2017-11-03

Sportsnet Writer Jeff Blair Triggered By Alex Ovechkin's Support Of Putin

Since the election of Donald Trump, to us on the sober and sane side of the line, the progressive left has lost its mind. Right off the bat this point needs to be made clear.

It has reached a point where sports writers and talk show hosts are in on the act now.

Lucky us.

What's worse, they think theirs is a 'centrist' or 'moderate' thinking; one in which reason is clearly in their corner.

It's not.

It's borne from a stagnant progressive perspective outside the lines of reason.

Jeff Blair penned a remarkable example over at Sportsnet of where we're at at this junction in our civil discourse.

I never much cared for Blair personally.

Since I don't read his stuff and he bothered me none.

Until now.

Why sports writers feel the need to impart their political views - especially banal ones - is beyond me.

I attempt here to deconstruct his article. I just want to add reading through his piece was like removing sludge from my sewer.  So it was not an enjoyable process. He added nothing to the intellectual process.

And aaaawaaaaay we go!

"Among many inconvenient truths..."

Oh, God this is not off to a good start. 

"...to surface out of the mire of our current political discourse is the reaffirmation that your favourite athlete might not only fail to share your politics or world-view: he or she might in fact hold ideas that are diametrically opposed to it."

Right. Like this started the second Trump was elected. This is going to be like cutting through pounds of fat.

"Like Alexander Ovechkin: proud Russian; proud Putin lackey.

Wo! That ad hominen came out of nowhere. Sounds like Alex triggered Jeff. 

Surely Jeff will enlighten us to back up this assertion. Let's read on to find out. 


I have a feeling Blair's take on 'inconvenient truths' translates into 'everyone is a deplorable who doesn't disagree with me'.


"...I doubt if anybody looked at the action on the ice, diamond or field and thought ‘hit that bastard Democrat forward’ or ‘run over that damned Republican piece of …’ well, you get the picture."

No. No I don't. And I have a university degree! I smell a set up.

"...I mean, poor Connor McDavid and his friend dress up as Donald and Melania Trump for Halloween (badly, I might add) and social media has a kitten. I guess there’s a chance that McDavid was being ironic"

 I fail to see the point of drawing McDavid into this and how dressing up as Trump is 'ironic'. I think irony is more of a literary tool but perhaps in McDavid's case....bah. Who gives a shit about the motive? 

Dressing up as Michael Myers or Dracula can be 'ironic', no? 


'...At any rate, the Edmonton Oilers captain is now probably aware that in great wide swaths of the world Donald Trump’s poisoning of the public discourse means he is viewed as being nothing short of evil; that the sores Trump delights in opening and then poking and then rubbing salt into are not laughing matters."

Conor. Don't dress like Trump because Jeff says he's poisonous. Got it?

Moving along.

First Ovechkin gets blindsided and now...Trump! 


And it's epic. Remember, the left has been squawking on about 'civil public discourse' since Bush all the while engaging in some of the most arrogant, violent and vile rhetoric. I don't ever recall conservatives making movies calling for the assassination of a President or conservative personalities holding the severed head of a President or putting a dead President on a bed with a toe tag on an album cover. 


THIS is the modern progressive MO. 


But it's all 'just a joke' right? Ironic perhaps as Jeff would say? Hey, don't take me seriously Jon Stewart once exclaimed ! I'm just a jester! 


Anyway. Nothing assuages poisoned public discourse by calling a sitting President evil without a shred of evidence.


"Donald Trump is real world evil. The laughing ended months ago."

*Updated: I happened upon Trump's speech to the military in Japan. It was quite quite good in its diplomatic tone and delivery. It was also full of praise and respect for Japan. He's so *evil* the military enthusiastically receives and cheers him. Unlike Obama where you could hear a pin drop. I can just imagine the glazed over looks whenever the gasbag spoke. Conversely, Trump is  so much more at ease speaking off the cuff before the military. When you believe and respect something, it will show.

