Sunday, September 25, 2011

Philadelphia Flyers' Wayne Simmonds has Banana Thrown at Him During Overtime Shootout

Earlier this week, an NHL exhibition game took place between the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings in London, Ontario.  You might think it's nothing new.  But if you read the title of this post this is what made it more than just an exhibition game.  The incident that happened has gotten some coverage (you can read the story here).  The people's comments on this story have strayed so far away from the actual story and it became a blame game of religion, countries, etc..

Basically what happened is Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings were in a shootout and someone threw a banana onto the ice when Wayne Simmonds was going to take his shot.  You might take it as odd.  But here is the thing, Simmonds is black.  The term "monkey" is racist towards blacks.  So you can see that throwing a banana is basically calling Simmonds a "monkey."

Obviously this was premeditated and they don't sell bananas at the arena.  So this person who did this intended to do this.  It's not been determined if this person was drunk or not, but people have been assuming this person was drinking. So this racist act is fueled by alcohol?  But seeing as this was premeditated, that would mean it wasn't fueled by alcohol.

Now this has nothing to do with it being religious based.  That's what an ignorant assclown would say to further degrade religion.  You don't have to be religious to be a racist.  Atheists can be racist too.  But some of these atheists are too ignorant to see that.  Also, they are blaming countries. Just because the game was held in Canada doesn't mean it was a Canadian.  Americans do come to Canada to watch sporting events.  So whether it was a Canadian or an American is irrelevant.

This could be considered a hate crime, but the person who did it was not caught and can't possibly be charged with anything.

The COO of the Comcast-Spectator Peter Lukko released a statement, but when he said "It appeared as though a fan threw an object onto the ice during the shootout. Unfortunately, we weren't able to identify the individual. We certainly don't condone such a foolish act (like this) as a player could potentially be seriously injured."  Well no shit Sherlock.  Besides stating the obvious, Lukko was avoiding the issue that it was a racist act.  Lukko is a dumbass for turning a blind eye.  He needs to call it what it is.

I agree with what Garry Bettman said in a press release, "We have millions of great fans who show tremendous respect for our players and for the game." Bettman said. "The obviously stupid and ignorant action by one individual is in no way representative of our fans or the people of London, Ontario."

This goes back to the blame game, you can't one place or another because what one person did.

But Simmonds was so professional about it.  He didn't let this bother him which I give him big props.

A question I asked is why did this happen to him.  He isn't the first black man to play in the NHL. Geroges Laraque came before him and is a black man.  But why was there this one incident towards Simmonds?  It's a question that will never be answered or at least not now.

Point blank this incident was in very bad taste.  Sadly, people are shocked that racism still happens in 2011.  I wish I could live in a bubble of ignorance.  But I don't because I don't want to be one of those people that don't want to acknowledge that stuff still exists.

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