I'm not defending anyone or anything, just commenting on how deeply people cement themselves on one side or another of a story they (at best) have third-hand knowledge of.
I mean, we don't even know the guy or were in any of the rooms when any of what happened in the story went down, but some of you are like, "100% f that guy, glad he's dead."
Not sure if you're referring to my post or not, but I'm talking about how he handled things after the fact. Namely, talking about transparency, and then telling reporters to basically shut up and ask another question when confronted about the Beach report. There was no transparency or honesty, he just wanted to bury the story and move along. It was really awful and embarrassing.
As much good as he did for the franchise, he presided over something truly awful, and when confronted with the opportunity to actually answer for it himself, his answers was “it’s none of your business, we’ve moved on.”
I think trying to reduce people’s thoughts and feelings on the subject to nothing more than cementing themselves on one side of a story is pretty silly. You should give people more credit that that. You’re giving Wirtz more credit than that, anyway.
I mean, just to be clear, the only thing in that snippet that was said by the person that died is:
"I think the report speaks for itself. The people who were involved are no longer here. We’re not looking back on 2010, we’re looking forward. And we’re not going to talk about 2010,”
and then:
“We’re moving forward, that is my answer. Now, what’s your next question?”
every other quote there was from his son, who is the actual Blackhawks' CEO.
Not sure if you're referring to my post or not, but I'm talking about how he handled things after the fact. Namely, talking about transparency, and then telling reporters to basically shut up and ask another question when confronted about the Beach report. There was no transparency or honesty, he just wanted to bury the story and move along. It was really awful and embarrassing.
Maybe you’re right. Maybe he didn’t handle things well. But the guy just died and you have people on here falling over themselves to spit on his grave. People who quite frankly know nothing about the guy.
But I guess that’s how the internet and social media activism works.
The Kyle Beach thing cemented him in as a bad guy. I tried to be open minded....maybe Wirtz would take steps to try to make up for it. Then I saw the interview exchange that Pepsi referred to. It's all you had to see that Wirtz had ZERO contrition. Belittling reporters. Cutting off his mngt team. Especially how he treated a woman (Jaime Faulkner). He was hell bent on people forgetting Kyle Beach.
I hate cancel culture. People deserve second chances. But that interview alone showed he didn't care about his second chance to redeem the organization's image and do what was right.
eff him.
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Maybe you’re right. Maybe he didn’t handle things well. But the guy just died and you have people on here falling over themselves to spit on his grave. People who quite frankly know nothing about the guy.
But I guess that’s how the internet and social media activism works.
I mean, just to be clear, the only thing in that snippet that was said by the person that died is:
"I think the report speaks for itself. The people who were involved are no longer here. We’re not looking back on 2010, we’re looking forward. And we’re not going to talk about 2010,”
and then:
“We’re moving forward, that is my answer. Now, what’s your next question?”
every other quote there was from his son, who is the actual Blackhawks' CEO.
No. There's a reason he apologized afterwards. He handled it terribly.
Quote:
About halfway through the event, Mark Lazerus, a reporter from The Athletic attempted to ask Wirtz a question about what the Blackhawks are doing to make sure that what happened to Kyle Beach doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“I think the report speaks for itself. The people who were involved are no longer here. We’re not looking back on 2010, we’re looking forward. And we’re not going to talk about 2010,” Wirtz said, referencing the Jenner & Block report published last fall that highlighted a number of failures made by the Blackhawks after a former player — Beach — reported that he was sexually assaulted by then video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup.
After a brief follow-up from the reporter, Wirtz repeated himself, saying “We’re moving forward, that is my answer. Now, what’s your next question?”
Wirtz’s son Danny, who is the Blackhawks’ CEO and was also part of the panel, then spoke up saying “I can pick up to what we are doing today” but he was interrupted by his father, who said, “no, that’s none of your business” while pointing out to the crowd.
“What we’re going to do today is our business, I don’t think it’s any of your business,” the senior Wirtz said back to the reporter. When asked why, Wirtz responded “Because I don’t think it’s any of your business. You don’t work for the company.”
“If someone in the company asks that question, we’ll answer it,” Wirtz continued. “And I think you should get on to the next subject. We’re not going to talk about Kyle Beach, we’re not going to talk about anything that happened. Now we’re moving on, what more do I have to say? Do you want to keep asking the same question, and hear the same answer?”