Real world evil. As opposed to fake world.

That's erm...that's a big mozza stick to be leaving out there, Jeff. Hey, one could even say stupid. 


I would love to see Jeff's reasons and cites for this. He just knows this to be true because who in their right mind could think otherwise?


Perhaps, 60 million Americans?  You know, those icky people duped by Russian ads and hacking. 


Millions of people, even smart ones Jeff, don't think he's evil. Strange how his Dr. Evil skills never came up given he has been in the public sphere for, what, 30 plus years now?


Hillary on the other hand. I bring her up because she was the alternative. Hillary Clinton is perhaps one of the most corrupted and sleazy politicians in contemporary American politics. From her and Bill's crooked days in Arkansas all the way to her orchestrating the murder of Khaddafy that led to a major human migrant crisis to her pay to play foundation racked with allegations of money laundering and shady politicking while Secretary of State to her scandalous and breathtaking arrogance of maintaining a private unsecured server to her dubious handling of Benghazi to her own dealings with Russia to her cynical attempts to connect to a segment of the population she characterized as 'deplorables' to her complete breakdown and inability to accept defeat with any level of integrity. 


And that's just scratching the surface. She is, according to former staffers, just a miserable person to work with and for. 


Hillary is no leader. She's in it for Hillary Inc.


She's as close to evil as they come Jeff my boy. You calling Trump 'evil' is about as rich as it can get even 


What can we say about Obama? Here are the facts: Under his watch, the DNC ended up broke and lost over 1000 seats. The economy grew at its most anemic pace (around 1%) in the post-war era. Welfare recipients grew while the deficit exploded. His administration engaged in scandals that saw an innocent blamed and thrown in prison for the attack on Benghazi, Fast & Furious which was a gun running program into Mexico and swapped five high-level terrorists for a deserter with mental illness in Bo Bagdahl - without Congressional approval. Where the Supreme Court is concerned, he lost every single case with a 9-0 decision. Strange for a constitutional lecturer, wouldn't you say? 


What should though, concern you Jeff, was his abuse of the press pursuing them aggressively to reveal sources while prosecuting whistleblowers.  His 'most transparent administration in history' made the press's job all the more difficult with his stonewalling of FOIA. Oh, turns out he did spy on Trump. In fact, the NSA spying program expanded under his watch. He also tried to make the transition as rough as possible.

Then comes his incoherent foreign policy moves and decisions. From his interference with Brexit and in the Ukraine to the attack of Libya without Congress support to his 'red line' debacle that basically saw Russia usurp power from the United States in the Middle-East to his ousting of Mubarak that ushered in the Muslim Brotherhood to his surge in Afghanistan to the expansion of land and power by ISIS to alienating Eastern Europe to questionable treaties with Cuba and Iran, the Obama Doctrine was a complete and utter aimless mess. 


Never mind that he admitted to a 'secret kill list' drone killing Americans without due process. he's the first President to have been at war every single day and dropped over 100 000 bombs in seven countries - the same seven countries he identified as a threat that Trump used for his temporary travel ban as was logical.


Despite African-Americans closing ranks with him, what exactly did he do to alleviate the pain and violence in inner-cities? His own hometown of Chicago continues to be a blithe on the American landscape with its unseemly murder rate. The same in places like Detroit and Baltimore. All places, it's worth mentioning, are ruled by a dynastic Democrat political machine. 


Capped off by Obamacare that brought to the forefront the notion, once again, that government couldn't manage a lemon stand. A 2400 page monstrosity that was passed without a single GOP vote that was poorly rolled out and was even challenged in court. It also produced the 'lie of the year' with his 'you can keep your doctor' line. In addition to watching premiums shoot up despite having promised his program would 'save $2500 in premiums'.


Finally comes all the aloof, blasé  banal and bewildering rhetoric that was less oratorical and more of a showcase of a man with shallow intellectual skills and little wisdom. 


