Gary Bettman Needs to Resign

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by Yamer

Which outstanding facts are you asking she present? Her job is to comment on news and stories relating to the hockey world, specifically the NHL. I certainly didn't listen to what she has said or supported over the last 24-48 hours and thought of them as "sweet nothings".

If the reporter who fronted the story can't get a word in edge wise without help from other journalists, what clout does Slone have to do what you've asked? Typically Bettman has one interview a year, and that's getting softer and softer at each subsequent All-Star game.

I feel like the expectations of personalities like Slone, in particular, are flawed. Them speaking out and offering support are literally the limitations of their power until they are invited to the table.

Can you not see that the virtue signaling journalists of the PHWA (this is the group that gave votes to Draisatl for the Selke) could have stepped aside and let Westhead be the only one asking questions. He is the one everyone wanted to listen to instead of hacks like Seravalli and others.

As to Tara Sloane, sure she can make a statement but don't proceed to lecture anyone, but I guess working with the king of morals Ron MacLean forever they think she can speak for everyone. When these so called hosts and insiders step up and say exactly why they didn't investigate and speak out when it originally came to light (Friedman's excuse was he was too busy ffs) then they can have all the market time they need.

I agree with Corsi on this one.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Beatle17

I agree with Corsi on this one.

... Alright, I may need to re-examine my position here.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Sloane's platform is HNIC, and Twitter, and anything else she can use to make sure people are talking about "what Tara Sloane said" about whatever issue people happen to be caring about at the moment. Again, everything that is going on here is about brand. The 2010 Blackhawks weren't protecting a video coach by not immediately firing Aldrich, they were protecting the brand. The Blackhawks and NHL resisted an investigation for years because of the damage it would cause to their brands. And a lot of people are now trying to use this opportunity to service their own personal brands.

Allan Walsh is somehow different? Well, he has a hockey podcast, too, now, called "Agent Provocateur" - he's doing exactly the same thing. Listen to what I have to say! Have me on your show so I can tell everyone what I think! Everyone is just trying to get a piece of your attention because they obtain wide-scale affirmation and brand capital from it. They're not, in other words, doing anything analogous to shooting the ####.

It's entirely self-serving, and especially so because as I mentioned, these peoples' opinions have no special value. Sloane is former failed actress and reality show contestant. Adam Wylde is a college dropout radio jockey. I guess at least Wyshinski has a journalism degree, so that's something, but he seems to apply it fairly haphazardly. None of these people are great thinkers whose views about societal issues are worth your time - if you wanted to listen to someone talk about this stuff, you'd have a hard time doing worse.

Not everyone in the public eye is a self-serving narcissist, and I have trouble believing you could entertain anything they say or listen to them with any pleasure at all on any topic under that belief. What this says to me is that people are nothing more than their occupations to you, and so long as they act, think, and speak within the confines of those occupations, that's good. But if they act like a person who is more than their job, it's bad.

This makes me somewhat sad, as I think it portrays a far too pessimistic and ungenerous view of strangers and their motives, so we will have to just agree to disagree.

[Beatle17]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

Why not? They have to dig their heels into their history of not helping the situation??? Why?

So the feeling is “Don’t be better, what you did before is your lane to stay in”? That’s ridiculous.

Not at all, but do not act like they are some big problem solvers. They don't offer one possible solution, or discussion point. They stand back and throw stones and Seravalli is probably the worst one.

Did you watch the genius group from Edmonton defending Duncan Keith the day this came out, apologizing and covering his ass and they are members of the PWHA. The same as HNIC crew when they had Sheldon Kennedy on and Ron MacLean kept interrupting him trying to defend the players and such.

The comment should have been the Hawks screwed this kid, the NHLPA screwed the kid and the reporters didn't do anything to help the situation. Then let the professional mental health people have the platform and work with the league to build the proper program. They are no more upset than we are, they have no more moral ground than we do (maybe less because they supposedly work day to day with the NHL) on this issue.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Who claimed they were big problem solvers? Show me one person.

