything that is happening outside of the Comcast network of servers amounts to censorship of our First Amendment rights. They don’t care about free and open access to the Internet.

We have been experiencing similar problem with our hosting company, Netfirms. We have been with them for over three years and brought them several new accounts. Their technical support people also do not know good customer service skills. The most basic and important skill in customer service is to make sure that the customer is satisfied. That is how you hold on to customers. There is no shortage of companies out there to host websites, companies would do well to understand the meaning of customer service when they are in a competitive market. Comcast knows that there is really no competition and so they do not worry about customer satisfaction. Call Comcast and tell them censorship is not ok 1(800)266-2278 or e-mail. This is the message they are sending to everyone.

We must all do our part to make sure that the companies we deal with take us seriously as customers. Whenever you have to deal with a company refuse to give up until you are satisfied. Tell them you are not satisfied and keep taking your complaints or problems higher up the chain until you get to someone who can and will satisfy you and do not give up until they satisfy you.

Sorry for the lack of activity the last few weeks.  We have been very busy helping our friends work on universal health care.  ChicoMax designed and published the web site for them.  Please check it out HELPFundPA  It is a great group and a great cause and they need our support.  Unlike at some other blogs we do not just write to hear or see ourselves talk.  We always have a purpose to what we write.  We appreciate your patience and your support.