When an individual proudly displays the Confederate Flag during his act on stage, it is not an act. When an individual defames the LGBTQ community by wondering, “Why these days is everything so gay? Gay rights, transgender this and that,” it is not about politics, it is about common decency.
When the NHL invites the person known as Kid Rock to perform at next Sunday’s All-Star Game in Tampa, it is not about entertainment, it is offensive.
Further, it is mystifying why this league, whose embrace of the You Can Play program and creation of its Hockey Is for Everyone initiative puts it at the professional sports vanguard on gender issues, would damage its reputation by inviting this barely relevant person to share the spotlight with its greatest athletes.
We’ve all seen much worse than Andrew Cogliano’s late hit to the head of Adrian Kempe go without suspension by the Dept. of Player Safety. Just the other night, in fact, when previous offender Dustin Brown crushed Justin Schultz — stumbling, helpless and on his knees — into the wall from behind and escaped with merely a $10,000 fine. There has always been an arbitrary nature to supplemental discipline. That is the nature of the beast.
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But the suggestion that the league should have turned a blind eye on this one in order to protect the admirable Anaheim winger’s streak of 830 consecutive games played — fourth-longest in NHL history behind Doug Jarvis’ 964, Garry Unger’s 914 and Steve Larmer’s 884 — is nonsensical. That would be tantamount to the league going easy on a player because of the potential impact of his absence in a playoff race. Oh wait, never mind.
Tie Domi went on Twitter to protest the decision. Of course he did. Because this is the same fellow who didn’t think he merited a suspension for his vicious, drive-by, elbow-headshot that concussed Scott Niedermayer in Game 4 of the Maple Leafs-Devils 2001 second-round playoff series.
There was something distinctive about the way the Maple Leafs strutted their skill a year ago, daring opponents to catch and stop Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner and their gifted teammates if they could. The young swashbucklers took their talents to Game 7 of the first round against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Caps.
You wanted to see the Maple Leafs. More than that, you wanted every team around the league to be the Maple Leafs. Because that was entertainment.
But just as Dean Smith was the only coach who could stop Michael Jordan while together at UNC, Mike Babcock became the coach to put an end to what he obviously perceived as the foolishness in Toronto, making certain to pound his square pegs into the round holes of the homogenous NHL.
There is no arguing against Babcock’s résumé that features a Stanley Cup victory, a pair of Olympic gold medals and a World Cup title — though his tenure in Detroit ended with just a single playoff round victory his final four seasons — but the Maple Leafs, though decent enough this season, have turned into just another team.
Which would appear to make it more conceivable that a party such as the Rangers might be able to pry Nylander away as part of a blockbuster that would send a defenseman as stout as Ryan McDonagh the other way.
Yes, it is true, Alain Vigneault knew Kevin Shattenkirk had been playing all season on essentially one leg when the Rangers’ coach criticized the defenseman in response to questions about No. 22’s ongoing issues.
But I’m not about to lay the hammer on Vigneault for that when responding candidly would have revealed confidential information about the player — who, by the way, was critical of himself in analyzing his game and the transition to his hometown team without using the crutch he’s probably going to need after Monday’s surgery to repair a torn meniscus.
The Wild always seem to be just a little less than expected, aren’t they? It is worth noting Minnesota has only two playoff round victories in the Zach Parise-Ryan Sutter Era that began in 2012-13 and has six more seasons to run on the homeboys’ twin 13-year, $98 million contracts.
And not that I’m pushing McDonagh out the door, but Minnesota’s Mr. Hockey of 2007 as the state’s best high school senior might be a welcome addition to a squad with quality youth that could go the other way.
Don’t get me wrong, Josh Bailey is deserving of his All-Star honor, but it is a crying shame that the NHL was not able to find a slot in the three-on-three extravaganza for the electrifying Mat Barzal.
Zdeno Chara’s season at age 40 (41 in a couple of months) for the emerging Bruins simply serves as just another reminder that No. 33 is the most underrated defenseman of the NHL’s modern era.
And if Pierre Pilote’s omission from the NHL’s Greatest 100 is impossible to process, so is Big Z’s.
Another one of the NHL’s most colorful characters will step off at the end of the season, when fist-pumping Rene Rancourt drops the mic he’s used to belt out the Anthem in Boston for more than 40 years.
Imagine if you can the run of playoff series in the ’70s between the Bruins and Canadiens with Rancourt at the Boston Garden and the unparalleled Roget Doucet at the Montreal Forum matching vocal chords.
You probably can’t. But you don’t have to imagine. You can check out Doucet’s O Canada on YouTube and thank me later.
This just in: Bud Selig says the divisional winner of the All-Star Game should get home ice advantage in the conference finals.
Finally, he walked among the giants of our industry. And when you saw him, you said, “There goes Red Fisher, the best there ever was in this game.”
RIP, Rouge.