that... could have been better
This hockey stuff is more trouble than it's worth.
I went to Kingston yesterday to wish my sister a happy birthday and stuff. Before that, we went to see her final game of the regular season. My parents were pretty anxious since she hadn't been scoring too many goals lately and her place in the standings was being challenged.
I guess the York Yeowomen (one of the stupidest names I ever heard; thank the gods that the practice of giving women's teams cutesy variants on the "official" school team name is coming to an end) were aware of her standing as well. From the start of the game they always had one or two players on top of her. She couldn't move. (Fortunately, with the defense distracted by my sister, they lost a couple of early goals by other players. There's some lesson in there about large numbers of eggs apportioned into scarce baskets). Obviously she was getting a teensy bit frustrated. It didn't help that the Yeowomen were taking advantage of the fact that the referees weren't calling anything for most of the first period.
As an aside, anybody who says that women's hockey is more of a "skills game" and isn't nearly as violent as the mens' obviously hasn't watched a women's hockey game. Just because they (sometimes) call penalties for "body contact" doesn't mean that there isn't body contact. Those girls are pretty brutal.
Near the end of the first period, a fight nearly broke out in front of the Yeowomen's net. Harsh words were exchanged and my sister felt moved to shove one of the opposing players from behind after the whistle. That got her her first penalty.
She got another penalty later, 'though I didn't see why. Queen's was scoring well, even though she wasn't. York had only scored two goals—both while she was in the penalty box. Even though it wasn't helping much, the Yeowomen kept up the dirty pool. My parents were getting tense and frustrated. They know my sister's a bit volatile and that she fancies herself something of an enforcer. Towards the end of the third period, she was sent on again and my mother said something like "He should really keep her on the bench. She's getting out of control."
The whistle was blown and a penalty was called on York. Things were a bit confused then. My sister yelled out to another player, I found out later, "Why don't you go back to York and learn to read!" I can only assume that this comment was in reference to the team's name, as it's a rather silly thing to say otherwise, hockey and literacy being largely unrelated. The game stopped. My sister was arguing with the ref as she was being escorted off the ice. The coaches were arguing. It turns out that the referee interpreted my sister's weak taunt to be a racial slur. The player in question was native, apparently, although how anyone (besides the referee, obviously) would have noticed that eludes me. She was given a gross misconduct penalty and sent out of the game.
Queens won the game 6-2. I'd pretty much lost interest, though.
She was crying when she got in the car. Calling her a racist is tantamount to punching her in the stomach. I was a bit relieved at the injustice of it all. It meant that my mother was trying her hardest to make her feel better, rather than yelling at her for blowing her chance at making MVP or the All Star team. I kept my mouth shut and did what I could to look sympathetic.
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tinkerer
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Bad weekend for hockey, I'd say. My daughter was robbed of her own victory dance this morning by a referee who called a goal in the last 30 seconds of our game... a goal that couldn't possibly have been scored! Even the team who was credited the goal thought he was nuts, since they had a clear view of the shot and the save, and knew that what the ref said was a physical impossibility (he said that the puck had gone into the net, hit the back center post, and bounced out. But, since the shot came from just inside the right dot, how did it hit the center post and ricochet back to exactly that same dot? Uh, maybe because it actually hit the side post and my daughter's leg pad, which is why a "thump-clang" was clearly audible? Duh...) So the stupid ref turned a beautiful save into a goal-against, and my poor kid was virtually in tears when the final buzzer sounded. We won 6-2 (oh, whatever, 6-3 HA!), but still...
And yah, squirrel--girls in hockey got, hm, spirit. heh. Mine was most penalized on her team and known as the "terminator" last year... ;>
Submitted 2003-02-16 16:00:54
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Bleep! Bleep! Explative! Bleep!
