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Eichel Controversial Teenage Tweet


WildCard

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I warn my kids about this stuff all the time... what you put out on the internet is there forever for the entire world to see... future employers, future girlfriends/spouse, your own children, etc... Doesn't even matter if you delete it, somebody has screen captured it somewhere ready to throw it back in your face.   

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29 minutes ago, josie said:

I mean, there's a fair bit of evidence that he at least used to be quite the party animal. And this tweet concerns him before now. Don't know what he's like now. Jack hasn't done anything to further that reputation in awhile. Which is great! He's young, fielding plenty of responsibility and temptations, he's handling the pressures pretty well, so kudos to him. I chock up this whole thread to criticizing those previous actions as a younger dude who apparently acted like an idiot from time to time. Because most people acted like an idiot at some point. Athletes as a whole definitely are known to party, partying often leading to questionable stuff. Maybe not quite like they used to (thinking of stories in Derek Sanderson's autobiography, holy crap 1970s), but it's naive to say they don't! That logical thread, flawed though it may be when applied to specific cases, is the same thread used by folk to defend the athletes when bad sh!t does come up. It's holding Eichel's feet a bit close to the coals to eviscerate him on this specific thing- and I think most people see that because he has been so well behaved. The whole thing's mostly a non issue, but check it out, we're all arguing because that's what we do here. 

 

Also,  I feel like there's a pretty wide gap between using slurs about someone's romantic and sexual leanings (something they can't really help) and calling a group of people who use said slurs and generally comport themselves in a raucous manner  which they can absolutely control idiots.

Or i missed the point and you're mad at dark. Also possible. 

I have a slow day at work, can you tell? 

I'm not mad at anyone haha. I just find going in directions like that (Jack being probably a stupid bigot because he's an athlete and if you're an athlete you're a meathead type of thing), especially when talking about a now-adult person's years during which any of us were admittedly some degree of awful/cringey/ignorant, counterproductive, and I think it sniffs of the very thing the broader conversation topic correctly views as horrible and unfortunate behavior that's hopefully becoming less prevalent as society moves forward.

Edited by Randall Flagg
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24 minutes ago, R_Dudley said:

Preach it brother, well said.

I have teenage kids one still in HS(Junior) and one just graduated last year my oldest boy... Home from work last year around the dinner table I said  to my oldest boy, something I had been saying for years. "How was you day Son."

He said " dad you just insulted me " you just assumed my gender.   

Things are changing faster than ever....  

I’d smack the kid (oops, that’s probably offensive too) and then respond “biologically, you are my son”. 

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2 hours ago, WildCard said:

People dragging through the weeds to find this tweet from a 14 year old Jack where he uses the word 'f-a-g'

Edit: fck this filter

https://www.outsports.com/2018/11/8/18038718/buffalo-sabres-jack-eichel-gay-tweet

When will people learn that the need to shut the hell up.  Anything put out there is out there forever and it will come back to bight you in the ass.

Teenagers, old farts, no matter they all do it.  He should know, at 14, the differnece between right and wrong.

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1 minute ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

When will people learn that the need to shut the hell up.  Anything put out there is out there forever and it will come back to bight you in the ass.

Teenagers, old farts, no matter they all do it.  He should know, at 14, the differnece between right and wrong.

You never said or did anything regretful at 14?

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2 hours ago, darksabre said:

He's from Massachusetts. Using that word is genetic. 

I'm a native Massachusetts guy. Lived in New York for now over fifty years. Advise we shouldn't throw stones. Agree this is not good time spent as a journalist (using term loosely).

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1 hour ago, R_Dudley said:

Preach it brother, well said.

I have teenage kids one still in HS(Junior) and one just graduated last year my oldest boy... Home from work last year around the dinner table I said  to my oldest boy, something I had been saying for years. "How was you day Son."

He said " dad you just insulted me " you just assumed my gender.   

Things are changing faster than ever....  

The thing with kids is that they use the words because their friends use the words (or they are taught from their parents).  Having coached kids (and my son is 14) I have heard all kinds of things said.  Some of those things would get them completely destroyed were they 22 and saying it.