This is all so unnecessarily pessimistic.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I have no idea what type of person I would be if the "spotlight was on me" - I'd like to think I'd stick to things that I actually have professional expertise in, and even there, not just fly off the handle. If they invited me on one of those podcasts to give my views as a lawyer about the NHL's position or what the Blackhawks should do in their case against Kyle Beach, for example, I'd be willing to say very, very little about it, and even that is in an area where I have some tangential expertise.

Sloane's platform is HNIC, and Twitter, and anything else she can use to make sure people are talking about "what Tara Sloane said" about whatever issue people happen to be caring about at the moment. Again, everything that is going on here is about brand. The 2010 Blackhawks weren't protecting a video coach by not immediately firing Aldrich, they were protecting the brand. The Blackhawks and NHL resisted an investigation for years because of the damage it would cause to their brands. And a lot of people are now trying to use this opportunity to service their own personal brands.

Allan Walsh is somehow different? Well, he has a hockey podcast, too, now, called "Agent Provocateur" - he's doing exactly the same thing. Listen to what I have to say! Have me on your show so I can tell everyone what I think! Everyone is just trying to get a piece of your attention because they obtain wide-scale affirmation and brand capital from it. They're not, in other words, doing anything analogous to shooting the ####.

It's entirely self-serving, and especially so because as I mentioned, these peoples' opinions have no special value. Sloane is former failed actress and reality show contestant. Adam Wylde is a college dropout radio jockey. I guess at least Wyshinski has a journalism degree, so that's something, but he seems to apply it fairly haphazardly. None of these people are great thinkers whose views about societal issues are worth your time - if you wanted to find someone to listen to about this stuff, you'd have a hard time doing worse.

And it's a different issue from someone like Westhead. He, obviously, has also stopped being a reporter in the wake of this thing because he feels it's more important to be an advocate for the subject of his story, but given his direct personal involvement with this whole thing, I can't really blame him for doing so. I don't see that as opportunistic in the same way.

This is wild take. She is hosting a hockey game. Talking about the big stories in hockey is literally her job.

Should they have cancelled the pre-game show or the entire hockey broadcast and instead brought on the 'great thinkers' of societal issues to have some kind of debate about sexual abuse and the NHL's role in it?

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

This is wild take. She is hosting a hockey game. Talking about the big stories in hockey is literally her job.

Should they have cancelled the pre-game show or the entire hockey broadcast and instead brought on the 'great thinkers' of societal issues to have some kind of debate about sexual abuse and the NHL's role in it?

Imagine the reaction had none of them discussed it at all… “carrying water”???

[Igottago]

I think Sloane is making the same mistakes many people who view things from a progressive lens make. They bring no nuance to their analysis. Why is she mentioning black lives matter and hiring of minorities into the mix with a sexual assault case? What does one thing have to do with the other? I mean I've seen an ad campaign pretty regularly this season with PK Subban addressing hockey being for everyone, does she need more? HNIC has had Punjabi broadcasts for how many years now? Its got to be well over a decade. I also distinctly remember some pre-game messaging around the Black lives matter issue when the Floyd incident was at its peak, its not like the NHL didn't allow it. Very odd to even bring those up in this situation.

Also, why is the entire culture broken because this horrible thing happened? Couldn't it be this was a bad and poorly handled situation by a specific set of people? I get that its an emotional issue but I don't see why the immediate reaction is to just decide the entire enterprise is somehow culpable or corrupt.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Igottago

I think Sloane is making the same mistakes many people who view things from a progressive lens make. They bring no nuance to their analysis. Why is she mentioning black lives matter and hiring of minorities into the mix with a sexual assault case? What does one thing have to do with the other? I mean I've seen an ad campaign pretty regularly this season with PK Subban addressing hockey being for everyone, does she need more? I also distinctly remember some pre-game messaging around the Black lives matter issue when the Floyd incident was at its peak, its not like the NHL didn't allow it. Very odd to even bring those up in this situation.

Also, why is the entire culture broken because this horrible thing happened? Couldn't it be this was a bad and poorly handled situation by a specific set of people? I get that its an emotional issue but I don't see why the immediate reaction is to just decide the entire enterprise is somehow culpable or corrupt.

