Home HockeyBuzz Register Login
Vancouver, BC • Canada • 24 Years Old • Male
"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People."

"This was not about politics"

Really Tim?
If it's not about politics then what exactly were you talking about in the first quote, in which you defended your decision to not show up to the white house with your fellow teammates?
If it's not about politics is it possible that it could be about something else?

Maybe I'm a little off base here posing this question, but it's a question that needs to be asked and maybe I'm just the only one with the balls to do it.

Racism occurs all over the world, and I think we'd be pretty naive to act like it doesn't go on in the NHL.
It has happened in the past, few and far between but it does happen and here are a few of the examples:

Krys Barch and PK Subban

In early January Krys Barch of the Flyers was kicked out of a game against the Habs for a perceived racial slur towards PK Subban.

John Vanbiesbrouck and Trevor Daley: Vanbiesbrouck resigned from his position as the general manager of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds after using a racial epithet in regard while discussing current Dallas Stars defenseman Trevor Daley in 2003. Vanbiesbrouck apologized profusely for his ugly comment, but the damage was already done.

Kevin Weekes, Wayne Simmonds and Peter Worrell are among the (hopefully small list of) black players who’ve had bananas thrown at them. Worrell dealt with quite a few other high-profile incidents of racist behavior, including when Craig Berube received a one-game suspension for calling him a “monkey.”

Jarome Iginla being left off one 2002 Hart Trophy ballot: This situation isn’t cut-and-dry. There could be plenty of other reasons why one award voter left Jarome Iginla off of his Hart Trophy ballot altogether, but a subset of hockey people still wonder if racism was the true catalyst. (It ended up changing the voting process, so it was a significant moment either way.)


Atlanta Thrashers:
Before they became the Winnipeg Jets, the Atlanta Thrashers were trying to improve themselves on the ice and at the box office by adding a relatively large amount of black players to their roster.


Once again this could just be a case of me reading too much into things, or Tim Thomas could in fact be hiding the real reason why he did not want to attend the white house and shake the hand of the president.
It is entirely possible that this is nothing more than someone expressing their personal political beliefs, but with Thomas' brief statement followed up by him saying that he will give no further public comment, he's not doing himself any favours and we're left to speculate.

In any case, no matter what his intentions were by taking this stand Thomas has diminished what should have been a great moment for the Bruins team to share together by making the whole thing about himself.
This was not an individual honour that was bestowed upon him and he has handled the whole thing very poorly.
He should have just sucked it up and been there for his teammates, but that would have been the honourable thing to do. And as we've seen this year, honourable moments have been few and far between for the Bruins organization.



Follow us on twitter @BrowntoBure
http://www.twitter.com/browntobure
Filed Under:   Thomas   Bruins   Obama   Stanley Cup   White House  
January 24, 2012 2:52 PM ET | Delete
Siiiiiigh... someone always has to play the race card. I wouldn't go to the White House either, our government is a mess. Was it political when he said it wasn't? Sure, but racism? Come on. I hate the Bruins as much as the next Sabres fan (or 'Nucks fan, for that matter) but Thomas has the right not to go, and frankly, I don't blame him at all for exercising that right.
January 24, 2012 3:15 PM ET | Delete
i suppose TT thinks that the murdering, civil right removing, Bush era regime was more to his liking.i used to like TT, now, as an American, i despise him.and that is MY right as an American
January 24, 2012 7:59 PM ET | Delete
Thanks for the comments guys.I just seems very odd to me that someone willing to take such a stance such as not going for political reasons and not being clear whatsoever as to what those reasons are would then turn around and say he would not be commenting any further.In my opinion if you have the stones to come out and do something like this, then at the very least you should be a man and explain exactly why.
January 25, 2012 10:14 PM ET | Delete
TT is ahead of the curve. Our constitution is being voided, but not many people seem to notice.
January 26, 2012 12:23 PM ET | Delete
its amazing if you disagreed with bush you were a revolutionary thinker, a patriot BUT IF YOU DISAGREE WITH OBAMA ( who seems like a nice enough guy but his politics and policies suck ) your a racist... could it be that thomas was just not willing to go to the white house because of his frustration with the current state of affairs in govt ... YOUR COMMENTS ON HIS NO SHOW IS WAY OUT OF LINE AND BORDERING ON RACIST IT SELF ....ARE YOU A RACIST FELLOW
January 26, 2012 12:25 PM ET | Delete
A 24 YR OLD CANADIEN deciding what TT should of done in a foreign country .. brilliant you racist ass hat
January 26, 2012 8:54 PM ET | Delete
if TT has problems with the govt. he certainly passed up on a good chance to look the commander in chief in his eyes, shake his hand and air his grievences.so, i just don't buy it. he had a ticket to the top and could have easily brought his agenda to the table with THE man who is the President of the United States.i really think TT should have manned up and spoke his mind, rather than take the low road that he chose.
January 28, 2012 5:24 PM ET | Delete
BrowntoBure consists of a Caucasian and an Indo-Canadian. So to say that either one of us is racist is way off base, maybe try to build a stronger argument for your boy Tim than bringing that nonsense. Thanks for reading.
January 28, 2012 6:32 PM ET | Delete
Agree completely with philybluz, if he was going to take a stand like this he should have had the balls to stand up and explain why he did so, instead of hiding behind "no further comments" This article was not so much an accusation of him being racist, but rather pointing out that by not explaining himself he leaves himself open for such debate.
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to leave a comment.