Hasek and the Russians

[Quint]

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/nhl-great-hasek-demands-russians-openly-condemn-war-against-ukraine-or-be-banned-from-paris-olympics-1.1981843

He wants the NHL to buy out Russian players to ban them. He also demands the NHL to pay a significant amount of money for Ukraine's post-war renovation. That's insane. In addition, Hasek wants to force Russian Olympic athletes to condemn the Ukraine war. In exchange, them and their families would be offered asylum. He is visiting the European Parliament next week to pitch these and other ideas.

Sports should not being used to push political opinions but to be an escape from all of our terrible problems in life like politics, disease etc.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Quint

[Randall Flagg]

lol

[Mustache of God]

By virtue of being a goalie, yes, he is crazy.

"Sports should be an escape from all of our terrible problems" - tell that to some of the Ukrainian Olympians who have been killed defending their country from the invasion. 

I think it makes sense to ban Russian athletes from the Olympics due to 1. The war and 2. The history of repeated doping scandals. You'll never get them to condemn the war as those are state sanctioned athletes and doing so would put them and their families at serious risk.

[Eleven]

21 minutes ago, Quint said:

Hasek wants to force Russian Olympic athletes to condemn the Ukraine war.

Wimbledon is doing this right now.

Czechs don't like Russians.

10 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

You'll never get them to condemn the war

 

 

"Wimbledon, the iconic grass court tournament in southwest London, is now in the spotlight, having this year reversed a 2022 ban on Russian and Belarusian players provided they sign a waiver pledging they don’t support the Putin regime. "

 

https://www.politico.eu/article/wimbledons-russia-problem-vladimir-putin-karen-khachanov-anastasia-pavlyuchenkova-veronika-kudermetova/

Edited July 7, 2023 by Eleven

[Weave]

My emotional budget is too occupied by other things to raise any energy over what Hasek, tennis, the Olympic Committee, the NHL or anyone else is doing or not doing because Russia.

I just hope Ukraine comes out on top before their country is razed.

OK, I had a little budget.  Its gone now.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Weave

[K-9]

While I don’t agree with is stance on barring individual Russian athletes from competitions, I can’t blame Hasek at all for feeling the way he does about Russia. After all, his generation grew up under the yoke of Soviet oppression when Russia led other Warsaw Pact nations in the invasion of Hasek’s homeland in ‘68. The Czechs I’ve known have never forgotten or forgiven that Bloody Sunday.

Edited July 8, 2023 by K-9

[miles]

hasek was the reason i started following the sabres. my very first game i watched was an islanders vs sabres game. i was going to follow the islanders, until i saw hasek. after a short while, i started rooting for him instead of the islanders. i became a sabres fan ever since that game

 

 

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Quint said:

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/nhl-great-hasek-demands-russians-openly-condemn-war-against-ukraine-or-be-banned-from-paris-olympics-1.1981843

He wants the NHL to buy out Russian players to ban them. He also demands the NHL to pay a significant amount of money for Ukraine's post-war renovation. That's insane. In addition, Hasek wants to force Russian Olympic athletes to condemn the Ukraine war. In exchange, them and their families would be offered asylum. He is visiting the European Parliament next week to pitch these and other ideas.

Sports should not being used to push political opinions but to be an escape from all of our terrible problems in life like politics, disease etc.

[RangerDave]

1 hour ago, Quint said:

Sports should not being used to push political opinions but to be an escape from all of our terrible problems in life like politics, disease etc.

That's easy for someone to say who is not affected by the "terrible problems in life like politics, disease, etc."  If my family was being killed, tortured, or oppressed by another country, or if I was affected by a terrible dsease, I would do everything I could to get my message out.

Like you, I enjoy the escape from life's problems during a sporting event, movie, play, etc.  But I don't begrudge those who's lives have been seriously damaged by those problems and who speak out about it.  Now those who just whine about things.....?  Yeah, give it a rest.

[Berg]

I am support Hasek! Russia is a terrorist state!

[Buffalonill]

47 minutes ago, Berg said:

I am support Hasek! Russia is a terrorist state!

Yeah screw Some of the good people Over there .

Absolutely ridiculous

[triumph_communes]

Although extreme conditions, he is offering a fig leaf to those he looks to punish. If not Hasek pushing this, who would you listen to?

[miles]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

Yeah screw Some of the good people Over there .

Absolutely ridiculous

my old company used to outsource to russia for some of the programming work, and I was in charge of them. i really got to know a couple of them and they were amazing people. many would say how they hated the politics going on there. 

i know no politics on this site, so i will leave it at that

[Quint]

1 hour ago, triumph_communes said:

Although extreme conditions, he is offering a fig leaf to those he looks to punish. If not Hasek pushing this, who would you listen to?

