Goal Line Report

Entries with the tag: Justin+Bourne

Taboo

by Patrick Hoffman on 11/03/09 at 10:21 AM ET
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From Justin Bourne of USA Today:

The lack of a homosexual presence in hockey must mean one of two things: either homosexual men don’t play the game or they don’t feel comfortable admitting it — in which case I, and my brethren, were offending some teammates with our close-mindedness, and furthering what must have been unsettled feelings of fear and general exclusion.

For us as a culture, that means another two things. That either we need scientists doing research on professional hockey players ASAP, because apparently there’s a link between our sport and sexuality. Or, much more realistically, we need to alter the culture of hockey, because homosexuals are being forced to play entire careers masquerading as people they’re not.

As many times as I used these slurs, I heard it back tenfold. As well as I fit in behind the doors of a dressing room, I had pursuits that made me seem different. I kept a journal while I played. I’m into piano music and reading. In the hockey world, that’s your basic formula for eliciting more comments about sexual orientation than acting in “Rent.” It’s always the first shot fired.

Hockey culture is something I’ve known and loved, but I’m not oblivious to the disconnect between how players and coaches act behind that dressing room door and how society expects them to act in public. Since we have to change something about how we act and what we say when we leave the team room, we’re probably acting improperly in the first place. And during my playing days, I was aware that was the case.

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“Bourne” to blog

by Patrick Hoffman on 10/12/09 at 03:43 PM ET
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Good afternoon folks. I’m back from my weekend in MA/NH and while I would definitely like to acknowledge that the New York Rangers picked up their fourth victory of the season last night, I would like to go in a different direction today.

When you’ve been a hockey player almost all of your life, it’s hard to imagine doing anything else. However, one such player, a young one at that, had his jaw wired shot after taking a slap shot to his face, realized that there was other ways to be involved with the game other than playing. For this particular playing, that avenue was writing.

With that in mind, I’d like to introduce readers of Kukla’s Korner to Justin Bourne, son of former NHLer Bob and engaged to HOFer Clark Gilles’ daughter. Justin was kind enough to take time out of his busy schedule to share his thoughts on how he got into the game, how he started writing/blogging and his thoughts on the current season. Enjoy after the scroll below.

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Tags: Justin+Bourne, New+York+Islanders,