I don't. I can't. What.

[dira]

You guys, look, I cannot even explain in words how much I hate Sean Avery, and have hated him, for years. He's been an embarrassment to hockey pretty much continuously since 2005. The high/lowlights are in the Wikipedia article. You may note he was a Red Wing until 2003, and that is the shortest section in his Wikipedia article because he never did anything awful while he was a Red Wing. In 2005, I still loved him for being a former Red Wing, and my first reaction to the string of accusations against him was more or less "Not our Sean Avery!" and then "Sean Avery what happened to you in LA?" and then "JESUS CHRIST NOT AVERY AGAIN" and downhill from there with everyone else.

To sum up, he's spent the last six years going above and beyond "on-ice instigator" to make a career of being a full-time asshole--in the press, during warmups, after games, whatever. When he was in Dallas his own team refused to reinstate him after a league-mandated suspension because even they couldn't stand him. The NHL had to make a special rule to stop him from being an unsportsmanlike ass on the ice. Just for him! I'm not even kidding, it's called the Sean Avery rule.

For years I have been wondering why any NHL team pays him money. I have often thought about him, "die in a fire" and then hastily amended it to "go away somewhere where I never have to hear you associated with the sport I love ever again, but don't die in a fire because that's awful." (No, seriously, the inside of my brain is like that. Only partly because of reading too many books about people dying in fires.) Just today in the car iulia and I were discussing him and how obnoxious and awful he is and I floated the charitable hypothesis that maybe he has chronic traumatic encephalopathy and that's why he became a raging cockbite after leaving the Red Wings, because he seemed really nice and normal, back in the day. (Then we came back to the less-charitable hypothesis that neither Steve Yzerman nor Scotty Bowman would ever have stood for that bullshit coming out of their locker room--so, in conclusion, I think the problem with Sean Avery is possibly either that he has been hit on the head too many times or that he has not been beaten enough.)

To sum up: you guys, up until half an hour ago I really, really thought that there was nothing that would ever make me think Sean Avery was anything but an utter, miserable disgrace to the sport of hockey.

And then he went and did this.

I actually lost the ability to form sentences after watching it. Sean Avery. Of all people. What.

(If you don't understand why it's a big deal for a hockey player to make that PSA, here is the story of the only person directly involved with the NHL who is even publicly known to have a gay family member. The really depressing conclusion I came to, after I regained the ability to form sentences, is that Sean Avery, despised as he is, is quite possibly the only player in the entire league who could support gay rights and not particularly care about what the inevitable suspicion that he himself is gay is going to mean for his career or his personal safety.)

Comments

[go_gentle]

I read about his willingness to support any hockey player thinking about coming out earlier this year, and you'd think it would have prepared me for this, but no. I am shocked speechless every single time I hear about Sean Avery being a decent person. Because he's SEAN AVERY.

(and oh god that Burke article. why do i always read it when i know it's just going to make me cry?)

[go_gentle]

also, do you know about Angela James? I feel like you would appreciate knowing about Angela James, if you don't already.

[dira]

I was just told about her over on my LJ post! Somehow I had not heard of her, but she sounds awesome. :)

[scrollgirl]

I don't know enough about hockey to know who Sean Avery is, but wow, a hockey player who publicly supports gay marriage is... WOW. Go, Pickering boy!

[tevere]

As a non-North American who knows pretty much nothing about ice hockey, I've only heard of Sean Avery because he's the hockey player who interned at Vogue. (To be honest, he's actually the only hockey player I've ever heard of.) I had the vague idea that it was backed up by some uber-macho field reputation, which was why he could get away with it. I guess the reputation will once again work in his favour for speaking out on gay marriage--?

[dira]

I vaugely remember the Vogue thing--it was viewed with distaste not so much for being vaguely effeminate as for being, hm... fame-seeking in a way that is not generally acceptable for hockey players. It's a very team-oriented sport, and while players wear nice suits and drive nice trucks and live in nice suburbs, they are very rarely flashy with the money they make playing hockey, and they are not meant to go seeking individual media attention outside of the sport. Even inside the sport it's very strange to see a player who's comfortable with media attention, and even those players are viewed almost with suspicion. Are they really good players, or are they just clowns hogging the spotlight? And so on. So I don't remember anyone being like "Sean Avery's working in the fashion industry, I wonder about him," it was more like, "God dammit, WHAT WILL SEAN AVERY NOT DO TO HAVE HIS PICTURE TAKEN AND COLUMN INCHES DEVOTED TO HIM. VOGUE. WHAT."