It's ok to say he handled things really badly, because he did.
I'm not glad the guy passed away, my original point is that the Kyle Beach story is what I think of when I think of Rocky Wirtz. It tarnished anything positive he did for the team on the ice. IMO, of course.
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Not sure if you're referring to my post or not, but I'm talking about how he handled things after the fact. Namely, talking about transparency, and then telling reporters to basically shut up and ask another question when confronted about the Beach report. There was no transparency or honesty, he just wanted to bury the story and move along. It was really awful and embarrassing.
I wasn't signaling you out, so no worries about that. Honestly it was just a general observation. It's just that none of us know the guy or really know any of the true details.
I mean the guy was in his late 60's when this happened. He's probably not comfortable talking about it and just wanted to move on. It was his son who was the real jackass in that article anyway. (edit: I was wrong about this part)
Like, for all we know, behind the scenes, he (the Wirtz that died) could have been just as mad at everyone involved as people here are. But there's things you say to the people directly involved, and there are things you say to the public. He's probably learned a long time ago not to answer questions in public about things that could legally come back on him.
Not to mention, what was the purpose of that panel the quotes are from? It sounds to me like it was just a general off-season media availability to talk about the team from a hockey standpoint - and they might have all be directed by Legal not to discuss Kyle Beach.
It's kinda like when Ron McLean keeps hammering Bettman during their annual All-Star interview, and eventually Bettman gets mad and tells him to move on.
Anyway, I've digressed and started to now cross over to actually defending someone I'm not really interested in defending. I'm really just saying that we don't know everything, and to just take a person's entire 70+ years of existence and spit on it because of this one (horribly bad) thing that happened, without actually knowing every detail...
Perhaps more appropriate: "sucks that he's dead. I don't really know all the details of that Kyle Beech thing that happened, but what an ugly thing to be remembered for - regardless of his involvment."
Not really all that awesome: "whatever, f** that guy. his death isn't even worth acknowledging, lets talk about something else instead."
Edit: My first example is pretty much what you yourself actually said - which should just reinforce that I wasn't signalling you out, haha.
No. There's a reason he apologized afterwards. He handled it terribly.
It's ok to say he handled things really badly, because he did.
I'm not glad the guy passed away, my original point is that the Kyle Beach story is what I think of when I think of Rocky Wirtz. It tarnished anything positive he did for the team on the ice. IMO, of course.
Whoops, you're right.
Quote:
About halfway through the event, Mark Lazerus, a reporter from The Athletic attempted to ask Wirtz a question about what the Blackhawks are doing to make sure that what happened to Kyle Beach doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“I think the report speaks for itself. The people who were involved are no longer here. We’re not looking back on 2010, we’re looking forward. And we’re not going to talk about 2010,” Wirtz said, referencing the Jenner & Block report published last fall that highlighted a number of failures made by the Blackhawks after a former player — Beach — reported that he was sexually assaulted by then video coach Brad Aldrich during the team’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup.
After a brief follow-up from the reporter, Wirtz repeated himself, saying “We’re moving forward, that is my answer. Now, what’s your next question?”
Wirtz’s son Danny, who is the Blackhawks’ CEO and was also part of the panel, then spoke up saying “I can pick up to what we are doing today” but he was interrupted by his father, who said, “no, that’s none of your business” while pointing out to the crowd.
“What we’re going to do today is our business, I don’t think it’s any of your business,” the senior Wirtz said back to the reporter. When asked why, Wirtz responded “Because I don’t think it’s any of your business. You don’t work for the company.”
“If someone in the company asks that question, we’ll answer it,” Wirtz continued. “And I think you should get on to the next subject. We’re not going to talk about Kyle Beach, we’re not going to talk about anything that happened. Now we’re moving on, what more do I have to say? Do you want to keep asking the same question, and hear the same answer?”
I was literally about to highlight the part where it says his son spoke up to prove you wrong, but luckily I was able to prove myself wrong instead.
He does come off as a butthole here, for sure.
Last edited by FanIn80; 07-26-2023 at 11:49 AM.
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There's a fairly strong chance that I'm off-base here, so I'll apologize for that for sure.
It's just one of my pet peeves. The whole "man arrested for..." as a front page headline. Then a small paragraph a week later on page 7 saying he was innocent, long after the damage is done.
