I have been repeatedly and expressly told to not talk about politics in this space.
The people running this site would prefer to avoid these issues because they are divisive, and because they feel that sports should be a refuge from the day-to-day grind of living in a world where you can't hold someone to account for 200 000 deaths because the people on his side just say I know you are but what am I when confronted with facts.
This is fine, but when good people are silenced, bad people win.
You see this in the NHL as they try to do the bare minimum to avoid pissing off their audience and still maintain a respectable facade of social justice.
But its becoming increasingly apparent that they cannot have their cake and eat it too.
Yesterday, as Lebron James displayed real leadership, the "Captain" of the San Jose Sharks embarrassed himself and not only destroyed his own reputation, but showed clearly how out of touch the common NHL player seems to be with the world around them.
Outing himself as a Trump supporter, Couture showed that is previously (ghost written) statement about changing the culture of hockey was made up of nothing but cheap opportunism and empty words.
You can't simultaneously decry the murder of black people by cops and support the guy who suggested there were very good people on both sides of a clash with patriots and white supremacists.
You cannot vote Republican and ignore the fact that they are running candidates who explicitly believe in the QAnon conspiracy, which is so stupid any literate person should be disgusted by anyone espousing those beliefs.
The NHL, as it ignores all this stuff and caters to financial interests and not moral ones, has become a laughing stock among pro sports. At least if they did nothing it would be honest, instead they trot out these hoary cliches and send their thoughts and prayers.
A mainstream political party cheated to win an election and then spent four years telling the worst among us exactly what they want to hear while completely abolishing any semblance of responsibility or respect for facts.
The result is a country with riots in the street and a bunch of coked up lunatics yelling about law and order with no irony, self awareness or even clue that they come from the same planet as the rest of us.
They have made human decency into a political issue.
It shouldn't be "political" to suggest that Cops - the people we put in charge of protecting us - shouldn't murder black people. It should just be something we all agree with.
It shouldn't be "political" to be angry that an NHL team is laying off staff months after bragging that they had "one of the richest owners in the NHL," because you should be filled with rage about the fact that while the world burns, and every economy crumbles, billionaires are still making a ton of money.
I am a white guy from Canada. I have never been oppressed and I have never been the victim of racism. I don't know how to fix racism, or sexism, or homophobia or income disparity.
But I do know that pretending that those things don't exist just because they don't affect me directly (except, if we're being honest, to benefit from them) is amoral.
I also know that sports is one of the only places were people of opposing political beliefs come together. So maybe a sports protest or even a lousy Coyotes blog could help penetrate the bubble somewhat.
I've come to a realization that Trump supporters are not bad people. They seem like it, for sure. But that is only because they are being lied to 24/7. The Right Wing media, whether that is Fox News or worse, is a misinformation machine that runs non-stop propaganda for a horribly divisive, billionaire friendly, racist movement.
If each side thinks the other side is a bunch of liars who spread mis=information to win power, one side has to be right. To me, its pretty obviously the side that has almost all of the scientists, teachers, intellectuals and people with post-secondary education.
If there are "very good people on both sides" its because one side is completely brainwashed by nonsense.
I watched the RNC convention and it was appalling. Person after person outright lied about the response to Covid. They took no responsibility and offered no plan. It was actually gross.
Hate. Fear. Division. Race Baiting. Othering.
The NHL has a huge platform, and also a massive problem with the culture of the game. But they are coming across right now as a league that offers empty platitudes and takes no action.
They should not have played last night. They should send their Thoughts and Prayers to wherever they sent Mike Milbury.
From the disgusting behavior of Logan Couture, to watching no one join Matt Dumba in kneeling, the NHL players have shown one thing: in a sport that never shuts up about leadership, there is none.
If this is my last post on hockeybuzz, it's been a slice.
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