An exhibition NHL game in London, Ontario was marred by an apparently racist incident Thursday night when a fan threw a banana peel toward black Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds. This occurred as Simmonds took part in a shootout during his team's pre-season game against the Detroit Red Wings. One report said bananas were actually thrown at Simmonds twice during the game, but it was only during the shootout that one reached the ice.
Is it possible the fan who threw the banana(s) was concerned about Simmonds' potassium level and was sending a subtle message? Could it be the fan was trying to expand on the Legend of the Octopus? No, I'm not buying those theories either.
Both the NHL and several players (current and former) were quick to condemn the actions of the fan. On Twitter, Norton Sports, a Chicago-based athletics management company, offered a $500 reward for the identity of the suspect.
In a league that is approximately 93% white, ugly incidents like this are bound to happen. As the NHL becomes more racially diverse, it's possible we may see a rise in this type of behavior by some white fans threatened by blacks taking over "their" sport. However, with the NHL and others speaking out against this type of nonsense, hopefully that isn't the case.
Side note: Simmonds demonstrated that he has thick skin by scoring on the shootout (one of two goals he netted during the game). However, the Red Wings prevailed 4-3.
4 comments:
I love to rant and it's usually about nothing, but I have a quick story that I think is very pertinent to this topic.
One of my first writing jobs was as a sportswriter for McFarlane Toys (action figures!). A reseller, though; not the original.
The gist was to write reviews about the players whose toys were on sale. Simple enough.
But they gave me an opinion spot on the website and let me have "creative license."
I was fired after the editor read the first paragraph of the first article, wherein I crushed Europe for the thousands of morons who attend soccer matches just to chant out racial slurs.
There was a decided anti-American attitude when it came to racial diversity on that site. I could easily pick it up when speaking with these people.
So I wanted to showcase our supposedly "racist" society, where a might-be-considered-racist rope around Spike Lee's neck is about as far as things go in the USA, while footy arenas in Europe and elsewhere outside of the U.S. have entire sections held hostage by vile racists every single match.
I've even read here in a previous discussion about the UK having a different attitude about race than America. I agree. I think our attitude is much better.
Maybe it was American fans doing this. And that wouldn't surprise me, as you'll always find idiots, regardless of country.
But outside of the USA is where real racism seems to rear its head again and again and again.
Maybe government having more control over media abroad makes us think differently, as in what we immediately see, but minority athletes catch hell and quite often in Europe and South America and Asia.
And now Canada? I hope it isn't a trend.
Josh: That's an interesting story about your experience writing for McFarlane Toys. Thanks for sharing it.
As for the banana incident, I doubt they'll find out the identity of the culprit. Of course if they do, it'll be interesting to learn their nationality.
I was kind of wondering if someone would drop a dime on the person who did it. I thought of this incident again as I was watching the Catching Hell 30 for 30 documentary on ESPN about Steve Bartman and the Chicago Cubs. Most of the fans seemed to turn on him.
Sandy: Your comments led me to do a quick search to find out if the person suspected of tossing the banana was caught. It turned out he has:
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/28/police-identify-banana-tosser
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