Heads up: We’re going to talk about sexual assault here.
When I was a kid, probably around eight years old, my dad pulled over to let an ambulance and a firetruck go by in our neighborhood. “I hope it’s no one we know,” I said. “Yeah, but it’s happening to somebody,” he replied.
I think about that a lot when I hear sirens. There’s this inclination, seeing the fearful thing, to hope you’re unaffected. To hope it misses you. As my dad told me, that dusky evening twenty winters ago, the real thing to hope for is that whoever is in danger, whoever is in pain, whoever is hurt…that they’re ok. Or as close to it as they can possibly be. It’s that latter thing we should be focused on with the Hockey Canada scandal. Evidence suggests someone was cruelly hurt. Her peace, or the closest thing to it which can be obtained, is the most important thing, however that can come.
For those unfamiliar with the Hockey Canada scandal—and if I know our readership, this is a lot of us—the bones of what happened are these: In 2018, a few months forward from winning the World Juniors championship, the best 18 to 21-year-old hockey players in Canada came to London, Ontario for an official celebration put on by Hockey Canada. After official festivities one night, they partied at the college bars, and one, drunk, brought a similarly-aged woman, also drunk, back to his hotel room. Consensually, all parties say, they did what drunk strangers do in hotel rooms after partying at the college bars. Then, seven more men came to the room, all CHL hockey players, some or all (it’s unclear which) members of the World Juniors team, and engaged in sex acts which the woman would go on to allege were not consensual. One of the most disturbing details is that twice during the night, at 3:25 AM and 4:26 AM, the woman was filmed making video statements that she consented to the acts. An argument has been made that the videos prove that she did, in fact, consent. The woman has alleged, though, that she was pressured to film the videos, pressured to say on one video that she was sober, and pressured to take a shower, and that she tried to leave the room at one point but was prevented from doing so. She alleged that she felt intimidated and threatened. In a text message sent just more than 24 hours later, she said, “I was ok with going home with you, it was everyone else afterwards that I wasn’t expecting.”
You can find more online about the incident, about the text messages, about Hockey Canada’s civil settlement, about this evidently not being the only incident of its kind in Hockey Canada’s history, about what this means about what’s being called “hockey culture,” etc. We aren’t going to get into those angles here, but they’re out there for those interested. No criminal charges were filed (the London police are reviewing their investigation), but a civil suit brought this year against Hockey Canada itself was settled out of court, and now Canada is investigating Hockey Canada, Hockey Canada has reopened its own investigation into the incident, and the NHL has launched an investigation of its own. Many players from that team have released statements on the matter. Not all of these explicitly say the player in question wasn’t among the eight, but suspicion, naturally, has turned to those who have not yet released statements. Among those who have not released statements are current Ottawa Senators forwards Drake Batherson and Alex Formenton. This is why I’ve been thinking about ambulances, and about firetrucks.
I’m only really aware of the scandal because I semi-ironically blog about the Ottawa Senators. Fans of multiple teams are waiting to hear from their team’s players, but of the players yet to release statements (or have statements released by their agencies on their behalf), the Senators have two, which is the most, and both those players are key parts of the team’s 2022-23 ambitions. At the most cynical, Senators fans are worried suspensions of Batherson and/or Formenton could hold the team back after what’s so far been an optimism-fanning offseason. On a more conscientious plane, fans have grown attached to Batherson and Formenton. They don’t want to learn that their favorite players allegedly committed rape.
Of course, that’s not the point. If the allegations are true—and we can acknowledge the gray while also acknowledging the stomach-turning agreed-upon facts of the situation—there are eight players out there who committed rape. And there is one woman who is the rape’s survivor. If the allegations are true, it happened to somebody.
This aspect of professional sports—and of forming emotional attachments to other celebrities in other fields—is an uncomfortable one. The uncertainty about who these people are always lurks, and the pull to want to believe them to be good is strong, and people don’t deal well with uncertainty even when there aren’t emotional incentives involved. At some level, yes, we want to know who the eight hockey players are. But on another, what’s that going to mean? Finding out one or more of the alleged assailants is or are among a fan’s favorite players will be a rough time for that fan, but compared to what the woman allegedly went through in that hotel room? It’s nothing. The thing happened. It doesn’t make the story better if you learn you already don’t like the players involved.
