Thomas, the inimitable hockey-person/conservative douche is in the news again this week for announcing he'll take a year off from hockey, writing on his Facebook page:
At the age of 38, I believe it is time to put my time and energies into those areas and relationships that I have neglected. That is why at this time I feel the most important thing I can do in my life is to reconnect with the three F's.It's a surprising move from the goalie, who likely had at least a few more years left in the tank. That comment about friends, family, and faith are pretty telling, and give me a good excuse to repost this piece I wrote a couple months back when there was a flap about Thomas skipping out on the team's visit to the White House.
Friends, Family, and Faith.
It took me a few hours to get around to paying attention to this really important sports controversy from yesterday because I kept seeing the word "hockey" and passing out from boredom. But I'm sure glad I did, because it combines a few of my favorite things, sports, politics, and Tea Party buffoons embarrassing themselves in front of the entire country. Maybe. Maybe it did that last one. I haven't decided yet.
As NESN reported, when Stanley Cup winners the Boston Bruins traveled to the White House to visit with President Obama on Monday, Vezina Trophy (best goalie of the year) and Conn Smythe (MVP) winner Tim Thomas, one of the leaders of the team, and a hero throughout New England, said "fuuuck that anti-American socialist" (paraphrasing there), and declined to join his team for the nice little photo op.
As you might expect, people on all sides of the issue, liberals who think hockey is awful, conservatives who think hockey is awful, and the other groups, whoever those crazy people are, lost their collective shit. One common opinion seemed to hold that Thomas' decision to abstain from playing grab ass with a man whose politics he abhors (Thomas is an avowed Glenn Beck fan who wears the words "Don't Tread On Me" on his helmet), was simply evidence of a firm, principled stance. Others felt it was disrespectful to the office of the Presidency, for whom citizens are supposed to put aside political differences when invited over to chill in the most powerful man cave on the planet. Even more took issue with Thomas' turning his back on his team, the rest of whom attended, and most of which are presumably not all George Soros-funded billionaire capitalist communists.
Thomas released a statement later in the day explaining his decision.
I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.
This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.
Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.
See, defenders said, there's nothing political about that, he's just exercising his rights as an American (wait, is he American? brb gotta check), yes, as an American, to go where he damn well pleases. Nothing political except for the fact that it's all pretty thinly veiled coded language, if not outright Tea Party boilerplate.
Quick question for Thomas, who presumably shares his hero Beck's stances on a lot of issues, how can he support all of these immigrants from bordering countries flooding into America, the real America, to take our jobs?
I'm talking about Canadian hockey players of course, who make up the vast majority of the Bruins roster. Is that OK because they work harder than everyone else and deserve it? It is ok because they're white? Are Canadians actually really white if you think about it? All good questions.
I'm talking about Canadian hockey players of course, who make up the vast majority of the Bruins roster. Is that OK because they work harder than everyone else and deserve it? It is ok because they're white? Are Canadians actually really white if you think about it? All good questions.
Bleacher Report asks another one:
If Tim Thomas views Barack Obama the way Glenn Beck views Barack Obama (it's fair to assume he does), then surely he should eschew any socialistic inclinations. Why then is he a member of a labor union? Can he not opt out? Will he try?
I think not.
Let's be real. This is not Muhammad Ali going to jail to protest the Vietnam War. This a petty move by a selfish athlete who wants what should be a highlight in the storied history of the Bruins franchise to be all about him.
Is that what it is? I'm not so sure I agree that what Thomas did was all that wrong, and that's coming, as I'm sure you've figured out by now, from an insane communist-wannabe pussy.
Never mind the fact that hockey has a labor union, it's already the single most Canadian sport, probably most Canadian thing, in existence, which therefore means it's French, and socialist, and anti-American by it's very nature. There's not much room to stake out any comfortable right wing breathing room there buddy. (Surrendered in WWII, baguettes, crème brûlée, b.o., other awesome and surprising French jokes).
This isn't the first time Obammer's gotten the gas face from a champion, by the way. The Chicago Bears fan in Chief invited the 1986 team to the White House last year (their visit after the actual win was postponed because of the space shuttle Challenger explosion), and Hall of Famer, and world class foot-in-mouth douchebag Dan Hampton refused to take part. The Pittsburgh Steelers' James Harrisson, literally my least favorite football player in the world, tried to give metaphoric concussions to both Bush and Obama, much like he does to players on the field all the time the piece of shit cheap hit artist, after his team won the Super Bowl in 2006 and 2009.
