Oh, boy. Timmy Thomas, you have really outdone yourself. I really thought Tim was a cool hockey dude, until yesterday when he not only snubbed the White House, but he snubbed the Office of the President of the United States.
As an American, I am offended. I am very offended.
This day was supposed to be about the Boston Bruins. Instead, it was all about Tim Thomas. It was all about why Tim Thomas was missing from the White House. It was all about Tim Thomas’ political beliefs. It was all about Tim Thomas’ snub of President Obama. It was all about Tim Thomas’ snub of the Office of the President of the United States. It was all about Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim, Tim…and his political statement that wasn’t political at all…not by any means.
First, this whole mess would have been avoided if Tim released his political stance and why he was not attending PRIOR to the Bruins’ day at the White House. We would all respect Tim’s stance and his right to not go as a free citizen of the United States of America. We would have been okay with Tim’s absence from the White House.
BUT that’s not how things played out. He waited several hours AFTER the snub to release his not-so but oh-so political statement on why he didn’t attend. As most of us behind the scenes are saying, “Tim Thomas really sh*t on America with his stance.” That is why we are offended.
His lack of TEAM effort to just pony up and go to be there in support of his teammates…oh, that didn’t matter. What mattered was TIM’s stance. He really put the I in TEAM and called himself TIM.
All would have been forgiven and okay if he had released his statement prior to the visit. He knew he wasn’t going. He knew he wanted to make this statement long before the visit to the White House. Instead, he not only offended the White House, the Office of the President of the United States, but he also offended a lot of Americans and most of all Bruins fans.
The person who said it best was Joe Haggerty from Comcast Sports. I met Joe a few years back at the NHL Awards and have run into him over the years at various Bruins games around the world. I trust his word when it comes to the Bruins, and what he had to say about yesterday even had Aaron Ward (former NHL player and former Bruin) in complete agreement. This is a MUST READ: Haggerty: Thomas on his own as a White House Distraction.
I think Joe’s article summed up everything I was thinking yesterday, but added in a few more items that offended me about Thomas’ political beliefs. Everyone’s entitled to their own religious political beliefs, but of all parties and beliefs…this one takes the cake.
On a side note, the Boston Bruins had their day at the White House yesterday. I guess that takes the backseat to what was supposed to be a great moment for Tim Thomas’ teammates.
*It also wasn’t the Boston Bruins trending worldwide on Twitter yesterday…TIM THOMAS was trending worldwide all day yesterday because of his not-so but oh-so political statement.*
Keep it hockey, Timmy. You can talk politics all you want AFTER you retire. The only politics from any NHL player I want to read is from Jaromir Jagr’s blog…but then again, he’s not American.
He’s still a cool hockey dude. He’s also an attention-monger- and got exactly what he wanted out of this situation. He turned a fluffy nonpolitical event into a media frenzy. Ridiculous.