Where is the [real] love?

People, listen up. The love is gone in the world. Especially the sports world. Nobody apologizes anymore; prompted or unprompted. At least not genuinely. When a team schedules a press conference for a player in which he apologizes, you can almost guarantee it was forced from the big boys up top. When someone’s mouth slips with a cuss word or a derogatory comment, they come out the next day, paraded in front of hordes of reporters and cameramen, to deliver the standard issue apology for the situation. Of course they don't mean this. If you believe they are sincere in what they say, that also means you probably believe that our government is not corrupt, McDonalds is healthy for you, and Matt Millen is the best thing since sliced bread.

People, I miss the love. I miss the apologies that aren't forced by society, employers, or radical activists. I miss the honesty. I miss the "sorry for what I said, I really did mean it though", instead of the by-the-book "sorry for what I said, I never meant to say any of that and I would never think that". Is anyone really buying that anymore? Tim Hardaway doesn't hate gay people. Of course he doesn't. It's not like he went on a radio show and said that or anything. And then turn around with a "what I mean was..." and proclaimed innocence. I don't care if Hardaway hates gay people. That is his personal view and he is entitled to his opinion. It doesn't make him less of a person in my eye, for part of the reason we live in this country is to have the opportunity do believe what we wish. But after he said what he did, he came back out and said he didn't mean that. Kit-Kat me, please! I know what he meant. I heard him say it. His thought originated in his brain, traveled the short distance to his mouth, and he blurted out his thought over the radio. And then he wanted us to believe that he didn't mean what he said. "I'm sorry, I don't actually say what I'm thinking, and I say the opposite! I love gay people!"

Everybody is guilty of this crime against humanity. Owners, managers, players, announcers, radio and television personalities can be blamed. Even the armchair quarterbacks, the rocking-chair analyst and the couch coach are guilty. When Atlanta Falcons QB Michael Vick had his water bottle taken from him by airport security, word leaked out that a green substance may have been involved, and that there was suspicion of it being marijuana. I got home from school that day, flipped to ESPN, and watched the talking heads condemn an innocent Mike Vick for suspicion of carrying a possibly green substance in a water bottle compartment. A month or so passed, the substance was deemed as something that wasn't marijuana or anything illegal, and the talking heads went back to business. I did not hear one of them apologize to Mike Vick. I didn't hear an admission of wrongfulness to their ever loyal audience. They went on with their daily business, barely mentioning that Vick had been cleared.

We have freedom of speech. We're entitled to use that freedom. But every time somebody uses that freedom, they're forced to turn around and condemn what they just said. Falsely, of course. Our culture needs to break out of our need to justify everything. It's impossible. Fake apologies or condemnation before guilt just because it seems right does not justify anything. We need to find ourselves again. Our apologies need a makeover. Where are the real, honest, and straight from the heart apologies? Where is the love?