Distancing Yourself From Controversy

The National Basketball Association made the right moves following Tim Hardaway's recent anti-gay rants. This situation could have been disastrous for the NBA (for Hardaway, it already has been), but instead the league handled things calmly and smoothly. Once media outlets began reporting on Hardaway's comments, the league removed the former player from his scheduled All-Star Weekend appearances and all but disavowed his association with the NBA. John Amaechi's decision to come out could prove to be a very positive thing for the NBA, but that only will happen if the league can convince the public that it is OK with homosexuality and that homophobia is not as big of a problem in the NBA as Hardaway's comments would lead people to believe. The league could take steps to make itself more appealing to the gay community. For example, heterosexual players publicly could state their support for gay rights and for gay teammates. When dealing with such an important issue, the one thing that the league has to be sure of is that it is not promoting or disseminating hate. Hardaway found this out the hard way.

Welcome!

Hello there, everyone! I am new to this whole blogging thing, but I hope to get the hang of it soon. So here's the scoop: I am a senior at the University of Georgia majoring in public relations. I am in my final semester, with only a few months left until graduation (assuming that all goes according to plan). As part of my PR campaigns class, I must maintain a PR-related blog over the course of the semester. If you enjoy sports or sports PR, then you might have come to the right place, because that is what my blog will cover. I plan to discuss my thoughts on the latest happenings in the industry as well as my plans to participate in said industry following my graduation. I will be back soon with my opinions concerning the current state of sports PR.