From Mark Herrmann at Newsday,
There is no neutral zone on the subject of Sean Avery, former boyfriend to actress Elisha Cuthbert, suitor to Paris Hilton (he was shut out), member of People magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” contingent, provocateur in Toronto Nov. 10 in a pregame dustup that left Avery denying a rumor that he had ragged Jason Blake for having leukemia. Avery later said that that’s over the line.
For someone like him, everything is a fine line. It’s part of NHL strategy for a team to have someone who challenges players physically and tries to intimidate them verbally. Euphemisms refer to them as “pests” or “agitators.” They are different from “tough guys” or “enforcers,” who are known for using their fists, not their vocabularies.
This protocol is one of hockey’s quirks that non-fans find hard to understand. Maybe the sport would be more popular if more people took the time to love or hate the likes of Avery.
continued...
A friend of mine (not a Rangers fan) argues that—love him or hate him—Sean Avery is good for hockey in many ways. I’m not always sure, myself… but he certainly does does know how to draw a spotlight.
Someone explain to me how being an arsehole is “good” for hockey?
He’s a good player, no question about it, and he’s very good at being a pest on the ice.
But allegedly calling Georges Laraque a “monkey”? Publicly bad-mouthing French Canadiens? Bullying rookies and prospects in training camp? Showboating? All these are “good” for hockey?
Notice I didn’t include the accusations of tauting Jason Blake about his leukemia, because even Blake said he never heard Avery say anything to him about it. I don’t believe Avery mocked Blake over that so I’m not holding that against him.
Anyway, part of that problem is the media, who find hockey players “boring”, and I believe there’s some envy there with the more “colourful” personalities in the other major league sports, hence the reason they’re amping up coverage of Avery.
I always thought that the humility of NHL players was a strong suit about this game, in that they weren’t getting regularly featured in the news for drugs, fixing games, beating up women, being cruel to animals or shooting people, as we’ve seen in the other major league sports.
I’m not suggesting Avery’s placing the NHL on that much of a slippery slope, and I have no problem with outspoken and colourful players.
But Avery’s an arsehole, and those are the type of personalities the NHL doesn’t need.
Posted by Spector from Charlottetown, PEI, Canada on 11/20 at 08:33 AM