As he attacked capitalism and entrepreneurs, he managed to score himself a sweet $65 million book deal. He told Christians to 'get off their high horse' and gun advocates as 'bitter clingers' and claimed Muslims played a key roll in America's early rise. He said the police 'acted stupidly' and claimed 'if he had a son he would look like Trayvon'.


This was no statesman. This was a man engaging in class and cultural warfare. He wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to transform America.


Let's no longer kid ourselves he had any talent to bring people together. His enforcing of Title IX and decision to not help that kid held captive in North Korea and the threatening of families who wanted to negotiate the return of their sons back only to be killed by the terrorists who captured them aren't examples of someone who put humanism first one could argue.


The first reality President was too busy shmoozing celebrity culture to have any real principles. But hey, what do you care right? Even Ellen didn't seem to mind that Obama wasn't a supporter of gay marriage - until it was politically safe to do so.


Just some FACTS (and opinions of course) off the top of my head. FACTS that should have been implanted inside the head of someone who claims to be informed. 


Yet somehow we're supposed to be scared of Trump and some of his ridiculous Tweets likely designed to flush out people like you Jeff? 


I took offense to a lot of what Obama, Hillary and Trudeau say and do. I happen to think they were a trio of over rated (and corrupted) dimwits. But the difference is I didn't insult people to their faces like this. 

Serious Jeff. And you have the courage to pen such tripe?


"....Which brings us to Ovechkin, who was all over the news this weekend for the remarkably magnanimous act of buying clothes for a homeless man he encountered in Edmonton, where the Capitals were playing the Oilers. Feeding and clothing the less fortunate in society ought to be the charge for all of us; along with providing shelter it is the most immediate thing we can do to change a person’s circumstance in real time and Ovechkin showed a massive heart in doing so...."

But I'm still gonna rip him anyway because gosh darnit...well, I'm not...sure.

"...Thursday, Ovechkin announced via social media that he has formed something called ‘Putin Team,’ and is quoted on Instagram as announcing it by saying: “I have never hidden my attitude towards our president, always openly supporting him. I am confident that there are many of us, supporting Vladimir Putin. So let’s unite and show everyone a united and strong Russia!”

Which is his right, of course, not to mention wholly unsurprising. Putin is, among many other things, a plutocrat who keeps track of those with fame and wealth, especially when they can be an enabler: either in lining his own pockets or furthering his attempts to create a new Russian empire which is often one and the same thing."

And this is different how from how Obama rubbed elbows with celebrities exactly again, Jeff? How is it, again, any of your damn business?

"My guess is Ovechkin really believes this stuff, and that he does so even knowing that the current political climate in the United States gives an element of risk to what he’s done. Ovechkin spent much of the post-election cycle attempting to maintain a public non-stance on matters related to U.S. politics and continued assertions of Russian interference. Alas, that veneer has been dropped. I don’t know who Ovechkin is an ally or enemy of in the culture war in which we are now engaged – and that’s what it is, folks, an out and out culture war where we all need to pick sides or have them picked for us – but I have a pretty good guess."

And your guess should have been kept to yourself because you sound like shrill child. Why Sportsnet thought this was worth publishing is unfortunate. 

Yes, Jeff. There is a culture war but you can go fuck yourself as if the only options are the ones you assume and present. I tell you one thing. I sure as hell won't be on your side. Not if this is the extent of your critical thinking skills.


It doesn't get better folks.



"He’s still a helluva player, though, and on most nights very much worth the entertainment dollar. Look: I know for a fact there are popular – hugely popular – athletes in this city who voted for Donald Trump." 
Good of you to remind us he's a great player. But damn he supports Putin, eh?

Such hard nosed journalism there, Jeff. I know a couple myself. And know what else? If I were American, I would have voted either Johnson or Trump. Know why? Because I know how to ween through garbage and see the whole story. 

"Truth is, there are a lot of people who make a crap-load of money who voted with their pocketbook,"
NO! /clutches pearls. How dare these people!?