Uh. For the sake of context.

[tevere]

Haha-- if I tell you that he came across as hot and funny in his Vogue online diaries (at least, to the context-less international audience), will your brain explode? *g*

I stand duly warned wrt his assholishness.

[dira]

Nah, I'm sure he's super charming out of context. *g*

Also I read Generation Kill soulbond fic last night and it is YOUR FAULT. If this keeps happening I will eventually have to, like, watch the show. It was just a miniseries, wasn't it...?

[mazily]

I am so confused about how much I wanted to, I don't know, HUG Sean Avery or something after seeing that.

I just. Sean Avery. SEAN AVERY. (And, god, that Burke article made me break out into tears at work.)

(Also, I have a tendency to yell things like "die and rot in hell" at certain players--cough, Matt Cooke, cough--but have managed to edit myself to "rot in hell when you die one day hopefully of old age because everyone dies that's just science but I hate you and it's not like I really believe in hell so what I'm saying is get a papercut and lose your job." Which doesn't really have the same ring to it.)

[dira]

Right? I AM NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE NICE FEELINGS ABOUT SEAN AVERY.

(Also, omg, so glad that I am not the only one who compulsively fails at ill-wishing. *g*)

[everbright]

I...wow! Go him not being a dick!

[dira]

Right? Way to ... turn over a new leaf, or something!

[shihadchick]

Oh man, I also can't even bring myself to illwish people properly inside my own head, I FEEL AND RESPECT YOU SO HARD ON THAT.

And also, thank you for being the first link I hit about this; heads up appreciated. I pretty much get stuck on "YAY", with a side of "argh I hate that the world is such that this IS such a big deal", but. Yeah. It's nice to see, at least.

[dira]

Evidently there was then a whole debate because some agent tweeted that he was "disappointed" in Avery (for this, of ALL THE THINGS anyone could be disappointed in that he had done) and meanwhile the Rangers organization officially backed him up and now a lot of hockey media is talking about hypothetical gay players. Yay?

[shihadchick]

Ugh, yeah, I saw that when I got back to my computer (my phone is not so great for opening non-twitter links). UGH. But yeah, I saw the Rangers org's statement and it made me stupidly happy. Some forward momentum has to help, right?

[siegeofangels]

I disliked Avery even when he was a Red Wing--come on, when Brett Hull thinks you should tone it down, you've gone too far--and now I find myself having a modicum of respect for him. It's very strange.

And yeah, I agree that it's depressing that the only player in the NHL to support gay rights is the one whose reputation pretty much can't get any worse.

[dira]

Huh, was Hully trying to rein him in even back then? But it also seemed so INNOCENT in comparison to everything after.... *g*

And, just, yeah. Sean Avery, how is this your ecological niche. o.O

[askye]

I saw that and thought "this is pretty much the only situation where people will say - I wish more hockey players were like Sean Avery"

[dira]

RIGHT? It is messing with my head.

[cyanne]

I had exactly the same reaction that you did but you said it about a thousand times better than I ever could. Never in a million years did I think I'd be saying good for Sean Avery, but there ya go!

[dira]

Glad I could put it into words! I just had to say something, because--Sean Avery!

[doctor_denmark]

delurking to say that Ryan Johnson, a mostly insignificant blackhawk was featured on AfterEllen as a Lesbro, and gave a really nice interview.

I'm sure you've seen now that Biznasty has tweeted his support for marriage equality, and the Rangers as an organisation have put their weight behind Avery. I guess they're trying positive reinforcement.

[dira]

I was really delighted to see the Rangers organization officially weigh in, that was fantastic. And hooray for Ryan Johnson!

[foursweatervests]

At least he's doing something good with that ability? Finally?

[dira]

Yeah, I mean. There are lots of worse things he could have done with his time and ... unique status! So ... yay! For Sean Avery. o.O