Brad Marchand
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I love hockey but hate hockey culture.
It's hockey culture that has perpetuated the existence of the old boys club that seems to control pretty much everything that happens in the NHL. It's why clearly incompetent people, from referees to management to coaches to NHL executives, continue to get jobs they aren't qualified to have. It's why people like Kyle Beach can be sexually abused without anyone doing anything about it for years, if ever. It's why players abuse drugs and suffer from the long-term effects of injuries in silence. Everything is about keeping the gang together, hiring your buddies, gatekeeping anyone who tries to bring 'outsider' ideas into the mix, and most importantly, not 'rocking the boat' by calling out the status quo.
Hockey the sport is great and deserves better people in charge. Enough of the nepotistic, toxic old boys club and old school mentality that's clearly putting a stain on the sport's reputation and holding it back.
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are the nfl/nba/mlb any better though? but anyway, these are multi-million dollar businesses, they don't give a &^@# about these issues as long as they bring in big money. don't look to these guys if you want a role model for yourself or your kids. most of them work really hard to get here, but they also do drugs and let's be honest, not many of them have that true character. sure, they can put on the nice guy act for a 5 minute interview, but that's the least you can do if you're played millions.
there are some truly good exemplary guys in there as well, but you can't expect all of them to be that. that's never going to happen. nhl knows that, that's why they are so busy keeping up the image at least. sweeping things under a rug, not rocking the boat etc. think of kane's rape allegations, other kane's betting/gambling problem, the virtanen business. some of these allegations has been proven false in the end, but still, there's always a lot of drama around these players. and that's what has been revealed; god knows what else is under the surface.
perhaps i'm the one who's too cynical, but imo what you want is never going to happen. saying let's clean up the nhl is as ridiculous as saying let's clean up society. we can - and we should - do our best, but it's never going to be perfect. so while i get where you're coming from (very passionate and empathic place), we should demand a 100%, but we should never expect the perfect (100%) result. it just sucks for the nhl players that they are under this magnifying glass all the time.
just be sure that you are a true role model for kids around you, that's the only thing you can control anyway.
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I don't think you're being unreasonable when you say it won't ever be 100% perfect, because nothing ever is. I still think it's worth making an effort to improve the culture of hockey because it frankly isn't good enough right now.
Kids growing up wanting to play hockey shouldn't have to worry about being hazed and abused, we can at least do better there.
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true meme material, has the potential to be a classic.