Even a broken clock is right twice a day.
One of the biggest jerks in the National Hockey League is a guy named Sean Avery on the New York Rangers. Avery is one of those pesty/physical/dirty players you hate to play against. That in itself does not make him a jerk though, his questionable behavior on and off the ice does.
When a league names a rule after you, as it did when it revised its unsportsmanlike conduct rule after Avery jumped up and down in front of New Jersey Devil's goaltender Martin Brodouer in an effort to screen him, you know you are doing something wrong (Avery would say he's doing something right).
Avery also once referred to his ex-girlfriend (actress Elisha Cuthbert) as "sloppy seconds" in an interview and was such a cancer in the Dallas Stars locker room that the team suspended, then cut him (no sympathies for the Stars though, they already had a first-class jerk on the team in the form of Steve Ott, what were they thinking adding Avery to that mix).
Avery actually has his own ESPN Sports Center Top 10 reel of jerky moments which I present here to put him into context.
So, why am I bringing Avery up? Well he had his stopped clock moment this week when, in an interview with the Toronto Sun Avery said this about gay hockey players who might be afraid to reveal their sexual orientation:
“If there’s a kid in Canada or wherever, who is playing and really loves the game and wants to keep playing but he’s worried about coming out, I’d tell him to pick up the phone and call (NHLPA executive director) Donald Fehr and tell him to book me a (plane) ticket,” Avery said. “I’ll stand beside him in the dressing room while he tells his teammates he is gay. Maybe if Sean Avery is there, they would have less of a problem with it.”
So, Avery gets my first ever Broken Clock award for managing to open his mouth without saying something totally stupid while making a stand I wish more professional athletes would make. If I were a betting man, though, he'll fall back into form before the playoffs start and say something totally idiotic.
When a league names a rule after you, as it did when it revised its unsportsmanlike conduct rule after Avery jumped up and down in front of New Jersey Devil's goaltender Martin Brodouer in an effort to screen him, you know you are doing something wrong (Avery would say he's doing something right).
Avery also once referred to his ex-girlfriend (actress Elisha Cuthbert) as "sloppy seconds" in an interview and was such a cancer in the Dallas Stars locker room that the team suspended, then cut him (no sympathies for the Stars though, they already had a first-class jerk on the team in the form of Steve Ott, what were they thinking adding Avery to that mix).
Avery actually has his own ESPN Sports Center Top 10 reel of jerky moments which I present here to put him into context.
So, why am I bringing Avery up? Well he had his stopped clock moment this week when, in an interview with the Toronto Sun Avery said this about gay hockey players who might be afraid to reveal their sexual orientation:
“If there’s a kid in Canada or wherever, who is playing and really loves the game and wants to keep playing but he’s worried about coming out, I’d tell him to pick up the phone and call (NHLPA executive director) Donald Fehr and tell him to book me a (plane) ticket,” Avery said. “I’ll stand beside him in the dressing room while he tells his teammates he is gay. Maybe if Sean Avery is there, they would have less of a problem with it.”
So, Avery gets my first ever Broken Clock award for managing to open his mouth without saying something totally stupid while making a stand I wish more professional athletes would make. If I were a betting man, though, he'll fall back into form before the playoffs start and say something totally idiotic.
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