Well at Least Our Guy Visited Obama, and Other Habs Bits
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Jan 23, 2012 9:36 PM EST
in Opinions and other Habs links
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PrintTim Thomas is entitled to his political opinions. That's his right and freedom in the US and Canada. However, when it comes to a team outing to visit The President of The United States, on needs to check his ego at the door.
So the Bruins, with only one American in tow made the trip to the East Wing to visit President Obama today. Former Bruin, and current Habs rearguard Tomas Kaberle took advantage of the team's off day to make the trek. That's what makes it interesting to me. A team of predominantly Canadian an European players, were willing to meet a world leader, not of their own nationality, while little Timmy decided to stay home.
Seriously though, how many world leaders have entered the doors of the White House, even though the two leaders at the time have a strong political indifference? Castro? Check. Brezhnev? Check. Khruschev? Him too.
I know goalies have their quirks and oddities, but Thomas opened up a whole new floor.
"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People. This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government, Thomas stated on his Facebook page.
"Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL."
Thomas' rebuttal well put, and the Presidential meeting was not mandatory by the team, but putting his political beliefs ahead of his teammates is a bit egotistical. Given this, would Georges Laraque have gone to the White House in 2008, had the Penguins won the Cup?
Thomas isn't the first to take a pass on a visit to the White House, but putting his beliefs out front has certainly got attention. For the record, the Canadiens Hal Gill had to skip the Penguins '09 meeting with Obama due to a team commitment (golf tournament).
Video of Kaberle's trip, and other Habs links, after the jump.
For a guy concerned about things getting out of control south of the border, Thomas had no problem signing on for a credit card company plug.
Other Links
Habs trade rumor talk here , here and here.
A Grade 3 student asks Pierre Gauthier...
Carey Price reportedly cut his foot with his own skate, following Saturday's win over the Leafs. He skipped the Fan Practice Sunday, but he and Josh Gorges did hit the Montreal Auto Show.
Must read for the mega hockey stats geek, namely us here at EOTP.
It's not exactly the Foreman Grill, is it?
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I don’t have any issue with Thomas refusing to go, his reasons for doing so (though the random capitalization was weird), or making his reasoning public. There’s some hypocrisy in his statement because apparently he contributes to a PAC that contributes to the Republicans but it’s nice to see North American sportsmen have some opinion and a smidge of personality rather than the “give 110%” stuff we usually see.
Mind you I’m a guy who doesn’t believe national anthems should be sung/played at non-national-team sporting events.
I don’t have a problem with him not going either, the problem I have is he has been wearing the tea party logo on the back of his helmet and has now obviously outed himself as somebody who likely believes in some very unpopular conspiracy theories.
Does he want to make a statement or does he want to stand on the sidelines? I am confused at this stance. If you are that politically minded, why now to make a stand? Why silent on political issues for the first 5-6 years of your career? Either you are strong in your convictions or you aren’t.
It is a strange stance to take out of left field and I am interested to see whether he uses this increased political profile to further his agenda. If he does, then I have no problem with it. If he goes back to making credit card commercials while railing against the system that just sucked the pensions out of the baby boomer wallets, then he is a jerk off.
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
Other players in other leagues have passed on the trip, for reasons as simple as “I don’t want to go,” and little else is asked.
The Bruins could have easily covered this by saying he took a “therapy day”, etc., but chose not to.
Even though the Bruins stated it was not mandatory, it’s clear they were upset by his politically motivated refusal by allowing this to get out.
Kevin van Steendelaar
http://www.twitter.com/kvansteendelaar
but don't forget...
http://www.twitter.com/HabsEOTP
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Jan 23, 2012 9:56 PM EST up reply actions
It was handled very poorly. They could have covered his ass, they had two months to come up with a cover story.
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
I like how Neely included protecting ownership in his statement. Clearly the organization threw TT under the bus. I’m interested to see how he responds.
That said Jack Edwards will be fully cocked and loaded tomorrow night.
Kevin van Steendelaar
http://www.twitter.com/kvansteendelaar
but don't forget...
http://www.twitter.com/HabsEOTP
by Kevin van Steendelaar on Jan 23, 2012 10:01 PM EST up reply actions
The weird capitalization has to do with a number of the stranger ideas of the libertarian wing of the American Right. His mask art certainly became a lot more interesting now that this has come to light.
With that respect being against Obama and a shill for credit card companies is entirely consistent.
How well this plays in so liberal its almost Canada Massachusetts is anyone’s guess.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
by Stephan Cooper on Jan 23, 2012 11:08 PM EST up reply actions
It’s funny, I had never looked at what his mask design actually was beyond being black and white before today. Man, he made it perfectly obvious this entire time what his beliefs were…
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
by Bruce Peter on Jan 23, 2012 11:25 PM EST up reply actions
Dead on. This is Tim before Team here, don’t like it one bit. Suck it up, shut your mouth and take the photo op
It honestly would have been a stronger statement if he went, and then made a statement instead of acting like a petulant child.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Jan 24, 2012 1:23 PM EST up reply actions
No no. Afterwards.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Jan 25, 2012 5:50 PM EST up reply actions
Couldn’t anyone in the organization have told him to just say he took a day off with his family or whatever? Whoever was in charge this communications fiasco was probably recently fired from his last job where he thought hiring Randy Cunneyworth would go down smoothly in the media. If Thomas really wanted to use the occasion to make a statement, his facebook message wasn’t worth making the whole visit about himself rather than his teammates.
