When Jessica Allen presented her opinions on TV last week about white male hockey players, the backlash was so swift and overwhelming that she and CTV had to do some apologizing. The public reaction was brutal .
She wasn’t fired, as she perhaps ought to have been, but that really had to hurt, having to say she’s sorry for her bar-room generalities about white male hockey players.
A father of a Humboldt Broncos player who was paralyzed in that horrible bus crash in April 2018 that took 16 lives vowed to never speak to CTV again, and good for him.
I’m not saying that all hockey players are paradigms of virtue, but they do a lot of good in communities right across the country – even in our own, where junior hockey players with the Scotians and Crushers might be asked to get up early on a Saturday after a bus ride that lasted into the wee hours of the morning, just to help out at a charity event.
And where Major Bantam Bombers players, as they have in the past, pool their money to buy toys at Christmas time for other kids who are less fortunate.
They are not changing the world – and we all know it could use some changing – but they are helping to change their own little corner of the world, a little bit at a time.
Maybe the likes of Jessica Allen should consider that before they start talking, and not after.
Other Random Sports Thoughts:
• It bothers me that on Nov. 14, Cleveland Browns Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett ripped the helmet off of the head of Pittsburg Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph and hit him over the head with it.
It bothers me mostly because we really needed Myles (I call him Myles, or Mr. Garrett) if we’re going to make a serious playoff run, but now he’s been suspended for the balance of the season.
Obviously, you shouldn’t do that sort of thing on a football field but hey, the Steelers QB started it, trying to remove Garrett’s helmet while they were both on the ground, and kicking him in the personals while he was at it, and then going after him again once Garrett hauled him to his feet by the face mask, and then trying to punch him again in the groin area.
The Browns spent all game exposing him for the lousy QB that he is and beating the Steelers into submission, but that’s no way for Rudolph to act. Shame on him.
• The Junior A Crushers aren’t going to win them all, but the five-game winning streak they’re currently enjoying has people breathing easier: the coaches, the players, the front office, the fans, the ladies who sell tickets and maybe even the guys who drive the Zamboni.
Even when they struggled to win two games in a row – they went nearly two months without any kind of winning streak whatsoever – I was fairly confident they’d eventually put together some wins and go on a tear. They have too much talent not to.
Non-Sports Thought of the Week:
• Once again, another International Men’s Day has passed (Nov. 19), thusly, we salute ourselves, as most people in the media will not recognize International Men’s Day, due to it being about men. So, raise a goblet to the great things men have done to make everyone’s lives more complete.
Kevin Adshade is a writer with The News. His column appears each week.