All of that aside, here's how I know that I am unqualified to pick a beef with what Thomas did: if it were George Bush and he'd done the same thing, would I be applauding his "morals" and "convictions"? I suspect that I would. It can't work both ways. I don't remember much about Denver Nuggets player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, who caused a fair bit of controversy in the nineties when he refused to stand for the National Anthem during NBA games, but I am pretty sure that if he'd been doing it post 9/11, when I had become more politicized in my wacky liberal beliefs, I would have thought it was a brave move. Understanding that, I am sort of forced to respect Thomas' beliefs, no matter how backwards and ridiculous I might think they are.
Kirk Minihane, writing on Boston sports site WEEI today, explained that it is Thomas' duty as an American to respect the President.
Look, this isn't Rosa Parks, I get it. And if I were Thomas, would I have skipped the ceremony? Nope. Again, there's plenty of stuff about the Obama administration that drives me nuts, but I would respect the office if not the man currently holding the title. Put on a tie, smile, shake hands, laugh at lousy jokes, take some pictures and leave. Suck it up, in other words. This is an opportunity that will probably present itself exactly zero more times in a lifetime.
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| Tell that to this guy. |
Never mind how Canadian hockey is, what's more American than telling your leader "fuck you"? And keep in mind, just because you call someone a patriot doesn't mean you don't also think that they're a big asshole. In fact the two are pretty frequently synonymous. That's how it should be.
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17 comments:
ever hear Thomas talk? Always thought he was a little, how you say?... ehh. Whatever, though. Sports are for people too stupid to have opinions or just smart enough to have the wrong ones.
GTFO of here with that sports are for stupid people talk. Stupid like sports, but stupid people also like everything else, so unless we're all gonna shut ourselves up in isolation chambers of important culture, then sports are important and worthy of discussion.
But yeah, athletes, am I right?
So is Kirk Minihane saying the B's won't repeat? Or Obama?
>>>Let's be real. This is not Muhammad Ali going to jail to protest the Vietnam War.<<<
Oh, then I guess everyone can just stop comparing the two because everyone everywhere is.
One last thing because I can't believe this is even news, but just because someone is against illegal immigrants getting a free ride* doesn't mean they think all immigration is bad.
*I mean on the T.
No, but if you're the type of person whose main issue is that illegal immigrants are getting a "free ride" then you are, with a high degree of probability, an asshole, and a racist.
Okay, so let's rail against Thomas for being an asshole, not unpatriotic.
I happen to think he's both an asshole and sort of patriotic.
Tim Thomas did what he was supposed to do - stopped an almost stupid amount of goals last year.
Beyond that, who cares what he does?
Expecting athletes to be anything other than athletes is usually a recipe for disappointment.
Also, I'm kinda surprised no one in the commentariat has managed to work a race angle in here. Whitest sport ever, black president. Or something like that anyway.
I mean if you're gonna lose your shit, lose it.
I think the race angle is implied by his affiliation with the Tea Party, no?
Also, can someone ask Kevin Paul DuPont since when is 'blatherall' a word?
There are plenty of other synonyms for 'specious bullshit' that are actually, you know, words. I'm almost sure of it.
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2012/01/24/thomass_absence_left_bruins_shorthanded/
"He is a free man, living in a free country, and he can sing that blatherall from his hotel room"
I mean, what?
@Sean Someone from TSN merely "noted" that Thomas has three kids, all of whose names start with the letter 'k'.
First of all, great post.
The first axiom that comes to my mind is "Pick Your Battles". What kind of results does Thomas expect to glean from this stunt? If he's really concerned about the "Executive, Legislative, and Judicial" threats to the American way of life, shouldn't he be taking an active political role (e.g. writing his representatives, galvanizing his community, etc)?
Sure, he'll get a lot of attention this way, which some will say may actually result in more of an impact than if he was on the front lines of the political process... And while I respect his RIGHT to refuse to meet with the President, I don't think he's getting a whole lot of bang for his ideological buck.
Really, who cares? The guy makes himself look silly to most. It probably damages his career. I'm sure Obama didn't lose any sleep over it.
@mje: Well yeah but who cares about anything?
@chron: yeah, pick yr battles is a pretty good policy all around.
...which is not to say I didn't care about your piece on this. I think what you wrote is dead on and I just don't see why it has become a huge controversy.
I agree with the "most patriots are assholes" thing. The two just seem to go together.
Also, you're right about nothing being more American than telling your leader to fuck off. I would never do what Thomas did but I understand why he did it.
If telling the president to fuck off is patriotic, does that mean burning the flag is too? They're both instances of exercising freedom of speech, right?
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