More on this from Damien Cox of the Toronto Star,

But then, if this was a team of pride and tradition, Tlusty wouldn’t have been in the lineup last night and Leaf ownership wouldn’t have been hiding behind a press release.

The youngster would be back in the minors, having disgraced what was once a Canadian institution – a team that once had a member of Parliament in its lineup – with his amateur porn shots. Ownership, meanwhile, would be vowing to make certain such foolishness never reoccurred..

Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun weighs in too…

Maple Leafs’ rookie Jiri Tlusty has been caught with his pants down.

And the naked images of him leave little to the imagination.

Tlusty, the once-hot Leafs callup, is suddenly the centre of hockey attention after naked photos appeared on the Canadian gossip website isthishappening.com late last week.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 11/14/07 at 07:45 AM ET

Damien Cox sounds like an old crank who doesn’t understand how anyone’s stupid antics can’t just disappear any more like they did when he was a teenager.  I HATE this kind of inflated self-righteousness.  It’s so arrogant.

Teenagers do stupid things.  Sometimes I think it’s remarkable that anyone lives to adulthood with all their original limbs intact.  If he had done something this stupid at 29, then that would be a different matter.  At 19, he was just young and stupid, like most of us (but most of us older folks’ indiscretions happened pre-internet, so we aren’t any better or more virtuous, just luckier in our timing).

Let it go, you cranky old farts, and let the young man play hockey without being demoted for something that had nothing to do with athletics. It’s not like he was caught breaking the law by engaging in underage drinking, after all.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 11/14/07 at 08:21 AM ET

Bad decision by Tlusty, just plain stupid.

Posted by PuckHound61 from Speckville USA on 11/14/07 at 08:52 AM ET

It was a bad decision by Tlusty, but hardly the worst thing he could have done. He’s just a kid and about the worst thing to come from it is embarrassment (if it’s just nude pictures). Damien Cox should be more embarrassed…to send him down for doing something that was legal (I think) when he wasn’t even on the Leafs, at the age of 18. I can’t even believe that someone would write that. He made an immature choice last year and he will learn from it. Give him a little 5 minute talk from management on being a professional athlete and send him back to practice.

Posted by Homerer on 11/14/07 at 10:03 AM ET

Yeah.  If there is anything for which Cox should be outraged, it’s that Tim Horton’s former team is regularly dressing two players (Bell & White) who were convicted of DUIs.

Posted by Jeff J from Fredericton on 11/14/07 at 11:20 AM ET

This story is the biggest piece of idiocy ever.  Cox is utterly wrong in his over-reaction. This is 19-year old stupidity, period. Get over it.  Geezus… you’d think the kid set fire to a cat, or something.

I think Tlusty’s embarrassment is more than enough consequence for his mistake.  That, and what it must have been like trying to explain it all to his mother.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 11/14/07 at 11:51 AM ET

That, and what it must have been like trying to explain it all to his mother.

Ooh, I can see her face now…poor kid must have wanted to dissolve right into the floor and disappear.

I wonder what kind of idiocy Cox committed as a teenager?

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 11/14/07 at 12:58 PM ET

It is just life, and it is hilarious to think the Maple Leafs are competing with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton for cyberspace.

Hey Alanah,
Send me your pole dancing pics off your celfone, and I will post ‘em.  ...  Aah, nevermind, Baroque would probably just delete them.

Posted by HockeyTownTodd on 11/14/07 at 08:25 PM ET

Sorry—those pole-dancing pics of me are only available to my Facebook friends.  A girl’s gotta have standards.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 11/14/07 at 08:37 PM ET

I’m only in the single digits in posts.  I don’t think I know how to delete yet.

Why do you think I don’t have any of my embarassing pictures posted? 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 11/14/07 at 09:51 PM ET

If he had done something this stupid at 29, then that would be a different matter.

Yeah, because then instead of being a stupid teenager, he’d be a stupid adult.  That’s still no reason to toss him over the edge of the earth, for cryin’ out loud.  Hey, Mr. Cox, why not just proclaim him to be a witch and demand that he be put to death???

Infants and children excepted, I won’t believe that there is a single person on this planet who hasn’t needed a whole slew of 2nd chances.  Granted, some stupid things don’t come with a second chance at all, but most stupid things do, and we can thank God for that — figuratively and literally.

Posted by BobTheZee on 11/15/07 at 06:45 PM ET

Yeah, because then instead of being a stupid teenager, he’d be a stupid adult.  That’s still no reason to toss him over the edge of the earth, for cryin’ out loud.

I still think his reaction would be extreme.  I just meant that a stupid adult would possibly need a stern talking-to about his poor judgement, but a stupid teenager should get nothing more than an eyeroll and a shake of the head.

Either way, advocating sending him to the minors is overkill.  If for no other reason than the team is hardly overflowing with offensive talent at the moment, and a rookie who can score goals might help them win a few games for a change.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 11/15/07 at 07:01 PM ET

Hey, Baroque, re-reading my post I can see that it may have seemed like I was critiquing your comment, and that was never my intent.  As you said above, I meant and was trying to emphasize that, even then, Cox’s reaction would be extreme… way extreme, IMO.

Interesting, too, that the very same Cox, with claims that the incident is a disgrace and that Toronto has sold its soul to the devil, uses the same incident as fodder for his story…  so who’s soul, exactly, is up for sale???

On to other things…  with the number of goals they’re allowing, Toronto is going to need lots of people who can score lots of goals.

And, finally, I’m surprised someone else hasn’t said this already:

You mean taking nude photos of yourself with your camera phone and sending them to people is a bad idea?

Well… maybe yes, maybe no. If you all email them to me I’m certainly willing to respond promptly with either “good idea” or “bad idea” so you’ll know.

Posted by BobTheZee on 11/16/07 at 02:30 PM ET