The difference?  They are 14 and while they are aware of the terms and the situations in many cases they are ignorant of understanding it at the depth it requires.  

I hear "triggered" all the time, over everything.  It's a joke.

Had a minority player on my team yell out that because he wasn't getting a pass (for about 3 seconds in a drill) that everyone was being racist (including the 2 other minorities in that drill).  

I've heard *****, gay, many other things.

The key isn't that they said them.  Kids are going to say things.  The key is what you do about it.  In most cases I simply indicate that that language is not acceptable and whether they think it's a joke or not there are people who will find it offensive and they'll understand more about it as they grow up.  For now, it's not allowed.  The racist claim we had a chat with his mother and it never happened again.  She totally dismissed it as well as "kids being kids".

Now most of the kids I coach are just straight out swearing.  All you can do is shrug your shoulders because while they use the derogatory terms with no intended insult behind them it's still better that they don't use them, so you begin to accept the expletives.... I try to encourage alternate words though.

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3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Words can be co-opted, of course. "Gay" at some point came to mean "stupid." Atrocious enough, and also a nonsensical metaphor as well as a gratuitous but not a literal slur against someone's identity.

ftfy

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Fair enough, and I agree. I think that's why I slipped the word "literal" in there. I don't think a 13-year-old calling her homework "gay" is intending to slur someone's sexual identity.

nor did my wife's super charming, even courtly, grandmother intend to demean people with african ancestry when she referred to brazil nuts as "ni**er toes."

truly! she didn't. she would use that phrase with a clear mind and a pure heart. i first heard it at thanksgiving. "pass me a few of those ni**er toes and the nut cracker, wouldya? oh, they're just delicious."

Edited by That Aud Smell
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2 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

ftfy

nor did my wife's super charming, even courtly, grandmother intend to demean people with african ancestry when she referred to brazil nuts as "ni**er toes."

truly! she didn't. she would use that phrase with a clear mind and a pure heart. i first heard it at thanksgiving. "pass me a few of those ni**er toes and the nut cracker, wouldya? oh, they're just delicious."

 

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57 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

ftfy

nor did my wife's super charming, even courtly, grandmother intend to demean people with african ancestry when she referred to brazil nuts as "ni**er toes."

truly! she didn't. she would use that phrase with a clear mind and a pure heart. i first heard it at thanksgiving. "pass me a few of those ni**er toes and the nut cracker, wouldya? oh, they're just delicious."

Nut cracker too? So she didn't intend to demean men and white people as well?

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I wont repeat all the slang my mostly before he turned 14 year old son has had to be corrected with losing xbox days for using terms and had them explained that under no circumstances was he to use them.  Its a process of teaching. TG the internet or XBox wasnt around when I was young.

PS what 14 year old boy isnt a knucklehead

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A few things to chew on:

Twitter/social media were pretty young when Jack wrote that tweet. People are wiser today, but I'd guess Jack felt less like he was publishing something for the world to read and more like he was sending a private message to someone. When did the ubiquitous warnings to young people start about how their grandkids were going to read such and such?

It's likely far, far more people were hurt by the tweet today than were hurt by it then. How does Out Sports justify this? It seems like a transparent attempt to shame Eichel into joining a social cause. I wonder what was discovered first, the tweet or the fact that he hadn't tweeted anything in support of gay athletes? I am willing to bet Eichel was identified as a prominent athlete who wasn't saying the right things, then the search was on to find something to punish him with. It's well on the way to outing a professional athlete. Do the ends justify the means here?

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8 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

It's a subject worthy of conversation. And it's a banner idea to eliminate the use of hurtful, hateful slurs.

As far as Eichel goes, though, I see it pretty much as a non-story.

It also amazes me that wealthy athletes don't all have PR flacks who sanitize their social media histories.

They shouldn’t need PR people, their agents should now be taking care of this stuff.

I think Eichel should issue a simple apology and explain briefly why this was just a poor joke from a young, stupid kid and we all move on.

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