Avery's Six-Game Suspension Is Not The Answer

What Sean Avery said was in bad taste. What he said was rude. But was it so offensive that the needed to be suspended six games for it?

"I'm just going to say one thing," Avery said in front of reporters before the Stars played in Calgary a few nights ago. "I'm really happy to be back in Calgary, I love Canada. I just wanted to comment on how, it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight."

To provide a little context here, Avery was referring to Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf, who is currently dating Avery's ex-girlfriend, actress Elisha Cuthbert.

Avery has been one of the main topics of discussion all week on all the major sports networks, whether television or radio. Furthermore, there has been an explosion of discussion of his remarks on the Internet. Go to Google and search for Sean Avery. You'll find a million hits.

Like I said, the comments were indecent and rude. They were illadvised. They were offensive towards women.

But they weren't racially offensive. He didn't swear in public. He took a shot at his ex-girlfriend, who is a celebrity, and a shot at Phaneuf. He said them in a very arrogant and cocky way. His body language suggested he doesn't care what people think of him and he was hoping to send a little shockwave through the media. He succeeded.

This suspsension seems to be an all-encompassing penalty for Avery being a bad guy. It's a double-standard being set like the one that has been set in the NFL for Adam "Pacman" Jones.

I'm not defending Sean Avery. From all accounts, he's a bad teammate, a loudmouth and an embarrassment. He's not even all that good either, and has just 3 goals and 7 assists this season. He's bad for the NHL, a league that needs all the good press it can get. Hockey can ill-afford bad publicity, because since ESPN doesn't carry it, it has become somewhat of a niche sport. And let's face it--if your sport is not on ESPN these days, your sport is less important in the sports world.

So when Avery is one of the lead stories on SportsCenter, that is definitely not good for hockey.

But it doesn't mean Avery deserves a six game suspension for all of this. He's a bad guy, and this suspension and the anger management training he supposedly agreed to is not going to change him as a person. If anything, what should be changed is the way the national media covers hockey.

Think about what you remember most about the NHL over the last few years if you're not a big hockey fan. You probably remember names like Todd Bertuzzi for his vicious and damaging sucker punch to Steve Moore. You likely remember Marty McSorley's stick to the head of Donald Brashear. But can you remember the last five Stanley Cup winners? I certainly can't.

Sean Avery is just another example of a bad apple in hockey. There are bad apples in every sport. Pacman Jones, Ron Artest, the Cincinnati Bengals, and Stephon Marbury. The sad thing is, there are a lot of good things in hockey that people don't know much about. Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin are two great players that are amazing to watch. There has been a revival of hockey in Chicago, an original six city, led by young and exciting players like Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg. The teams in the big markets of the league are all good. The San Jose Sharks set the record for most wins in the first twenty five games of a season.

Maybe the national guys should focus a little more on these stories and a little less on Sean Avery. Giving him all this attention is exactly what he wants. If people really want him to shut up, stop talking about him. They only way to stop a trouble maker is to ignore him.