Good topic.  I’ve always thought it was funny that guys like Brett Hull and Jeremy Roenick (to name two) are considered “rebels” because they actually voice their opinions.  Of course, those two have voiced a lot more than just their simple opinions, like Kovalev did.  But they were/are tame compared to what’s being said by athletes in other sports.

I might not like or agree with what Hull, Roenick, Chelios, Avery, etc. have to say, but listening to them is much more interesting than listening to someone else who censors themselves so as not to be controversial in any way.  They end up sounding like robots: no personality.  It’s why I’d rather see an interview with Ovechkin than Crosby.  AO jokes around, says what’s on his mind; when Crosby speaks I fall asleep.

Posted by K24 from NYC on 10/19/07 at 06:54 PM ET

Hammer, meet nail--on the head.

I have always, always HATED this.  And it is the most prevalent in hockey, but happens in every sport.  Michael Jordan was once asked why he didn’t take a stand on some issue, and his comment was along the lines of “whites buy sneakers, too.” Don’t say anything that could bother the paying customers or the sponsors, because they not only pay for your endorsement, they pay for you to keep your mouth shut, too.  It is by far the worst when the athlete is a member of a minority--ethnic, racial, religious, it doesn’t matter as long as it’s different--and he or she is expected to be the voice of that entire group--as though one individual can express the wide range of opinions and experiences of any group.  Most women sure as hell don’t speak for me, that’s for sure.  Just because we share chromosomal makeup doesn’t mean we share opinions, politics, interests, or anything else, and it ticks me off when I get pigeon-holed.

Fans and (especially) media probably have no problem with athletes expressing opinions as long as they are the expected opinions.  Show a lunch-pail, blue-collar ethos, by gum, or you will be ripped to shreds for being uppity--despite the fact that anyone who has a need to invest millions in as safe a way as possible to provide for a family with what may be only a ten-year career has different concerns than someone who works in a factory, or in an office, or even someone who has millions but has a financial source that won’t end abruptly if he has a severe concussion.

I would love if more players expressed their opinions.  It would hardly be the end of the world if an athlete disagrees with his coach or has different ideas on how a particular situation should be handled.  Anyone with more than two functional neurons knows players and coaches don’t always agree anyway, so it isn’t like a disagreement is a surprise.  Somehow I think the niceness and politeness of hockey players will still come out in their own opinions because I can’t imagine most of them being anything other than civil and respectful.  I don’t see many hockey players that would call a coach an incompetent blowhard (no matter how true it might be), repeatedly demand and then rescind demands for a trade like a big baby because they don’t like the direction of the team (Kobe Bryant would become one with the ads along the boards in no time!), or just act like donkey butts on general principles.  Most would at least make an attempt to be polite, or just not talk at all to the press if all it would do is make them look bad.

And sometimes I wonder if Crosby is actually a perfectly designed cardboard cutout set in front of the cameras for interviews while the actual flesh-and-blood hockey player is hustled out the back way before he forgets his rigorous training and accidently lets a bit of his personality slip out.  Horrors!

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 10/19/07 at 09:39 PM ET

Geez, I missed these comments earlier.  Oops.

K24 -- Hull, Roenick and Avery are all players that crossed my mind on this subject, too. They might not always be popular but at least you can count on them to be straight. Not to mention, generally entertaining.

Baroque -- Speaking of the hammer hitting the nail on the head, your words “Fans and (especially) media probably have no problem with athletes expressing opinions as long as they are the expected opinions” pretty much says it all.

Though I suspect it has more to do with media - and media “handlers” - than it does with the preference of the fans.  Fans do often react negatively to players speaking their minds, but I also think fans are pretty tolerant of it in some cases as well. 

I think we all just become so conditioned to the standard clichés, we’re taken by surprise when a player actually does talk straight.  And then the media reinforces the problem by their own frequent intolerance of it.

It’s sort of a vicious circle, I think.

Posted by Alanah McGinley from British Columbia on 10/21/07 at 01:58 PM ET