When Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby
told Postmedia Wednesday the seemingly relentless encroachment of technology has changed the way NHLers trash-talk each other, few could argue his point. The advent of high-definition TV – and whatever 4K TV is – make it clear which players practice proper nose hair grooming, and which ones take dangling to a new and disturbing level; more importantly, the advances in camera quality (and the public’s underrated capability to lip-read with great accuracy) have resulted in increased scrutiny for everything that happens, both during play and between the officials’ whistles. And that doesn’t just go for players: coaches often now look as if they’ve lost their minds as they speak to their assistants by talking into a piece of paper that doubles as a shield from opposition eyes.
But instead of lamenting a bygone age in which players could get as rotten as they wanted to be, we ought to be lauding that rise in scrutiny. Yes, it changes the way players get under each other’s skin, but if they needed to stoop to homophobic slurs (as Blackhawks forward Andrew Shaw did Tuesday in Game 4 of Chicago’s first-round series against St. Louis), the way players get under each other’s skin had to be changed.
If you're old enough to remember the days Prince’s
Purple Rain movie opened in theatres – and here’s where I say a heartfelt Rest In Peace to an astonishingly skilled musical genius who departed this planet far too soon – you remember a time where the slur Shaw used was commonplace in hockey arenas, schoolyards, office boardrooms and virtually everywhere else on the planet. In effect, it was a synonym for being wrong, or terrible, or shameful, or dumb. And when parents heard that word, and coaches heard it, and teachers and administrators and schoolyard monitors and everyday workplace supervisors heard it, they all collectively shrugged. It was part of the vernacular, and we were all consenting to it, either by using the word or with our silence on the matter.
Little did we realize the damage we were inflicting on others – others who didn’t have our status and our privilege and our comfort, all of which combined to almost completely insulate us from the impact of our words. But as technology began giving voice to the underrepresented, it no longer was easy to dismiss the choices we made everyday in our relationships. Technology made us confront ourselves at our worst, and when some people are asked to do that, they reflexively lash out at anyone other than the person staring back at them in the mirror.
This is why we have to be careful to not romanticize the past. I’m not accusing Crosby of doing so with his words Wednesday, but it’s important to stress the message that the good old days aren’t necessarily good simply because they’re old. If we’ve found a better method to hold people to account for their actions, that can only be a good thing. If Shaw genuinely is contrite and now is more understanding of the way something he see sees as a throwaway tactic can do significant damage, that’s not a regrettable end to this turn of events.
And make no mistake, there was no small amount of damage in what he said. Whether it was the thousands of hockey fans watching on TV, or only the handful of fans at the rink who were within earshot of Shaw when he lashed out in the penalty box, there were many members and supporters of the LGBT community that recognized it for what it was – a callous, casual bigotry, and a way to continue “Other”-izing a group abused horrifically through the centuries – and had their hockey-watching/loving experience spoiled by it. It may even have turned a young gay boy who had the skills and desire to one day star at the NHL level into someone who'd rather spend his time, emotion and energy playing a sport that didn’t make him feel unnatural and unwelcome.
That unseen cost to the game may have been acceptable in the past, but it isn’t anymore, and neither are the excuses some still attempt to lean on to soft-pedal Shaw’s remark. Heat of the moment? Sorry, not a good enough excuse, and never was to begin with. Freedom of speech? Please. Nobody’s throwing anyone in jail for making slurs of any sort. Players are absolutely free to use that word again, and the NHL (or any other organization) is allowed to react to any who do with supplementary discipline, and in the process demonstrate to society-at-large that their business doesn’t consider such behavior acceptable in the least.
Don’t delude yourself into thinking hockey is losing something by having more cameras and microphones around. NHLers will continue to aggravate one another, but they will adjust their methods, just like they adjusted to life with mandatory visors for all new players entering the league, and just as they adjusted to the hybrid icing rule. Shaw will be able to move on from this, just as other players have moved on from similarly abysmal language choices. But the league was absolutely correct to suspend him for one game. People – players, coaches, fans, kids in schoolyards and old guys in office boardrooms – need to see there’s zero tolerance for degrading and demeaning acts of any type.
Of course, when we underscore that zero tolerance approach with those who've erred, we should be aiming to educate, not execute. But we shouldn’t be shedding a single tear for an era that normalized stupid and blind hatred.
Rather, we ought to celebrate the arrival of a day and age in which improved accountability ensures we no longer demonize any portion of the fan base, and instead look to inclusion and empathy to grow the sport to new heights.
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