can we ban anthems before games as well?
FR
Also the gambling ads that are everywhere, including on helmets and jerseys?
Not supporting gambling would be too political, it seems.
That would save so much time
Not singing national anthems would be too political, it seems.
Why does it feel like we are always doomed to be as stupid as the worst of our neighbors?
OH NO, NOT ... COLOURS!!!!
It probably also means no military jerseys, or any of the cultural jerseys. Like the Winnipeg Aboriginal artists logos. Sadge. This logo was one of my favourites: https://www.nhl.com/news/jets-indigenous-inspired-logo-profound-experience-for-artist/c-314090206
That is definitely a work of art!
Thanks for adding something cool into the thread that originally made me go 'Oh. Uggh. Fuck.'
My gf calls me a "radical optimist". I try to live up to the moniker online :)
By having players opt out, they were accidentally revealing that the league has a significant homophobia problem.
Rather than address the issue, they've decided to ignore it, and shove those pride jerseys back into the closet.
Was anybody unaware that major league sports are among the most homophobic communities on the planet?
The first contracted NHL player to come out as gay was literally only 2 years ago. So for 103 years they either did not contract LGBT people or they were still forced to be closeted because of the environment NHL fostered.
Not all leagues are created equal. The NBA is doing a much better job encouraging pride night and cracking down on intolerance and hate in its league than the NHL which is more focused on cramming more ads in your face as if that will return their shrinking and dying fan base.
Yeah, really. There have been virtually no gay players in professional sports. That's simply not in the realm of probability given the statistics of the general population. There are a lot of closeted gay players.
This situation would not be acceptable to the HR department of any other business.
This is a situation that goes to the top too. At any time in the various negotiations with the various player associations the leagues could've had policies more consistent with most companies. Major suspensions (without pay) for players that violate the league's policies on harassment. And yeah being against gay people is harassment, so refusing to put on a pride uniform would fall under that.
The reason this doesn't exist is because the owners don't care about a a real problem of toxic behaviour in their businesses.
Inciting bigots to out themselves is too political, it seems.
I’ve been a lifelong hockey fan and this is the final nail in the coffin for me for the NHL as a league. Between this, the Kyle Beach coverup, the spotty officiating, lack of concern for player safety, ads on jerseys and helmets, the moving ads on the board and non stop gambling promotions…I’ve had enough. It’s an amazing sport but an absolute embarrassment of a league.
Agree completely.
I mean I think gambling should be legal because it's going to happen anyway. But it's not a good thing and it should be illegal to advertise it.
And the animated ads on the boards? What's wrong with these people?
So glad that I'm not the only one who reacted this way. When I say that I'm done caring about the NHL, I don't mean it as an angry protest. I mean that this news broke what was left of my ability to care.
I hope that the things you replace hockey with are more fulfilling!
Thank you, you as well! Do you have any suggestions or are there other interests taking up your time?
I'm not sure! I love a good opportunity to reconsider what I care about and how I spend my time. Sports is mental junkfood for me, and I'm gradually replacing it with junkfood from my other niche hobbies. There's so much cool stuff to learn about and explore!
Fuck nhl. fuck the bigots. Fuck the cowards. and as someone from Oslo fucking acab.
But why though? Cowards.
That's why. Too much politics in showing support to any minority group. (And if someone says a team could show up with a swastika -- firstly, okay I'd like to see that and secondly, they could just ban hate-messaging.)
Who do they think their audience is? Is this the result of their attempts to gain viewers in the American South?
This is the result of the NHL being an old boys’ club and always afraid to go against the grain.
They can’t stand for anything and they can’t speak out or have true leaders because anybody that does is blackballed or told to pipe down.
I really hope we see the youth take the game from their old wrinkly hands one of these days.
Fucking cowards
God this is so frustrating to see happen, instead of having any sort of backbone the NHL is just going to fold to the bigots and several other cause nights are going to be collateral damage. This is a terrible step backwards for the NHL, and really makes it feel like the game is only inclusive when it is convenient to them.
The nhl fucks up again. Classic
I wish they would ban military nights. False patriotism.
Signed, a veteran.
They praised some random logistics active serving member at the home opener CFL argos game and it felt pretty awkward how they did it. It just felt so forced. Really I just want these things to stick to the sports. I find that they often do these nights because they just don't know what the hell to do while there are 100 intermissions for "ad breaks".
It's too political to not encourage nationalism, it seems.
Translation: jerseys didn't sell well enough so they're showing that they truly don't care
No more Hockey Fights Cancer boys, pack em up. We don't give a fuck about your chemotherapy.
If they came out and said this was an environmental thing then I'm inclined to agree, there's already so much waste in an already carbon intensive sport. I think that the inclusion and respect principle are great, but there are probably better ways of doing it.
In reality it's probably a bad action due to greed or bigotry, so it makes me sad.
If they aren't going to wear the jerseys for the actual game, they shouldn't wear them at all.
Well banning all types of cause nights seems to be like a decent way to shut down the negative discourse. But I really wish the league would take a tough stance and continue them.
This is indeed a really cowardly stance.
That calgary pride jersey is amazing. And it isn’t even obviously pride/rainbow themed.
They will still be selling these jerseys for charity at least. There won't be any more inquisitions when players don't want to participate so there will be less outrage. The NHL probably sees the negativity around bud light and other brands and noped out of doing anything at all.
If there wasn't outrage when a player decides not to participate and instead we fully ignored them like they are invisible it might be a better way to promote the positivity you would like to see. The addiction to outrage needs to stop.
You're probably not wrong.
When I was in grad school, we had a "graduate student association", which was basically a student union. People would come to us with proposals to allocate $1000 to various causes. We would always vote them down. Not because we didn't support the causes (most of us did -- grad students notoriously lean left haha), but because we drew our fees from all the grad students at the university with no way for them to opt out of the collection of those fees. Basically, we were in a position where we could forcibly collect money from students and assign them at will. It would have been a terrible precedent to abuse that power, as it was a surefire way to cause the grad students to revolt against the mandatory fees. So we had to say no. And every time we said no, there was outrage -- the campus newspaper would make us out to be heartless power hungry monsters or whatever.
I think, in the end, this is a somewhat similar situation. If things are mandatory, you have to include all causes. And inevitably some players will protest and opt out. And the outrage news story will happen every time. You're right that, in the end, this may end up being better. You'll have individual players still supporting causes, and becoming mouthpieces for the change they want to see, without forced organizational participation.
At the Winnipeg Pride rally, a few weeks ago, someone was holding a sign: "If you're here because you were forced to be, you are part of the problem."
If I were running those events I would not want people to be forced to participate. You can't bludgeon people into changing their minds.
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