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Someone wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} wank_report, |
ufb, but in a good way
Want to see something heartening? Check out how the hockey fan community responds to a homophobe.
Uptown Sports is an agency in Canada that represents 11 NHL players (none of whom may know about the wank for playoff and World Championship-related reasons, so don't crucify the players... yet). Their hockey agent has a twitter address at @uptownhockey.
So far, so good. Or not. Recently, hockey pest Sean Avery came out explicitly in support of gay marriage in a commercial for HRC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGGH3M9N
It's actually touching, and notable that the Rangers organization allowed him to use their jersey (acknowledging the commercial, and giving the organizations' approval). Sean Avery is undoubtedly a Ranger in the commercial. And for the franchise, that's okay (commendable).
- Now here's an important fact for those not in the know: this is not news. Avery actually bravely supported gay players about half a year before this, in an interview where he said that he'd stand beside any player who wanted to come out, and anyone who had a problem with it could fight him personally on the ice; he'd take all comers. I loved him for that stance, but I loved too that the general hockey community didn't excoriate him for it. Hockey as a sport shrugged. Some players are gay? Okay. Previous surveys have suggested that one half of all NHLers suspect that they have gay teammates. The sport has ALWAYS shrugged. It may be a macho culture, but being gay apparently doesn't distract from that, and there have been interviews with retired gay NHLers that testify to that fact. For these guys, it's more about team than sexual orientation.
Which makes @uptownhockey's homophobic tweets even more despicable. Because no one knows if they represent the attitudes of that agent's clients. No one believes that they do, but there's the 'what if'.
Which makes the twitter response all the more heartening: thousands of fans mocking @uptownhockey and letting it be known that this is not okay. Prominent media personnel join in. Players in the NHL join in. It's a grand mocking roast, and it couldn't have happened to a more despicable agent.
Want to see something heartening? Check out how the hockey fan community responds to a homophobe.
Uptown Sports is an agency in Canada that represents 11 NHL players (none of whom may know about the wank for playoff and World Championship-related reasons, so don't crucify the players... yet). Their hockey agent has a twitter address at @uptownhockey.
So far, so good. Or not. Recently, hockey pest Sean Avery came out explicitly in support of gay marriage in a commercial for HRC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGGH3M9N
It's actually touching, and notable that the Rangers organization allowed him to use their jersey (acknowledging the commercial, and giving the organizations' approval). Sean Avery is undoubtedly a Ranger in the commercial. And for the franchise, that's okay (commendable).
- Now here's an important fact for those not in the know: this is not news. Avery actually bravely supported gay players about half a year before this, in an interview where he said that he'd stand beside any player who wanted to come out, and anyone who had a problem with it could fight him personally on the ice; he'd take all comers. I loved him for that stance, but I loved too that the general hockey community didn't excoriate him for it. Hockey as a sport shrugged. Some players are gay? Okay. Previous surveys have suggested that one half of all NHLers suspect that they have gay teammates. The sport has ALWAYS shrugged. It may be a macho culture, but being gay apparently doesn't distract from that, and there have been interviews with retired gay NHLers that testify to that fact. For these guys, it's more about team than sexual orientation.
Which makes @uptownhockey's homophobic tweets even more despicable. Because no one knows if they represent the attitudes of that agent's clients. No one believes that they do, but there's the 'what if'.
Which makes the twitter response all the more heartening: thousands of fans mocking @uptownhockey and letting it be known that this is not okay. Prominent media personnel join in. Players in the NHL join in. It's a grand mocking roast, and it couldn't have happened to a more despicable agent.
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