Stop No. 1 on John Amaechi’s book tour is none other than San Francisco. The ex-NBA center is scheduled to kick off his monthlong PR blitz at Borders in Union Square at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
It should be an interesting night. Amaechi’s book, “Man in the Middle,” details what life was like as a closeted gay man in the league, and the subject matter was given new legs last week when former Warriors guard Tim Hardaway went on a lengthy homophobic rant during a radio interview.
Hardaway subsequently was booted from his NBA ambassadorship duties here by Commissioner David Stern, who labeled Hardaway’s words as “hateful speech” and said to stay tuned to the story.
“Maybe the NBA has another opportunity, as we did 15 years ago when Magic Johnson scored that last three-point shot at the Orlando (All-Star) Game, where we could tell the world that you couldn’t get HIV from perspiration, even though a lot of people still believed that,” Stern said this weekend.
“We didn’t ask for it and we didn’t ask for this. But here we are. Welcome to the NBA.”
