Monday, January 23, 2012

Hey Tim Thomas, Ayn Rand called, she thinks you're an asshole

When I first heard about Tim Thomas' decision to skip the Boston Bruins team visit to the Obama White House, I thought the same thing that every other self-styled-Canadian-twitterverse-dwelling- hockey pundit did.

"Tim Thomas," I thought, "while I enjoy your clutch playoff goaltending brilliance, you're clearly an asshole."

But no sooner had popular opinion settled on the idea of Thomas as Tea Party douchebag, than did a few reputable hockey and sports writers start criticising the general public for giving creedence to such ideas.
Yahoo Sports' Greg "Puck Daddy" Wyshynski was first out of the gate with this article. In it he celerbrates Thomas for seizing the chance to make a political statement. He then goes on to chastize his readers; accusing them of being hypocrites in supporting Sean Avery's stance on Gay marriage, while criticizing Thomas' politics. His article was soon applauded by Grantland's Jonah Keri, who tried to further push the defence of Thomas' actions into freedom of expression territory.


I'm a bit of a fan of Wyshynski's stuff, I'm a lot of a fan of Keri's. Believe me when I say it's hard to accuse them both of being wrong, but they are.

First of all, what Avery did and what Thomas did are two different things. Avery stood up for a  marginalized group, arguably a group much more polarizing than a political party: there are Republicans AND Democrats who hate gay people. Yes, both Avery and Thomas' actions are detrimental to their overall team dynamics, but openly standing up is MUCH different than opting out of a press conference. Tim Thomas is a coward, hiding behind a facebook statement and a White House no-show.

And for Keri to claim that Tim Thomas was simply showing "no deference" to the incumbent government is glossing over the truth.

Tim Thomas is a known Tea Party supporter. Campaign contribution documents (found at opensecrets.org) show that in 2010 he donated to FreedomWorks, a right wing group known for it's astroturfing tactics and it's orchestrated "grass roots" movements aimed at limiting the power of government.


Sounds like someone's Facebook statement. Tim Thomas I'm looking at you.

I'm calling you out. 

Thomas's actions aren't excusable. They aren't defendable. They're the moves of a coward, hiding behind a veil of political neutrality, pretending to want what's best for the people, much like organizations he supports. 

He's an asshole, end of story.

17 comments:

  1. After all the hard work that Bettman and his game fixin staff did for Timmy and NBC...makes that Tainted 2011 Stanley Cup even more worthless then it already is.

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    1. I want to believe this more than anything, but lets face it: Bettman didn't fix 2011 Stanley Cup, Roberto Luongo did.

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  2. Regardless of his political or antipolitical affiliation - Tim Thomas executed his right of free speech. Your article is heavily biased - attempting to discredit his opinion because of his affiliations. I'm a Canadian, and certainly not a Bruins fan, and I like Tim Thomas more now. You're hypocritcal at best - there are far more substantial arguements to be made and you skipped them all. Your or moron, end of story.

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    1. You're TT's PR rep working overtime to save face. Sorry, too late...

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    2. Anonymous #1: what, pray tell, are the far more substantial arguments to be made? as well i don't see how i'm being hypocritical, i've never turned down a chance to meet ANY head of state based on my far right wing political leanings.

      Anonymous #2: now, see Anonymous #1, this is a good example of hypocrisy. Anonymous #2 here accuses me of "making a bunch of noise like (I'm) really important or something" before proceeding to make a bunch of noise like they're really important or something. Also, please re-read my article. Refusing to visit the White House and hiding behind a facebook statement doesn't take guts. If Thomas took advantage of his trip to the White House and brought up his concerns, in person, with the President... well that would be a gutsy move. Otherwise he's still a coward in my books.

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  3. The President is the democratically elected head of our great nation representing all Americans. It seems not only dim witted but downright uncivil that Mr. Thomas is unable to attend and graciously receive congratulations for winning a sporting championship, a long standing tradition at the White House.

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  4. I thought Bush was self-deluding and hypocritical, and his administration near criminal. But if I'd been on a championship team invited to Bush's White House, I would have shown proper respect for the president. I wasn't sure if I liked Thomas before, but now I'm sure I don't.

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  5. Now now, go easy on him. It's obvious he worked really hard on crafting that comment. I'm really impressed that he was able to string words together into something kind of resembling a paragraph.

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  6. It was all that Tim Thomas' fault, everyone knows that. If he had held the ball, laces out, like he was supposed to, Ray would never have missed that kick. Tim Thomas should die of gonorrhea and rot in hell. Laces out Dan....er I mean Tim!!

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  7. Coward you say Mr Cash?

    I say Courage.

    Our votes cancel each other out. But Flame away if you must.

    Now back to hockey.

    Chris {a fan of freedom}

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    1. Hey now, I only flame those who deserve it. Although I disagree with your statement, I agree with your civility and ability to spell.
      Now if you excuse me, I've got to get back to trying to get this politics out of my sports.

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  8. You may exercise your freedom of speech but that does not exempt you from being criticized for them, to expect criticism to cease because you agree with Tim Thomas basically undermines the first amendment. I believe his actions were disrespectful to his team -they were being recognized.The White House visit is not about the President, it's about the team's accomplishments being recognized by their country, which is represented by the President. I agree Tim Thomas could have expressed his concerns to the President directly ,that would take courage and conviction. It's an opportunity few of us get, but he chose to hide behind the first amendment .He did not stand up for his opinions, therefore his actions lack substance and he has basically made a weak stand against the vague entity he refers to as the government. What a waste of his first amendment right.

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    1. First off to Mr Cash:

      I thank you for acknowledging my civility...but you are a Hypocrite due to your use of "asshole" and other guttural words.

      To 3:21 PM: TT would not be allowed to have a private audience with BHO. This was only a glorified photo op with BHO and a team tour of the WH. There was no special access beyond that.

      Lastly to all: Bruins upper management knew MONTHS in advance of his distaste....so I take this as a tempest in a teapot.

      Chris

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    2. "And with that," he said with a wistful smile, "the trolls have been fed."

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  9. Cashie: Wow. Even bigger, badder words. Very impressive.

    You must be a disgruntled Vancouver fan. Now put the matches down and go play nicely outside...

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  10. 10:16 - Is there such thing as a non-disgruntled Van fan?

    4:35 - Your mastery of the rarely seen "diminishing ellipsis" is intimidating

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  11. Thanks for reminding me how awesome Tim Thomas is!

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