Eichel Controversial Teenage Tweet

[Randall Flagg]

The stupid idiot Canadiens reminded me - Shaw is the guy that said that word on the ice recently, right? 

[matter2003]

Who hasnt used the term ***** at some point in their life? My God these people offended by everything just need to go away.

[PASabreFan]

45 minutes ago, Hoss said:

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.

Frankly I hope he says nothing, or... go pound sand, Out Sports.

[That Aud Smell]

7 hours ago, matter2003 said:

Who hasnt used the term ***** at some point in their life? My God these people offended by everything just need to go away.

Bad take.

6 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Frankly I hope he says nothing, or... go pound sand, Out Sports.

Worse one.

[shrader]

I guarantee that there are people out there who have an entire database where they have saved any questionable social media comments that famous people have made, just waiting for the right moment to release one of these "stories".  I find that infinitely more troubling than someone saying something stupid when they were a teenager.

[WildCard]

Just now, shrader said:

I guarantee that there are people out there who have an entire database where they have saved any questionable social media comments that famous people have made, just waiting for the right moment to release one of these "stories".  I find that infinitely more troubling than someone saying something stupid when they were a teenager.

Agreed

[PASabreFan]

4 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Bad take.

Worse one.

Did you read the article (editorial)?

[Eleven]

17 hours ago, WildCard said:

 

I learned a couple of new ones there.

[That Aud Smell]

37 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Did you read the article (editorial)?

I read it closely for the first several paragraphs. Then glossed it. My sense is that Out Sports wants to use this as an opportunity to improve the lives and experiences of LGBT athletes.

What did you find objectionable about it such that you think Eichel should tell them to go pound sand?

[SwampD]

So, Out Sports finds a bunch of old tweets from kids, who they themselves say weren't their fault, and then shame them into supporting their cause.

K

[pi2000]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

So, Out Sports finds a bunch of old tweets from kids, who they themselves say weren't their fault, and then shame them into supporting their cause.

K

What a bunch of fa...

[WildCard]

28 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

I read it closely for the first several paragraphs. Then glossed it. My sense is that Out Sports wants to use this as an opportunity to improve the lives and experiences of LGBT athletes.

What did you find objectionable about it such that you think Eichel should tell them to go pound sand?

Out Sports wants what every website wants: clicks

[Randall Flagg]

29 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

I read it closely for the first several paragraphs. Then glossed it. My sense is that Out Sports wants to use this as an opportunity to improve the lives and experiences of LGBT athletes.

What did you find objectionable about it such that you think Eichel should tell them to go pound sand?

I'm sure Jack was about the 40th athlete whose twitter pages they nobly sifted through back to age 10 that day before they found something. 

I don't see how doing that makes the lives and experiences of LGBT athletes better. 

Generating positive discussion when Andrew Shaw says what he said on the ice? Sure. But doing what they did looks petty and dumb to a lot of people who are 1000% on board the idea of making the lives of LGBT people in this country better, much less people who they'd want to "convert" to feeling that way - I can't imagine something more unproductive towards that goal. 

[That Aud Smell]

22 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Out Sports wants what every website wants: clicks

Fair enough. I'd actually thought they were some sort of nonprofit venture -- not a silo of SB Nation. Even so - it's a cause nobler than most sites looking for clicks.

17 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I'm sure Jack was about the 40th athlete whose twitter pages they nobly sifted through back to age 10 that day before they found something. 

I don't see how doing that makes the lives and experiences of LGBT athletes better. 

Generating positive discussion when Andrew Shaw says what he said on the ice? Sure. But doing what they did looks petty and dumb to a lot of people who are 1000% on board the idea of making the lives of LGBT people in this country better, much less people who they'd want to "convert" to feeling that way - I can't imagine something more unproductive towards that goal. 

I can see your point. I was unaware that this was a pattern in which they've engaged. It's too bad if they're going about a laudable objective in a bad way.

Even at that, though, I thought they were pretty careful about saying it wasn't about Eichel, then or now. That it was about the culture in which those kinds of terms are still commonplace, which seemed fair to me.

[dudacek]

52 minutes ago, SwampD said:

So, Out Sports finds a bunch of old tweets from kids, who they themselves say weren't their fault, and then shame them into supporting their cause.

K

The goal was laudable and the article’s message worth reading and worth sending.

The method was at best poorly calculated and at worst shameful.

[Randall Flagg]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The goal was laudable and the article’s message worth reading and worth sending.

 The method was at best poorly calculated and at worst shameful.

That's where I'm at. I'm all about practicality in matters like this, and the people that need to hear the message most are going to be more turned off by going this route than others, whatever they may be. 

[SwampD]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

The goal was laudable and the article’s message worth reading and worth sending.

The method was at best poorly calculated and at worst shameful.

Absolutely.

On a more humorous note (I hope).

41 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Out Sports wants what every website wants: clicks

My crappy monitor blurred those first two letters into one. I thought, "eh, seems appropriate."