Some may say, an 'inconvenient truth', eh Jeff. Thank God we have your properly calibrated political screws to tell us.

"...and in case you haven’t noticed, an an awful lot of NFL players haven’t hitched their wagon to Colin Kaepernick’s cause and as far as I can tell few if any Major League players took up with Bruce Maxwell or NHL players J.T. Brown."
And they be rational and intelligent. It's their call to make. Not yours. Other than that, not sure to make of what he's trying to convey here. Sounds like he thinks they should support them (thus risking their own livelihoods) lest the be misogynist racists. Who knows? It's not like the protests have any clear message, right? Or that they're rooted in clunky faulty premises.  I wonder if he thinks Papa John's is racist for claiming sales have been damaged by the NFL. Who knows how the modern progressives thinks anymore? 

FYI: Bruce Maxwell was just arrested in Arizona for pulling a gun out on a delivery woman. 

"I hate to tell you this, but it’s possible that your favourite athlete is a misogynist or a homophobe or racist even if he doesn’t put it on a t-shirt. More to the point: I can guarantee that even if you’d cross the street to avoid a Trump supporter, you’ve gone crazy and cried for and died with a player who voted for Trump and that you’ll do it again next season and the season after and that you’d do it even if you knew he gave money to Trump."
Jesus, what in the hell? 

What kind of people 'cross the street to avoid a Trump supporter' anyway? I can guarantee you one thing, Jeff, Trump supporters aren't all what you imagine them to be in your Canadian liberal mindset. I've even met a few! Thoughtful as hell. More than anything you display in your article truth be told. Why, I guess I can say it's an...inconvenient truth? 

You seriously need to see someone for your TDS. It makes you sound like a pompous jackass with not over-arching point except to use your platform to rant. Hate to break it you Jeff, but you come off sounding like an idiot.
"...Because you’re a fan and unless you are gullible enough to still believe there’s some sort of moral or spiritual underpinning to professional sports, some sort of life-changing intrinsic goodness to be found in it, you understand the meal satisfies your need without knowing each individual ingredient."
God, how tedious and childish. Could you be anymore an insufferable prick?

From a professional writer no less.


You know, I wrote all this when 'oh fuck off' would have done just fine.

On a positive, because it's always good for your health to remain upbeat,  at least Blair didn't call Trump a Nazi!


*****

It's worth noting the media (and please let's not pretend they're not liberal anymore. Every time a sports writer like Blair enters the political foray they show themselves to be liberal hacks) and the progressive left have by designed done everything in their power to manufacture outrage at every turn. The list of retractions and falsehoods published at WaPo and NYT has been staggering to the point of borderline treason (see Russia narrative and the work of investigative journalists who have challenged legacy papers on their behaviour). 

He just added to the *poisoned climate* he so derides laced with some lazy 'inconvenient truths' and 'hate to tell you'.

If I were Jeff, I'd lay off the TDS on full display and focus more on what the current batch of amateurs running Canada at the moment. Trudeau and the Liberals have been quite adept at their own brand of divisive politics engaging in, among other things class warfare as shown by their tax proposals that clearly target SMEs (while being exposed to astonishing levels of arrogance of conflict of interests). Not to mention their odious 'SJW narratives' and anti-science bills on gender and their attacks on free speech via Motion-103.

This was a hit piece laced with empty virtue-signalling, unsubstantiated claims and unprovoked attacks passing off as reasoned discourse.

It's also flimsy and unravels under the most basic of scrutiny.

In other words, just another screed that has become all too common in the Age of Trump.

If this keeps up, don't be surprised if Trump further consolidates power and wins in 2020 while the GOP wins still more seats in the House and Senate.

I find it hard to believe reasoned minds are going to tolerate this nonsense much longer.

Now go write about breaking balls and pitch counts Jeff.

******





*This post was unedited and what you read here was the 1st draft. My apologies if it comes off as disjointed or scattered.






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