While trying to fall asleep I was mulling over this situation and in the process have become extremely angry over the situation. This is a perfect example of how far the f*@%ing "Thought Police" have infiltrated culture in both the U.S. and obviously Canada also. Who is this f*@%ing referee to asign a meaning to a statement like that? I extremely believe that racial slurs, actually racism in any forms, need to be abolished, but so to does this policing of one's thoughts and the general ease that some have for labeling something as racist, especially when there is a large amount of ambiguity. What right does anybody have to automatically jump to such conclusions?
I don't know what the laws are in Canada when it comes to slander, but if they're similar to U.S. laws, I would have my family contact the league, especially the branch that deals with the referees and put the squeeze on for a full apology, in writing. What the ref. did was absolute crap and they should be held accountable for their actions especially considering the possible harm that that does to your sister's reputation.
Submitted 2003-02-16 22:18:52
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To take it to another step, if somebody did say that the referee had the right to make that assumption, then would it then be acceptable to label the referee's actions as racist too? After all, wouldn't penalizing an insult insinuate that the other player was inferior or unable in some way to take the insult?
I think that that is one of the things that makes me so angry when thinking about those kind of people. On one hand they claim superior knowledge about what one person's motive is and on the other hand they're condescending to the other person by insinuating that they know what is best.
(Hmm, I just noticed a nifty little transit, I better go hide for awhile.)
Submitted 2003-02-16 22:54:57
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flying squirrel
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As I kind of hint at, yes, I firmly believe that the referees in this situation are complete idiots. They created the problem. If they had done their job and enforced the rules of the game from the start, tensions wouldn't have boiled over and we would have had a happier birthday dinner. And, as my sister pointed out, if he was able to infer racism from that comment alone, he's surely the one who has a problem.
I don't think it's going to stand up but, from my experience, sports is a bizarre land of its own. My parents are largely leaving it up to the coach to appeal (that's his job, after all), but there was talk of hiring a lawyer if this wasn't resolved quickly. Yes, it is slander. My mom doesn't really need the stress involved in that kind of nonsense, though. Especially over a stupid game.
But I'm letting my own biases intrude on things... :P
Submitted 2003-02-17 03:52:02
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writes:
If you're going to delete the double post then you should delete the one after too. Otherwise it just makes no sense.
I'm not saying sue, just the threat, unless of course that doesn't work. The thing is that your sister's reputation has been damaged. If nothing is done she'll have to live with that reputation mostly on the ice but elsewhare also.
As for the coach, I wouldn't count on him to do anything substantial since he is just another part of the league to begin with.
The best thing to do would probably be to just have a lawyer draft a letter to the league. They see a letter from a lawyer they'll be jumping to make things right.
Your mother might not need the stress, but then again isn't that part of the job description of being a parent?
Submitted 2003-02-17 16:35:25
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tinkerer
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lol! YES...stress *is* part of a parent's job description! In fact, I think it is one of the first and biggest duties. *Sigh* And actually, I still can't quite figure how the ref could consider the remark racist? Guess I'm just being lame. The whole comment makes no sense to me, in any context! And yup, squirrel, refs are asked to do an impossible job, and usually add insult to injury by doing it poorly. That is what makes watching the NHL rather interesting these days--the fact that video replay is now a regular part of the game and that the video judges actually hold more power than the refs on the ice. Just a couple of weeks ago I watched a video judge un-make a call that the ref had made, and the tv commentators didn't point out that the ref had asked for any review. Perhaps he did, or maybe he no longer has final say. Curious, wot? Just wish somedays we had it at other levels of the sport. The officials could use a little humility! By the way, did any of that huge snow storm system wander your way? I personally am laughing my head off at the lousy luck of those eastern Americans... we were in the balmy 40's today, until a freak hail storm floated by and put a bit of chill in our air. But hey--I'll take ten minutes of hail over a meter of snow *any day*. Just one more reason to be grateful I'm a westerner-- God is *clearly* making a statement. lol!
Submitted 2003-02-17 19:55:10
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