Interesting last couple pages of posts. I clicked in here to see if there was some new Oiler bashing and found an interesting debate.
My two cents: In reply to that original twitter post with the dad who teared up because his daughter was inspired by a woman skating in the NHL skills competition, would the feeling be any different if he had simply showed her a women's hockey game and she said the same thing? Unless he specifically wants her to work hard and break into the NHL as a woman, I find the situation likely more truthfully reflects the fact that he himself doesn't watch much hockey involving women.
To Shazam: I can understand your difficulty in trying not to induce certain stereotypes into a young impressionable mind, but as Cecil mentioned, what you did tell her was in fact the truth. I wonder if your discomfort with it isn't so much what you had to tell her but your own thoughts on whether or not women should be in the NHL?
In reply to the Pierre controversy: First off, I think a lot of that is just Pierre being awkward like he can be. Secondly, isn't this like the first time she's doing commentary? What he said (again, while awkward) sounds like something that wouldn't be unreasonable to say to someone who's new? Ie. "Hey, it's your first time so close to the two teams! Don't just watch the game like you have always done as a fan, remember to actually comment since that's what you're here for!"
Sports has always been traditionally split into the two genders because fundamentally men are different from women, especially when it comes to physical attributes. Of course, there are going to be outliers to this blanket statement, from either side, but in general, I would argue that that statement holds true. As a result, I personally don't find it odd that the NHL is played only by men and in all honesty, can't see that changing anytime soon.
Also, I would pose this thought. I would surmise that most who think having women break into the NHL/NBA/other similar pro sport league played exclusively by men would be a good thing. It would be empowering, inspirational and something young girls could look up to. But, if that was truly the case, how many women would actually be able to break into these leagues, how many would stick? There are going to be some that can play with the men for sure (as we saw this weekend at least in terms of speed), but where does that leave all the other women who just physically can't? Would there be a women's league then for them to turn to, or would that be now dominated by the men who couldn't cut it in the NHL because it would have to go both ways. What I think we'd see is potentially a few women make it into these leagues and then that's it. The other women would have nowhere else to turn and wouldn't even be able to play professionally. Just consider if the men and women were in one singular tennis bracket, how many women would make the top 100? What about the NBA/NFL/NHL/FIFA? In this scenario, I think you'd actually have women/girls less motivated.
Anyhoo, sorry about the wall of text but it's an interesting debate and I wanted to join in.
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