In lighter fare:
Jeremy Pruitt Could’ve Fit Way More Money in Those Bags
The Jeremy Pruitt NCAA charges are out, and Tennessee’s been hit with 18 Level 1 violations. Pruitt’s wife was even involved. Great work all around.
Unfortunately, the alleged quantity of money exchanged was small. We once calculated on this website that you could fit upwards of $100,000 in a McDonald’s bag. These cheap sons of guns didn’t get a single six-figure number into their notice of allegations.
Hopefully, they just weren’t caught for the McDonald’s bags. That’s the best case here. Otherwise, hard to take Tennessee seriously as an SEC program.
Who Gets the Packers’ Money?
The Packers released their annual financial statement today, and, spoiler alert: Owning a professional sports team mis lucrative (somewhere, Tom Ricketts vomits out more purple slime). Except for if you own the Packers, because you are then one of thousands of us, and we don’t get the money. The money? It stays with the Packers. Evidently they have a rainy day fund holding more than $400 million, which is a boss move. If the NFL ever enters a recession, the Packers will kick so much ass.
Does Burnley Hate My Friends?
Three of my best friends from high school went to Coventry Elementary School. Now, Burnley is feuding with Coventry City after the sides failed to agree on a deal sending Callum O’Hare to the Clarets. Yikes.
In other news, the Burnleys have their goalie, bringing in Man City’s Arijanet Muric on a four-year contract. The eighth addition of the offseason, Muric gives the lads something to feel good about behind the back line, and keeps me from figuring out what happened to that Will Norris guy.
In other other news, Ben Mee plays for Bournemouth now. Could’ve been worse. Pretty good spot for him to land.
In other other other news, U23 Max Thompson has been bought by Sunderland? That’s a little weird. Kind of fun to be selling a prospect for cash, though. Look at that developmental system!
Does Mason Ramsey Like Reno 911?
Mason Ramsey posted a TikTok with the Reno 911 “genuine ostrich” bit as the sound, and I wonder whether he’s watched that show. I haven’t even really watched that show much. Maybe I should. But then again, maybe it wouldn’t mesh with my romanticized notions of Reno.
I don’t think he’s watched the show. I think the sound’s probably just viral right now.
Book Club: Stay Tuned
Maya Smart’s Reading for Our Lives comes out in four days, and we will have the NIT fan’s book club at some point in the future, in which we’ll discuss the book itself, American education broadly, and what this says about the University of Texas’s feelings regarding literacy. See you there.
One Gallon, Three Days
I leave town again on Sunday, and I’ve got a whole gallon of whole milk in the fridge, and I’ll confess: I’ve had to dump some milk these last few months. Indication of the chaos within me, I guess. Time to reassert control over my life. That thing’s going into my belly.
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Weekend viewing schedule:
Friday, 8:10 PM EDT: Guardians @ White Sox, Apple TV+ (second screen)
Saturday, 1:10 PM EDT: Guardians @ White Sox, MLB TV/ESPN+
Saturday, 7:15 PM EDT: Guardians @ White Sox, FOX (second screen)
Sunday, 2:10 PM EDT: Guardians @ White Sox, MLB TV (probably Gameday until it happens)
Excited to see how good Joe Kelly looks in those muted tones tonight.
Friday, 7:05 PM EDT: Cubs @ Phillies, Apple TV+
Saturday, 6:05 PM EDT: Cubs @ Phillies, MLB TV
Sunday, 12:05 PM EDT: Cubs @ Phillies, Peacock
Man, we are getting a streaming service workout this weekend.
Saturday, 4:00 PM EDT: Hy-VeeDeals.com 250, NBC
Sunday, 9:00 AM EDT: French Grand Prix, ESPN
Sunday, 3:00 PM EDT: Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300, NBC (second screen)
Sunday, 3:00 PM EDT: M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400, USA
Can we talk about Hy-Vee and IndyCar pulling off the doubleheader in Iowa? Sounds like Newton, where my grandpa’s cousin used to run a bed and breakfast, is the place to be right now.
I’m going to be in Iowa next week driving a car for some family for RAGBRAI. Remind me to ask everyone if they watched the IndyCar race over the weekend. It’ll be a test. The right answer: “Yes.” Or, you know, “Which one?”
