NYT piece on the discomfort gay hockey fans in New York feel at MSG

[hockeybeat]

I thought this was an interesting, albeit sad, story.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/21/sports/hockey/21fans.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=sports

 

[cranberry]

Kudos to Tom Jolly and the NY Times for yet another terrific enterprise story!

 

[Cousin Jeffrey]

i'm shocked (shocked!) there are anti-gay sentiments shouted at athletes. a good story, and an important one in many regards. unfortunately, it will never go away. yelling "effing fag" at athletes is a time-honored tradition of drunks and idiots alike. (booing a gay hockey league mention and "ho-mo larry" is something else entirely.) being a gay sports fan definitely can't be easy.

first the jets fiasco now this. people are going to start thinking ny sports fans are some kind of boors. we can't have that.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Tough nut to crack. It'll take several more decades to turn that fan base over, and until then, it'll take ejections to stop it . . . and MSG doesn't have the nerve.

 

[Ace]

One of the negatives about going to sporting events is that jerks have the very real potential of ruining the game for everyone within earshot.

 

[PeteyPirate]

It could be that hockey fans are just assholes.

 

[terrier]

Not surprised. This is New York, after all.
Think any of the people chanting it ever get laid?

 

[Flash]

It could be that hockey fans are just assholes.

Sure. Hockey fans hardly compare to Eagles and Raiders fans.

 

[cougargirl]

It could be that hockey fans are just assholes.

It is definitely not that. Get over yourself.

The NYT definitely took a chance on this story. Sadly, there's no way to wipe out homophobia.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Sadly, some people's idea of a having a good time at sporting events involves ruining the experience for other people.
I imagine it's always been that way.

 

[Flash]

I've sat in the nosebleeds twice this year. If you wear a jersey of the visiting team, you are relentlessly mocked and yelled at. Of course, we also have sensible fans who tell the mockers to STFU.

No homosexual epithets, though.

 

[Rumpleforeskin]

Either Kevin Sullivan will be vilified or celebrated for coming forth in that story.

 

[Armchair_QB]

It could be that New Yorkers are just assholes.

 

[zagoshe]

This is just example 74,397,596,298 of how we've become a nation of pinheads, wusses, whiners and crybabies. As Booritz said the wussification of America is near complete.

I mean, my God, this is ridiculous. A guy cancels his season tickets because he finds a few of the drunks chanting "homo" to the other team offensive and we're supposed to cry him a river? Has he ever been to the dog pound in Cleveland or to Cameron Indoor Stadium?

I guess I'd tell the whiners in the story to man up, though given their choice of lifestyles that just doesn't seem to be something they are very interested in doing.

The good news is they can always buy season tickers for the for the New York Liberty (plenty available by the way) if they are looking for a more gay-friendly (whatever the hell that means) crowd at the Garden......

 

[Norman Stansfield]

This thread will not end well.

 

[zagoshe]

This thread will not end well.

Nor should it -- there is nothing more tiresome than these kinds of stories about some self-made victims whining because something or someone offends them.

If you don't like the chants being made by drunks, don't go to the games.

End of story.

That's how we do things in a free society.

There are plenty of things I see and hear every day from people that offend the hell out of just about every person I know -- and the overwhelming majority do the reasonable thing they move on and they deal with it, they don't make a federal case out of it nor do they go whining to newspapers looking for sympathy.

Again, nobody should cry a river for a guy dumb enough to let a few drunks or even a lot of drunks at a game take way from his experience.

I've been to games where people have been downright beligerent and didn't pay them no mind and wish others would too.

It is a hockey name, not a Kumbayah rally....

 

[JR]

Always nice for Zag to show up to support the cause of the homophobes. But then it's a toss-up as to the biggest gay basher on the board: Zig or Yawn.

I got a better idea, Zag: throw the drunken knuckle-draggers out on their ass.

Second offense: ban them for life.

That'd solve that problem real fast.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Freedom of speech means you're free to be an asshole.

 

[Ace]

This thread will not end well.

Nor should it -- there is nothing more tiresome than these kinds of stories about some self-made victims whining because something or someone offends them.

If you don't like the chants being made by drunks, don't go to the games.

End of story.

That's how we do things in a free society.

There are plenty of things I see and hear every day from people that offend the hell out of just about every person I know -- and the overwhelming majority do the reasonable thing they move on and they deal with it, they don't make a federal case out of it nor do they go whining to newspapers looking for sympathy.

Again, nobody should cry a river for a guy dumb enough to let a few drunks or even a lot of drunks at a game take way from his experience.

I've been to games where people have been downright beligerent and didn't pay them no mind and wish others would too.

It is a hockey name, not a Kumbayah rally....

I think you are not quite getting it, Zag.

It appears that it's not a few drunks it's that just about every putdown is to call somone gay -- whether it's a dancing fan or the Rangers' opponent.

Say, for example, you are green and that every game the Rangers' fans consistently yelled anti-green statements to mock someone.

"Siddown you jade jackoff!"
"Learn how to play hockey, Limey"
"Go sit on your pot of gold you lousy Leprechaun"
"Hey, is that your face or did Linda Blair just throw up again?"

You'd probably get kinda tired of it.

 

[beardpuller]

This thread will not end well.

Nor should it -- there is nothing more tiresome than these kinds of stories about some self-made victims whining because something or someone offends them.

If you don't like the chants being made by drunks, don't go to the games.

End of story.

That's how we do things in a free society.

There are plenty of things I see and hear every day from people that offend the hell out of just about every person I know -- and the overwhelming majority do the reasonable thing they move on and they deal with it, they don't make a federal case out of it nor do they go whining to newspapers looking for sympathy.

Again, nobody should cry a river for a guy dumb enough to let a few drunks or even a lot of drunks at a game take way from his experience.

I've been to games where people have been downright beligerent and didn't pay them no mind and wish others would too.

It is a hockey name, not a Kumbayah rally....

You are so masculine, on an anonymous message board, with your hulk avatar. I think your mommy might need you to take out the garbage now, though.
That's how we do things in a free society.