The PK Subban commercial is a Scotiabank ad - nothing to do with the NHL.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

The PK Subban commercial is a Scotiabank ad - nothing to do with the NHL.

There are NHL logos in the commercial, I'm sure its not happening without their support/consent.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Igottago

I think Sloane is making the same mistakes many people who view things from a progressive lens make. They bring no nuance to their analysis. Why is she mentioning black lives matter and hiring of minorities into the mix with a sexual assault case? What does one thing have to do with the other? I mean I've seen an ad campaign pretty regularly this season with PK Subban addressing hockey being for everyone, does she need more? HNIC has had Punjabi broadcasts for how many years now? Its got to be well over a decade. I also distinctly remember some pre-game messaging around the Black lives matter issue when the Floyd incident was at its peak, its not like the NHL didn't allow it. Very odd to even bring those up in this situation.

Also, why is the entire culture broken because this horrible thing happened? Couldn't it be this was a bad and poorly handled situation by a specific set of people? I get that its an emotional issue but I don't see why the immediate reaction is to just decide the entire enterprise is somehow culpable or corrupt.

Also - do you really think this would have been handled differently if this had happened on every other team?

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Igottago

There are NHL logos in the commercial, I'm sure its not happening without their support/consent.

The NHL logo is in a boatload of ads. I doubt they particularly care who you rent a car from even though their logo is used in Enterprise ads during games.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

The PK Subban commercial is a Scotiabank ad - nothing to do with the NHL.

A bank ad with a Black hockey player?

Great work NHL, racism in hockey solved. High fives all around.

Hopefully Canadian Tire puts Kyle Beach in an ad, then we'll know the NHL solved that, too.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

A bank ad with a Black hockey player?

Great work NHL, racism in hockey solved. High fives all around.

Hopefully Canadian Tire puts Kyle Beach in an ad, then we'll know the NHL solved that, too.

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-announc...ts/c-318873398

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-partner...acism/c-795127

https://www.nhl.com/community/hockey-is-for-everyone

Quick google search on some NHL initiatives to combat racism.

[bluejays]

Guys, the ads aren’t solving anything. Lol.

It’s about the programs they put in place to make things right. Racism, sure they put that group together but it’s more the policing and policies they put in place to promote multiculturalism. I haven’t heard of anything but for the sake of public outcry perhaps they should show what they’re doing. With reference to females involved they seem to have some push to develop women for management roles and that should organically happen over time. These things are slow though. Ask anyone involved with changes what’s the hardest thing to change - it tends to be culture. When it comes to legal matters like concussions, they’ve been pushed now to cut down on head trauma, and we know for decades they’ve been phasing out fighting and head shots. Again, some things are in place which you only see results after awhile.

[CGY12]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

The NHL logo is in a boatload of ads. I doubt they particularly care who you rent a car from even though their logo is used in Enterprise ads during games.

From somebody who works in the field, you definitely do care/give consent to ads that display your logo, association matters. To think otherwise isn't very bright.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Igottago

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-announc...ts/c-318873398

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-partner...acism/c-795127

https://www.nhl.com/community/hockey-is-for-everyone

Quick google search on some NHL initiatives to combat racism.

You can just say that you watch hockey for hockey and don't want broadcasts talking about any non-hockey game related activities.

I do appreciate the link about the NHL airing a PSA in 2015 though.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by CGY12

From somebody who works in the field, you definitely do care/give consent to ads that display your logo, association matters. To think otherwise isn't very bright.

And that decision is based on if this makes the brand look good.

Do you think they went to Scotiabank with a storyboard and suggested they run an anti-discrimination ad?

[PeteMoss]

Also not sure why we are discussing the NHL doing marketing through philanthropy anyways. Not really the point.

[CGY12]

Originally Posted by PeteMoss

And that decision is based on if this makes the brand look good.

Do you think they went to Scotiabank with a storyboard and suggested they run an anti-discrimination ad?

No I don't, but I'm sure they saw the storyboard before giving consent (which is my point) to use the logo.