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| bananas foster for everyone, bitches! |
dude..
a banana came flying out of the stands in london, ontario thursday night during an nhl preseason game between the flyers and the red wings as former los angeles king turned philadelphia flyer wayne simmonds was beginning his shootout attempt.. it landed just in front of the talented forward.. after the game, a rare public discussion about racism in hockey ensued..
for kevin weekes <--- hes black, a former nhl goaltender turned broadcaster who is currently attending the black congressional caucus in washington, d.c., it was deja vu all over again..*
the national hockey league issued its usual tried and true horse-shit statement, made by the commissioner praising the hockey community in general, calling out the asshole that chucked said banana and reminding everyone that: this obviously stupid and ignorant action.. reflects badly on our entire community.. london is a diverse and welcoming city and we like it that way..
simmonds met with the press after the game, telling reporters: when you're a black man playing in a predominantly white man's sport, you've got to come to expect things like that.. simmonds continued.. over the past 23 years of my life, ive come to expect some things like that.. but im older and more mature now, i kind of just let things roll off.. I try not to think about stuff like that...
wayne and other not-so-white players really shouldnt have to resign themselves to settling for that kind of crap..
ive played a lot of hockey and coached youth hockey and seen my share of black guys play the game w/o any of that racist crap from teammates, opponents or the parents.. i just dont get it.. im still trying to get my head around it.. not just in sports but racism in general..
fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..fail..!
im curious how the nhl and the sports media would have reacted if simmonds was a white guy... just sayin..
not that i follow football that closely or at all really, but the world of football has seen such incidents before, from russia to italy..
big surprise there.. football hooligans.. even so, fail.. fail.. fail..
for example..
in march, brazilian roberto carlos stormed off the pitch when a banana was chucked at him during a league game in russia..
the commissar of russia's 2018 world cup organizing committee has since announced plans for an anti-racism campaign.. that will be at best interesting, and most prolly lame.. just sayin..
in april, the russian football union fined zenit st. petersburg $10000 after one of its fans offered a banana to the brazilian at a pre-match ceremony before zenit played roberto carlos' anzhi makhachkala..
in 2008, zenit was fined $58000 after its fans threw bananas and made monkey chants at three black marseille players..
* for the record.. kevin weekes spent 11 seasons in the nhl and had a banana thrown at him during the 2002 playoffs in montreal while he was a member of the carolina hurricanes..
with all the attention that homophobia in professional sports attracts in my big gay hockey world, and seeing how major league baseball and the national hockey league are way out in front of the herd on that issue, i guess racism gets lost in the chatter..
help me willie o'ree, youre my only hope.. wait, what?
~ cheers.. david
