MattPie

Big city? *Maybe* (and that's if you count Buffalo as a big city). I can assure you there are communities where the people are far less grumpy than Buffalo. The anger expressed through driving in Erie County alone is enough to call this BS.

It's pretty established that once one person does something like speak up, others will feel empowered to speak up since don't feel like they're alone.

Well, I haven't been tracking the story that closely; there was phone rifling and presumed that he was ogling people in the photos? I don't know how substantiated that last bit is. In any case, "unlock your phone and give it to me" is bad enough.

Initially this seemed kinda low-rent, and something that'd happen in Buffalo vs. the more glamorous cities. I found this from last year and it's a mixed bag. Some much bigger names in there, as well as others that are in the same neighborhood. Several medical-related sponsors, wonder if that's targeted to hockey fans being older or more likely to get hurt, lol. https://www.sportspromedia.com/broadcast-ott/media-rights/nhl-2022-23-season-guide-teams-sponsors-tv-rights-social-media/?zephr_sso_ott=mEqPlL

I kinda forgot about that whole "spurning Buffalo" thing until this thread, and that after (I think) I posted. Babcock is a dinosaur (and apparently a pervert) and it's not about Buffalo. Columbus wouldn't have fired him because he spurned Buffalo. *Maybe* it got posted here because "look at the jerk-guy that we don't like being a jerk-guy", but I'm betting there are fan boards all around the NHL talking about this.

GDT well, maybe Joe will get a regular spot doing AHL GDTs, with a look for a few games in the NHL.

Meh, on first read "share a picture from your phone" seems like a pretty normal team-building thing. I wouldn't blink if it was a corporate setting. Yeah, so far this seems reasonable. It's common in my corporate setting to share things (if you want) to build a relationship. It can go overboard if "forced", but I've yet to see that. On our "team" page at work, we were asked to put a sentence about your hobby or whatnot after your name for the people interacting with us. You'd be surprised how many Buffalo ex-pats turn up that way, lol. There's also a trend in management that when you start with a new team you have a slide with a collage of your "outside work" stuff. It's kinda manufactured but mostly harmless. It's not really different than having a picture of your family at your desk or in your wallet. Now all that said, taking someones phone and rifling through it? And the person is in a subordinate position where you hold their career in their hands? Creep.

As the other have pointed out, there doesn't need to be hard evidence of the statement, since that's not actually what the lawsuit is about. The lawsuit (as I understand it) is that John Trotter heard from a colleague that someone said that, reported it through the NFL's process, it wasn't really followed up on, and then Trotter was sent packing. This is classic whistle-blower stuff as it's laid out. It's kinda slimy that the complaint mentions an owner by name, but I'd think that'd come out in the evidence since presumably the NFL has records of the investigation. Unless there wasn't one, and that's the point. I'd hope that Trotter "kept the receipts" and has the evidence on what he directly experienced since that's the actual question. As a side note, I think some people wonder why the original person isn't making the complaint or named. Where I work, people are encouraged to report things even if they only witnessed or were told of the issue and not directly involved. There's a lot of reasons someone would be afraid to report something, such as (oh, I dunno) losing their job or getting blackballed in the industry despite "protections". So I don't find that part odd. I'm reasonably senior and established where I work, so I could absolutely imagine a situation where one of the junior people I work with would be wary of being branded as a troublemaker where I could report and not have it be a career-destroying move (even if I got forced out of this job).

I don't think the bold is fair if you're implying "well, no one else has reported it so it's not true". As Trotter is finding out, you don't embarrass the league and expect to continue working with it. Entirely likely anyone who reported something like this would quickly find closed doors and be looking for a new career outside football and probably sports media. Careful, you're wandering close to "it's okay, they do it too". 🙂 (to be clear, I absolutely don't think you're saying that)

Fair, and we all need to slow down. I will say there aren't too many contexts where saying, "If you don't like it, go back to XXXX" is a good look. Disclaimer: I've been known to say, "Go back Canada ya hosers; Leafs suck eh" to Canadian geese. And no, I'm not OSP.

He wouldn't be the first dude to be into Asian women while still being racist in the more traditional American way. But, I digress. I know nothing about the specifics of this case. I hope he didn't say it. I'd even be a bit surprised if he did. But it's a possibility that we'll just have to wait and see.

I can certainly imagine him thinking it, growing up where he did during the decades he did. I too can't imagine he'd say it out loud. That being said, the last decade of the internet and politics should be all anyone needs to prove that purportedly "smart" people think and say some really ***** things.

No one is going to be surprised if the Sabres are really good this year. That was the magic with 2005-06 to me.

I think it can go too far, but I totally get what you're saying. If it becomes too boutique, the money starts to dry up and some of the nice things go away, like high-quality broadcast/streaming coverage of games. If the dollars aren't there cuts have to be made.