Wayne Simmonds

Posted on October 6, 2011 by

Wayne Simmonds officially has me confused.

During the shootout of an exhibition game played in London, Ontario last Thursday, an unruly fan threw a banana peel on to the ice while Simmonds, who is black, was taking his shot.  And while his Flyers ended up losing the game 4-3 to the Red Wings, all the post-game attention was paid to Simmonds.

The guy could not have been classier in his response.  Simmonds told reporters: “It was unfortunate that this incident happened but I am above this sort of stuff.  This is something that is obviously out of my control. Moving forward, this incident is something that I will no longer comment on so I can just focus on playing hockey for the Philadelphia Flyers.”  The entire sports world was on Wayne Simmonds’ side after he addressed the issue so calmly after the game.

This story should have had a happy ending.  Simmonds should have remained a victim, but one with the strength to positively affect change in the game.

But it was not to be.

Following a game between the Flyers and Rangers on Monday night, New York winger Sean Avery told the media about an incident that occurred during the game between him and Simmonds.  Avery explained how Simmonds used a homophobic slur to address him.  The game video clearly shows Simmonds using a word few would describe as appropriate.

Enter confusion.

How could a guy who had a banana thrown at him just 4 nights before turn the tables so quickly and use a homophobic slur out on the ice?  How could a guy who handled an ugly situation in such a classy manner suddenly become as classless as the fan who threw the banana on the ice?

In using the slur to address Avery, Simmonds squandered any chance he had to be an ambassador for black hockey players and a role model for young players.   And there is no doubt that chance was huge after the banana incident.  While I would guess Simmonds wished the banana never found its way onto the ice in the first place, the circumstance put the sports world’s spotlight directly on him.  He had a chance to use the spotlight to empower young black athletes unsure of whether they want to play a sport dominated by white players.  But after talking to Avery the way he did, Simmonds lost all the credibility and goodwill he gained after the contest in Ontario.

Maybe Simmonds just doesn’t care.  Either way, I want to know who the real Wayne Simmonds is.  Is Simmonds actually the person we saw on Thursday night, a man of character willing to rise above the immature act of a stupid fan?  Or was he simply well coached by a Flyers public relations staffer?  Maybe Simmonds doesn’t actually care about easing racial tension and being an ambassador for black hockey players.

If I had to guess, without knowing the man, Simmonds is probably closer to what we saw on Thursday night than what we saw on Monday night.   During the last NBA season, both Joakim Noah and Kobe Bryant were fined for using homophobic slurs.  Simmonds, Noah, and Bryant are examples of athletes that got caught.  It is likely that racial, homophobic, and anti-Semitic words are slung around the court, ice, and field regularly without the public ever finding out.  But just because the words are institutionalized on our playing fields doesn’t excuse Simmonds (or Bryant and Noah) from using them.

While many athletes might not know better than to use offensive words and slurs, Simmonds should know better than all.  He was on the wrong end of a despicable act by a racist fan.  And while he may have used the homophobic slur towards Avery out of habit, and without thinking anything of it, Simmonds also should have realized the position he was in.  Maybe he truly is the classy athlete we saw on Thursday night.  Regardless, he lost my respect and his credibility.

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On Jim Boeheim and Conference Realignment

Posted on October 6, 2011 by

History was made this past weekend when Syracuse and Pittsburgh defected from the Big East and announced they would be joining the Atlantic Coast Conference.  The Big East lost two of its oldest members, while the ACC solidified (at least for now) its standing in the volatile world of college football.

While most coaches offered cliché answers to questions about realignment, Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim was one of the few to truly speak his mind.

In an interview with WSKO, Boeheim was asked simply why conference expansion is happening.  He responded: “If conference commissioners were the founding fathers of this country, we would have Guatemala, Uruguay, and Argentina in the United States.  This audience knows why we are doing this.  There’s two reasons: Money and football.”

It was a rather eye-opening response.  Boeheim pointed out the elephant in the room.  Every sports fan in America knows that money and football are the motivating factors behind every major decision in modern college athletics.  But the number of high-profile figures, like Boeheim, that have given their thoughts on realignment is miniscule.

Boeheim deserves to be commended for being as candid as he was in his interview.  Most public figures have been afraid to give fans anything other than canned statements in support of realignment.  Most have chosen the easy route; most coaches support the Athletic Director at their school and mention how much they are looking forward to the competition in their new conferences.  Boeheim said exactly what many are thinking, and that’s something he deserves kudos for.