[shrader]

21 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Fair enough. I'd actually thought they were some sort of nonprofit venture -- not a silo of SB Nation. Even so - it's a cause nobler than most sites looking for clicks.

I can see your point. I was unaware that this was a pattern in which they've engaged. It's too bad if they're going about a laudable objective in a bad way.

Even at that, though, I thought they were pretty careful about saying it wasn't about Eichel, then or now. That it was about the culture in which those kinds of terms are still commonplace, which seemed fair to me.

Is it common place though?  This specific tweet only suggests that it may have been common place back in 2011.  I'm not really sure what I would consider as the cutoff point for something like this.

[That Aud Smell]

15 minutes ago, shrader said:

Is it common place though?  This specific tweet only suggests that it may have been common place back in 2011.  I'm not really sure what I would consider as the cutoff point for something like this.

In my experience, the specific term at issue is still pretty commonplace, yes. I have coached middle school rec teams since 2012 — the term has continued to crop up in various settings. 

[matter2003]

19 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Bad take.

Worse one.

Nah,  if you are that offended go barricade yourself in the house and don't come out. The world is a cruel place and it doesn't care about your feelings.  Deal with it cupcake.

Edited November 10, 2018 by matter2003

[hockeyhound]

Wow, I'm a complete azz at times and I make really stupid comments that I wish I could take back but I can't but, this attack on Jack Eichel is on a level of self righteousness that I don't understand. The idea that we're going to start policing and make public words spoken or written by someone when they were 14 yrs old and hold them accountable 8 to 10 years later is ridiculous. 

I don't know sh*t about hockey but enjoy talking about the sport I love within a community of hockey fans. Can I come off judgemental and asinine absolutely. Have I said things that hurt people, yes. I have said and done things that I'm not proud of, absolutely, and when I look back at those times I realize I have not always treated others the way I wanted to be treated in word or deed and it grieves me to think that I hurt someone; however, I've come to realize that as human beings we have the ability to do and say some sh*tty things and its my job to recognize when I've crossed a line, be honest with myself, others, and learn from those mistakes.

The thing that concerns me is this almost militant policing of someone's every word and action as a result of the technology available to everyone today. It's a scary thought that a persons career could be totally destroyed because someone is on a mission to rid the world of people that say things they don't like.

Over the last six months I have witnessed those that have taken it upon themselves to define those that are racist, homophobic, misogynistic, etc, etc, etc, and demand their lives be destroyed only to find out that the whole time they were straining at a gnat they were swallowing a camel.

I'm sorry if I've ever hurt someone or offended anyone in this community and that is from my heart; however, God help us when we cannot forgive people or feel the need to destroy other peoples lives based on their interpretation of something someone has said or done before going to that person and giving them a chance to explain.

One thing I've learned is that when you type something and you send it the interpretation of your mood, intentions, etc are up to those who read your words. People can interpret what you said in ways that you never thought possible, and sometimes there is no convincing them otherwise.

The person who wrote that article said, " Despite the team’s reticence to respond to our requests for comment, no doubt Eichel will now release a statement about how this doesn’t reflect who he is today. The Sabres will in turn say they don’t condone the use of slurs, a couple non-profit organizations will thank them for their statements, and everyone will act like it never happened. "

He/she has already determined the outcome. Wow.

He who is without sin cast the first stone.

Let's Go Buffalo!

 

 

 

[Weave]

Didn't see that article as an attack on Eichel at all.  To me, it read as an example of a culture that is in need of changing, nothing more.   It even said so right in the article. 

Quote

“I don’t begrudge any of these players [who tweet gay slurs as youth], as I believe that they are products of a culture that uses homophobic language constantly,”

It's pretty clear to me that what the article is trying to do is get more high profile athletes like Eichel to publicly try to change the culture of boys using that kind of language.  Again, it says that very thing right in the article.  You don't even have to infer it.

There is irony in being so sensitive that your first reaction is to express how overly sensitive you think this article was.

Edited November 10, 2018 by Weave

[That Aud Smell]

6 hours ago, matter2003 said:

Nah,  if you are that offended go barricade yourself in the house and don't come out. The world is a cruel place and it doesn't care about your feelings.  Deal with it cupcake.

The universe is a cruel place because it is arbitrary. Like, as in how terrible accidents and diagnoses befall people we love.

The universe needn’t be a cruel place because people — or, as here, cultures — are bigoted. That’s something that can and should change.

So let’s get to work, cupcake.

[ubkev]

Irony. This thread is dripping with it.

[PASabreFan]

2 hours ago, hockeyhound said:

The person who wrote that article said, " Despite the team’s reticence to respond to our requests for comment, no doubt Eichel will now release a statement about how this doesn’t reflect who he is today. The Sabres will in turn say they don’t condone the use of slurs, a couple non-profit organizations will thank them for their statements, and everyone will act like it never happened. "

He/she has already determined the outcome. Wow.

Even that tepid response didn't happen.