You would think that a guy who spent 5 seasons in Finland and Sweden would have acquired a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what constitutes “big” government than the average Glenn Beck fan though.
Govt expenditure per capita is approximately the same in Finland and the US. It is nominally higher in Sweden.
Of course, way more for the military in the US than the health/education/social programs that likely Thomas is against.
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
Given the political beliefs of others he financially supports, yes.
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
If the guy says anything that isn’t a stock cliche from a ridiculous political movement, I’m going to label him to fit. If he ever says anything non-hockey related worth any bit of intellectual consideration or independent thought, I’ll re-evaluate. His beliefs/actions aren’t worth the time to decifer any subtlety.
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
Well...
as if I needed another reason to dislike him.
Nothing Is Fool proof if you have the right fools.
by GiantsCauseway on Jan 24, 2012 12:02 PM EST reply actions
Of all teams in the league, Thomas rarely stonewalls Montreal.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Jan 24, 2012 1:24 PM EST up reply actions
Eating burgers in my face?
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by Andrew Berkshire on Jan 25, 2012 5:57 PM EST up reply actions
Just a note. For those saying couldn’t he have just said he “was spending the day with family”, that would have defeated the purpose of his skipping out. He skipped out to make people aware, not to hide. Otherwise he would have just gone because his point would be lost. I admire him for using the opportunity to share his belief. If he was willing to put up with the scrutiny of media and his fellow teammates to do this, then you know he is serious. That already says a lot. Now it’s up to us to decide if we agree with it or not. Doesn’t bother me one way or the other.
Aware of what? He didn’t really say anything except post a statement on facebook about government and politics (that he claimed wasn’t political, somehow) and said he would not talk about it again. I don’t think he planned to attract so much attention to himself, but he should have know that skipping a white house visit for political reasons would bring questions his way. I don’t know who, Thomas or the Bruins, decided to handle this that way, but it would have been better for his teammates if Thomas said nothing or expressed himself before or after the visit.
Which is my biggest problem with this.
Either you are in or out. Either you are making a statement and offering clarity to your position or you shut the hell up. The guy creates a storm and takes away all the attention from his team and its accomplishments and then makes one vague statement and then contradicts it by saying that it isn’t political in nature.
He needs to shit or get off the pot. If you are so loyal to a party that you need to make a grand gesture when none was needed, yet don’t have the balls to elaborate on your position, then what is the point?
If he had done an interview where he intelligently presented his objections and with it put what he supports in the spotlight, then there would have been people who objected to his statement based on party lines, but it would have made sense to hang your organization out to dry. It would have been clear and concise.
Instead he is hiding behind a generalization about big government.
If you want 30 tweets a day, don't follow me. @ChrisBoyle33
Probably not
… but it will interesting to see if this affects the B’s play post-ASG. Will this be the beginning of an implosion (a la Flyers last season) because the team MVP goes went on his teamates, perhaps fanbase?
Thomas isn’t their MVP though, Chara is.
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by Andrew Berkshire on Jan 25, 2012 5:58 PM EST up reply actions
Engqvist gets the call. From what I remember, Cunneyworth loved him in Hamilton a year ago. He definitely deserves another opportunity.
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
Well he got the hot hand sh% wise, but still, If we are to sink ice time on a guy unfit for 4thC duties, I’d give him the remaining of the season istead of Nokia, just in case he actually finds some semblance of NHL game.
Even without the hot shooting hand he’s an AHL first liner that’s taken a step forward. 4th line level of play should be within his grasp.
I also liked his game more than Noke but that’s subjective.
Writer for http://www.habseyesontheprize.com/
by Stephan Cooper on Jan 25, 2012 2:32 AM EST up reply actions
Yeah, he is shooting 22% (or was before last night’s game as that’s when I updated my Hamilton stats), but he leads the team in even strength goals, plus/minus, is second in points per game, and 2.23 shots per game is respectable for a guy not touted for his offence/shot (though Blunden is higher than him).
I agree that at this point, we should be looking at what he can provide at the NHL level, though it should be noted that Engqvist and Nokelainen aren’t exactly a huge age difference (less than 2 years).
Puck Worlds: Chasing Pucks from here to Turku.
For Twitter Updates on Puck Worlds, follow @puckworlds. For updates plus additional witty banter from yours truly, follow @saskhab.
Well put.
So he replaces Moen in the lineup. That means we may expect Blunden with Eller and AKost (I’d put Darche there, but we all know better), MAGodin twitted Gomez is on Plek’s RW (since the season is sank, I have no quarrels with this move) which means Darche/Engqvist as LW/C on the 4th line with somebody double-shifting.
So Lidstrom may be sick and uncertain for tonight but the RW phalanx he’s liable to face is made of Cole, Blunden (I assume AKost slides on the LW) and Gomez. Egads.
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