The quote is also a reflection of a failure on the part of the athletic directors, conference commissioners, and media covering college athletics.  What is the student-athlete’s role in this madness?  Do they play a role at all?  Daily media reports keep us posted on the state of the conferences, but rarely, if ever, do we hear what the actual athletes think.

Boeheim said that money and football are the reasons the world of college athletics is changing.  There is no doubt that he’s right.  But the fact that he’s right is a problem.  There should be more to the decision than just two factors.  It seems like no one has stopped to consider the effect that realignment will have on the athletes.  It is something the media should tell us more about.

Has anyone thought about the effect this movement will have on students?  Syracuse football players might only have to travel ridiculously far for games once every couple of weeks.   But what about the field hockey, soccer, and volleyball players (along with countless other athletes) who will need to travel to far off ACC locations on a weekly basis?  Can you imagine the effect this will have on their studies, as well as their lives in general?

The conferences used to be aligned geographically; if your school was located close to other schools, and had similar characteristics both academically and athletically, chances are you were in a conference together.  Now geography seems like it has nothing do with the conferences.  Athletic directors are in search of TV revenue, which is acquired from putting your product in as many media markets as possible.  When TV revenue is prioritized over a healthy experience for the student athletes, it makes more sense to have conferences with no geographical commonalities.

Conference realignment was inevitable and it’s possible we have only just begun.  As we move through this tumultuous period, we need more people like Boeheim.  We need high profile, recognizable, people who won’t hesitate to call it like they see it.  We also need people who will give a voice to those whose voices have been stifled, the student-athletes themselves.

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Baseball’s Blunder on 9/11

Posted on October 6, 2011 by

In defending Major League Baseball’s decision to not allow the New York Mets to wear NYPD and FDNY hats on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, Joe Torre, MLB’s executive vice president for baseball operations, told the AP: “Certainly it’s not a lack of respect. We just felt all the major leagues are honoring the same way with the American flag on the uniform and the cap. This is a unanimity thing.”

This decision, though, was anything but a “unanimity thing”, as Torre described.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.

The days following September 11th, 2001 were marked by national feelings of unanimity.  The country was united on all fronts, as people draped flags from their windows, created memorials, and comforted each other.

The Mets played the Braves at Shea Stadium on September 21st, 2001.  For that game against the Braves, the Mets ignored MLB’s order to not wear hats honoring the City’s first responders.  By doing so, the team created a feeling of unanimity between the players, the City, and arguably the entire country.  The players showed that while they played a game, there were people in the city who had done (and were doing) far more important things than playing baseball.

Ten years later, MLB issued the same order to the 2011 Mets.  Like the 2001 Mets, the 2011 Mets tried to rebel.  Third baseman David Wright was seen wearing his hat in the dugout during the game’s early innings.  Pitcher R.A. Dickey tweeted after the game that the players had conspired to disobey the order, but MLB officials physically confiscated the hats after the pre-game ceremony.

By not allowing the Mets to wear the hats, Major League Baseball was certainly in a state of unanimity: unanimously against the rest of the country.

The National Football League, baseball’s rival for the title of “national pastime,” took a decidedly different approach to the anniversary.  It allowed the players to wear special cleats and gloves to commemorate the attacks.  The NFL recognized how important the anniversary was and allowed its players the public attention focused on them to honor the country.

MLB’s desire for unanimity was a misguided effort.  The league ostracized itself from the rest of the country.  Sure, there were commemorative ceremonies before the game.  But an in-game tribute is always more special than scripted pre-game ceremony.

This would not be as big a deal if the league told, for example, the Milwaukee Brewers they couldn’t wear the hats.  But we’re talking about a New York team!  Not allowing the Mets to wear the hats is a slap in the face to all the first responders the team wanted to honor.

As if this wasn’t enough of a public relations nightmare for the league, it made another critical mistake in its defense of the policy.  Trotting Joe Torre out to battle for the policy was a feeble attempt at having a New York hero justify a silly policy to fellow New Yorkers.  The people of New York, and America, are not that dumb.  Just because Joe Torre says something doesn’t mean we will listen.  And while the Mets ended up listening to MLB, the rest of us noticed how silly the league looked in its quest for “unanimity.”

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