Moments after I left work today I received word that Bettman had suspended Sean Avery for his earlier comments, which he felt were - by the code with which he suspended Sean - "detrimental to the League or game of hockey."
This is, of course, ridiculous. How is golden boy Crosby crying to the referees at every infraction not detrimental to the game of hockey? It isn't very sportsmanlike. How is the league's own disciplinarian clearly having a double standard when it comes to deciding suspensions not detrimental to the game of hockey? Oh wait, neither of those are, because they protect the players whom the league has chosen to promote.
This league can't have any controversy, nor any personality. Look at the new ad for the Winter Classic - the players are drones going about their routines. There are no idiosyncrasies, there is nothing to make them unique. There is only the brand. Gotta uphold the brand. The boring, corporate brand. Because no one would tune in to watch personalty ... /sarcasm
I would say that free speech is a cause worth boycotting, but let's face it, Bettman doesn't care about empty seats in his buildings. Attendance is slipping, revenues are slipping, teams are laying off staff ... he doesn't care. He simply doesn't care. Not about you, not about me and certainly not about the game. He still has his job and the old codgers who hired him and keep him employed are so rich that they don't care about losing some cash on their toy teams. Colourful characters might make some noise, might make those owners actually take a look at their teams and see how in trouble they are. So let's keep everyone quite, let's keep them all regurgitating the same boring, blase cliches because they don't rock the boat. No characters are allowed, no actual emotion is allowed, no free speech is allowed. Especially for people like Sean Avery.
7 comments:
Avery got what he deserved. He is an attention whore who cannot be tolerated on any respectable hockey team.
Kudo's for the NHL and Hicks to step up and take control of a mouth piece who does very little but mouth off.
Having personality and flair is one thing, being downright inappropriate and out of bounds publicly is what Avery lives for. If the league lifts the suspension, I hope the Hicks and the Stars do not.
Let him go back to Vogue and taper slacks.
Inappropriate? For stoking a fire to get more attention to a hockey game? To get a rival off his game? To upset an ex who, as revenge for being dumped, has slept her way around the league? Gimme a break. Seeing as NHL attendance is what it is, Gary should have thanked him, not suspended him.
I HATE anonymous posters who bash Avery with ZERO clue.
Scotty, I can't resist some comments:
1) I'm a "States' Rights" fan. If the Stars want to punish Avery, fine. But the league needs to let the franchise market sort itself out on its own. If teams ever (and I hope they never do) decide that Avery's antics are more trouble than they're worth, they won't hire him or play him. The end. Until then, his annoying stunts are a big part of what you hire him to DO!
2) When did hockey fans get so damn SQUEAMISH??? What the guys say to each other on the ice is a hundred times more horrific than "sloppy seconds", but suddenly everyone is SHOCKED? Come on...
3) Thank god someone else didn't dig the Winter Classic ad. Somehow, for me, the mood of it reads "we're a lame replacement for baseball!" Nice message.
4) The secret unspoken fact here is that the recent wussification of the NHL (the instigator penalty comes rushing to mind) is fully responsible for CREATING the very comfortable niche players like Avery now enjoy. The game used to police itself on silly things like this. Now, the league has forced itself to over-regulate every moment. Lame.
Umm, last I checked, the Flames aren't a team that needs more attention or have attendance issues, but nice weak argument in an effort to support your boy.
To get a rival off his game? How about putting himself ahead of the team and putting his teammates in a position where they didn't particularly want to be. The stars are struggling to come together and the last thing they need is a reason for the opposition to come at them harder.
Your boy doesn't think about these things, he only thinks about himself, always has (4 teams in what is it 5 years? tells you something about what his teammates really think of him.)
The guy uses the media and the NHL as a medium to work out his personal problems and you think that is perfectly acceptable and I am the one without a clue????
I am sure the NHL would love to have attendance improve, but allowing a player to run his mouth in a vile manner to get attendance isn't the way they want to go about it and I don't blame them.
He has been running around being an idiot since he pretty much came into the league, yet those pesky attendance issues are still there. I guess he doesn't help attendance like you think he does. I see empty seats in the Dallas rink like never before. It is delusional to think he helps attendance.
Bringing negative attention to the game is fleeting and has no long term positive gain.
As far as using 'anonymous' as a moniker...is that really more anonymous than 'Brother P'? Gimme a break.
After I heard Avery's comments, I was looking forward to tuning into the Stars-Flames game. After I saw Dumbo suspended him, I no longer had any interest. I think it was just a way of Bettman making himself look tough and trying to get the NHL in the news while the NFL is in the midst of illegal doping and a certain player shooting himself in the leg.
What Would the Hanson Brothers Do?
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