Hockey fans...what do think about Sean Avery's suspension for his comments on TV?

If you didn't see it, it went like this:

Reporters were waiting to speak with Avery about disparaging remarks he'd made last month about Flames star Jarome Iginla when Avery walked over to the group and asked if there was a camera present. When told there was, he said, "I'm just going to say one thing."

"I'm really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada," he said. "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight." He then walked out of the locker room.

Avery's ex-girlfriend, actress Elisha Cuthbert of the television show "24" and the movie "Old School," is dating Calgary defenseman Dion Phaneuf; she also had been romantically linked to Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadiens.

I was a fan of Sean's when he was with the Kings. He's a grade A crap stirrer for sure but he can get the team fired up when they are playing below standard. I always thought that if he could just mature a liitle and show some restraint that all that passion could be channeled in a positive way. Looks like he's still got some maturing to do.

Sean's comments were classless for sure, I'd guess that he'll be called in for a heart to heart with Gary Bettman and then allowed to play, most likely some kind of "double secret probation".
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This POS (Avery) shouldn't even have a thread with his name on it here. :-)
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Come on.

Was it a classless move? Absolutely. Should the NHL step in? No way. What's next suspending a guy for saying your mom wears combat boots?

It should have been left for the Stars, and the players to handle (both on and off the ice). Dion could have been given the green light to just kick the snot out of him with nothing more than a five minute major.

Everyone hates Avery till he plays for your team. Many worse have gone before him and many more will come after him.
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If you have talent, show it on the ice/field/court etc.

These overpaid athletes need to realize it’s a privilege to play sports professionally and need to think twice when cameras/microphones are put in their faces. Kids look up to these kinds of people and the league was absolutely right for stepping in and suspending him. The league has an image to uphold and asshats like this can find work elsewhere.
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Sorry Al I disagree.

If he says it on the ice I am fine with that. I think it is a classless tasteless comment but if it is in between players then they can decide how they will handle it.

To take that kind of talk in the premeditated fashion to the cameras is completely unacceptable.

As for loving him if he is on your team. Even Turco and Modano (to very classy Dallas Stars) have said publicly that he is an embarrassment to the the team and that they fully agree with the leagues and the ownerships decision to penalize him. Hitchcock posted on the Dallas site that if the league hadn't suspended him that the Stars would have, I think it might be the end of Avery in Dallas.

I think the role of the pest is a good one to have on your team, but I think it needs to stay on the ice, making denigrating and derogatory remarks towards women on national TV is not how I think we should allow professional athletes to act nor is that what I want my boys thinking is allowable behavior in society.

Rant over.

Please return to your regularly scheduled program
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I agree to a point Patrick so don't think I'm picking a fight. :-)

However, it's OK to beat each others face in on the ice (in front of the same kids) but not say anything wrong about a guys GF?

How many LITTLE kids will ever know he said it and would they understand what he meant? If the press would not make it such a huge deal and stop printing it then it would just go away. But no, that would not sell papers.

Still say the Team and the players are the best ones to handle such things.

I am ready for my beating. :-)
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What do you disagree with?

I said it was classless. I said it should of been dealt with on the ice and by the Stars management.

Is it that I don't think the NHL as a whole should of stepped in what bothers you?


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Any hockey fan knows that fighting has become accepted as "just part of the game".

My post was generalized to include all athletes, not just Avery. Maybe kids don't understand what "sloppy seconds" means but if the league didn't do something, how far would it have gone? Do your talking on the ice/field/court. If you want to talk, keep it related to the game... not personal.
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I hear ya! As for "just part of the game" does that make it alright? Why not just make it a rule you can't? Again that would impact sales. And it's a whole other thread. :-)

I love this game. However I thing the fighting gives us a worse rep than one or two load mouths running amok.

Thanks for sharing your views.
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I am probably in a bit more of a unique situation but both of my kids did see it and my oldest did ask me what "sloppy seconds" was (he is only 8)

As for disagreeing with you yup your right. I do think the league has a role to fill in maintaining a certain level of professionalism with its players. I will agree with you that it is a very very slippery slope and caution in how it is approached should be taken.

Also disagree about liking having Avery on your team. That kind of "pest" I don't want to see. Give me the Darcy Tuckers, the Tuutu's, and Ville Nikanens of the world gladly. Again a fine line I guess.

On letting the players handle it, lets say Dion gets him with his head down and lays him out ala Scott Stevens but he gets injured, now we are talking about Dion gooning it up and losing his cool. Dunno what the right answer is.

I am a fan of fighting in Hockey it has its place in my opinion, two willing combatants squaring off is part of hockey to me. Jawing on the ice........hell I am all for it.

Guess this one crossed my line, we all have it just at different levels.

I guess the league should have given the Stars 24 hours to do something before jumping the gun maybe. But in my mind it was the right outcome, maybe just not handled perfectly.
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You guys totally lost me after Gregg mentioned Elisha Cuthbert. :-)
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You stole my line! :-)
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I disagree. If they let him take the ice after that comment plus the others he made about Igilna, it would've been a bloodbath. I think the NHL did the right thing.
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Agree with Shawn there although I think the comment was pretty damn funny & true! And I would have no problem whatsoever with anybody's seconds related to Elisha Cuthbert....uh, if I weren't a happily married man.

Tasteless comment for sure but to deserve suspension...I dunno...are there written up rules about trash talking?
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Yes I did as it was so on the mark. Sorry my friend. The fighting comment was Greg's to me in another post.

:-)
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Image

And now.... Image
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Thanks, Mr Reindeer for the intermission:-)

Uh.......what were we talking about again?

Sean Avery...... IMHO Sean should be suspended because he has stepped over the line. Making the comments on ice is one thing. If a player doesn't like what's being said, someone on the team will take care of it. Making the comments to a TV camera is way out of line, this isn't WW whatever wresting.

If he has issues with a player dating his ex the he should man up and say it directly to the person that he has a problem with, they can deal with with it themselves.

If he's not careful, Sean's about to cut his own career short. I'm wondering if Sean's brain wasn't affected by the nuke plant in his home town.
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Was Shaq suspended for his rap over the summer about Kobe? It wasnt the nicest thing in the world, but to be honest when i saw it on ESPN I laughed. I guess it was just my sense of humor that found it funny that this guy cared enough to say it to the camera. A meeting with league officials is about all I think should be done to the guy, maybe a fine and suspension. Players say FAR worse to the refs and one another on the field and in the locker room, nothing is done about it. There are more important issues for the league to be concerned about then dealing with a player who said something almost every guy in America has heard/said in their lifetime.
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i've got no problem with someone talking a little smack and this seems about right with what I know about him all be it that isn't much. he likes to start crap and this seems like about part for the course.
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this is so pathetic.

Okay kids!! Beat the sh*t out of each other on the ice!!! Beat the fans when you're in the Penalty Box!!! Do drugs, get arrested for beating the crap out of someone, spend 5 games on the bench!!!

BUT G-D FORBID you say anything about your ex-girlfriend on TV!!!

What a load of crap.
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