Hasek knows goaltending. He's a genius at it. That's about it in my book. 

[Cheektorado]

I've been saying for years that the Russian hockey players should overthrow Putin!  What's he going to do?  Throw them out a window.

[SabresBillsFan]

4 hours ago, K-9 said:

While I don’t agree with is stance on barring individual Russian athletes from competitions, I can’t blame Hasek at all for feeling the way he does about Russia. After all, his generation grew up under the yoke of Soviet suppression when Russia led other Warsaw Pact nations in the invasion of Hasek’s homeland in ‘68. The Czechs I’ve known have never forgotten or forgiven that Bloody Sunday.

I work with a Czech guy and he’s the hardest worker I have ever worked with. He can’t stand Russians. He hates them with a passion. 

[SabresBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Cheektorado said:

I've been saying for years that the Russian hockey players should overthrow Putin!  What's he going to do?  Throw them out a window.

If that was the case Mexico and many other countries south of the US should overthrow their government since the cartels and criminals gangs are running those countries.

[SabresBillsFan]

2 hours ago, miles said:

my old company used to outsource to russia for some of the programming work, and I was in charge of them. i really got to know a couple of them and they were amazing people. many would say how they hated the politics going on there. 

i know no politics on this site, so i will leave it at that

That’s how I feel, I know some Russians here in Vegas and like almost all citizens they are being forced this *****. 

[PerreaultForever]

Any of you who are old enough will remember the old world tournaments (back when Canada didn't send any pros) and the Russians were by far the most talented team every year. Euro teams were all very non physical compared to North America and yet, if you watched the Czech Russian games suddenly there were massive hits, mostly Czechs on Russians. The animosity was off the charts and yes, it was a deep long standing hate from when the Russian tanks rolled in to the republic in 1968. Hasek was 3 years old then, but I'm sure it affected his family. It's not forgotten. 

[Night Train]

Sounds like a Punk group playing at the Mohawk. 

[Malazan]

21 hours ago, Quint said:

https://www.tsn.ca/nhl/nhl-great-hasek-demands-russians-openly-condemn-war-against-ukraine-or-be-banned-from-paris-olympics-1.1981843

He wants the NHL to buy out Russian players to ban them. He also demands the NHL to pay a significant amount of money for Ukraine's post-war renovation. That's insane. In addition, Hasek wants to force Russian Olympic athletes to condemn the Ukraine war. In exchange, them and their families would be offered asylum. He is visiting the European Parliament next week to pitch these and other ideas.

Sports should not being used to push political opinions but to be an escape from all of our terrible problems in life like politics, disease etc.

So Hasek can never do anything political because he used to play hockey professionally? 

[FrenchConnection44]

21 hours ago, K-9 said:

While I don’t agree with is stance on barring individual Russian athletes from competitions, I can’t blame Hasek at all for feeling the way he does about Russia. After all, his generation grew up under the yoke of Soviet oppression when Russia led other Warsaw Pact nations in the invasion of Hasek’s homeland in ‘68. The Czechs I’ve known have never forgotten or forgiven that Bloody Sunday.

This is spot on. 

I lived in the Czech Republic for two years from 1990-92 just after the collapse of the Eastern bloc (also traveled to Ukraine while there - while it was still under the Soviet Union. The ppl we met hated Russian oppression). Russia was horribly oppressive. Ruined the Czech country. It was like traveling back 60 years when I arrived and many people were psychologically ruined. One of my best friends there had parents born in the 1930s and he noted that 60 years of their life was ruined. It’s easy, living so far removed from such oppressive regimes, to think Hasek too extreme. But when you see remnants of it up front one becomes far more empathetic. Just look at how most of the eastern euros (Poland; Latvia; etc) see it. They know. 

While I am okay with some of these athletes participating, I also get why Hasek is so outspoken. He knows the evil.

At the same time, most of the Russian athletes have family living under a threat if they speak out so I understand why they would not. It’s just a terrible situation for all brought on through no fault of their own; but by a deranged tyrant. 

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Malazan said:

So Hasek can never do anything political because he used to play hockey professionally? 

This idea of “just shut up and dribble” is remarkably naive given the platform and audience prominent athletes have. Same goes for any famous people in other popular walks of life. If Hasek weren’t well known internationally, nobody would begrudge his right to expound on political matters. 

[That Aud Smell]

Hasek is a frickin’ mad man and I love him for it.

I hope he went to the EU hearings wearing little more than a silk bathrobe.

[Quint]

So does anyone have a new opinion on Kisakov, Poltapov, Neuchev, Novikov etc. etc? Should we not draft any more Russians? Should we give up on these guys and write it off as a mistake where at least one or two of them might work out?

Edited July 8, 2023 by Quint