Quote:
Originally Posted by Blaster86
Not just looked away. Players openly mocked the kid. I won't accuse Seabrook of being one of the guys to do that, but he was wearing a letter and didn't stop it. Much like Toews and Keith he let the kid get buried on both sides.
He was a leader until it was hard.
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I think the connection to this past event makes it totally understandable for you or anyone to have passionate feelings about this. I don't say any of the below to minimize anything that happened but I'll focus on the bolded part:
Being a leader is HARD. It's actually very hard. In a work place setting, specifically it is very hard when the most difficult of situations arise. In a corporate setting, people generally a much much older, mature and experienced when they get put in leadership positions than the young immature men that wear letters on the ice. And I'd suggest, the situation in Chicago, was about as difficult of a leadership situation anyone could ever be put in, and have to respond to.
Point being - for me the details matter. Details re: Seabrook specifically in regards to how he handled it. Details that I don't have, whether because they aren't out there, or because I haven't done my diligence in looking for them. But if I had the details, around what he knew, how he was engaged and what he did, I'd be looking for details that gave an indication to his character, rather than how well did he execute or respond as a leader.
These players aren't trained for these types of situations (especially back then) when they are given a letter, nor are they even told these things might come up. It's about leading for results on the ice. So I'm not sure they are set up for success.
All that said though, there's certainly a base level of human decency, empathy and response that hopefully anyone on that team had (and sounds like there's indications that many did not), which as said above would speak to character. That would be where I'd draw my own line when judging Brent Seabrook on his role in that situation.
I can forgive, "I could have been a better leader" outcomes. I'm less inclined to forgive on "I should have been a better person."