Avery apologizes

by James Mirtle on Dec 3, 2008 6:31 PM CST Comment 17 comments

Craig Custance has an apology from Sean Avery:

"I would like to sincerely apologize for my off-color remarks to the press yesterday from Calgary," said a statement obtained by SportingNews.com.

"I should not have made those comments and I recognize that they were inappropriate. It was a bad attempt to build excitement for the game, but I am now acutely aware of how hurtful my actions were. I caused unnecessary embarrassment to my peers as well as people I have been close with in the past.

"I apologize for offending the great fans of the NHL, the Commissioner, my teammates, my coaching staff and the Dallas Stars Management and Ownership. As many of you know, I like to mix it up on and off the ice from time to time, but understand that this time I took it too far."

The early word is that the NHL's hammer is going to fall very, very hard on Avery. Probably too hard.

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Will they banish him to the KHL? That would be nice.

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by FrankD on Dec 3, 2008 6:46 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Wow, whichever Dallas Stars PR person wrote that is really sincerely sorry about all this.

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by Down Goes Brown on Dec 3, 2008 7:56 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Ya, (s)he is so sorry about it, Avery probably called him/her a queer or something else derogatory.

by lordosis on Dec 3, 2008 8:02 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

My guess is it was actually his publicist.

by James Mirtle on Dec 3, 2008 8:16 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

If he really wanted to be taken seriously he should apologize on TV using his own words. Does he think that we really believe he speaks in coherent sentences like that?

by SDWingNut on Dec 4, 2008 9:48 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Not sure what you're hinting at James...

…but the NHL must know that whatever they slap Avery with is going to be viewed next to the suspension handed out for, say Kostpolous’ hit on Van Ryn (and others like it), and will seem fishy if it’s similar or more. Repeat offender or not, an off ice comment or two shouldn’t draw a longer ban than physically harming someone on the ice with a dangerous play.

by BDH on Dec 3, 2008 8:16 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I don’t think the two acts are comparable. While it is of course terrible when dirty hits occur, they at least happen to players playing the game, who adhere to the risks of the game (not that those risks should in any way be accepted).

The worst part of what Avery did to me was bring a person not associated with hockey or the NHL into it, and that should never happen in my opinion, especially on a continental stage.

by lordosis on Dec 3, 2008 8:28 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

My sense is that like the other sports, the NHL is sensitive as to how it is seen...

by it’s female fans, and I believe that is a good part of what is driving this, of which I am personally supportive.

Take domestic abuse…It used to be that nobody much talked about what happened inside your own home, let alone suspended anybody over it…now, a season doesn’t go by where somebody in one of the other major sports doesn’t get disciplined BIG TIME for knocking around his wife or girlfriend, which is as it should be…I don’t think the NHL can afford to seen as a blatantly misogynistic entity, though the fanbase is largely male, it doesn’t make good business sense to nurture that perception. So for economic reasons, as well as common decency (that term Avery used to describe that woman is probably one of the most vulgar things you can say about a female, IMO), this is something that probably had to be done. That’s how I see it, anyway.

by tbell61 on Dec 3, 2008 9:17 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Out of curiosity, what do you think would be an appropriate suspension, Mirtle?

by Katebits on Dec 3, 2008 10:18 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

I think the proper punishment would’ve been to let him play. Phaneuf and the rest of the Flames would’ve dealt with it just fine…

by Travis Hughes on Dec 3, 2008 10:59 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Apparently...

There are morality/conduct clauses in a Standard Player Contract, and Avery may have violated them here. If so, Dallas may not have to honour the rest of the contract. I heard a report on CBC that seemed to imply this…

We shall see how this plays out.

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by saskhab on Dec 3, 2008 11:01 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Duhatschek actually wrote about that for tomorrow.

by James Mirtle on Dec 3, 2008 11:42 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

If I had to guess which player on the Flames

was getting sloppy seconds from Elisha Cuthbert it would be Mike Cammaleri, having played in LA, ‘cause wasn’t that how Avery met Elisha Cuthbert.

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind". Basically, it's made up of two separate words—"mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.
-Jack Handey

by jobe on Dec 4, 2008 2:08 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

It’s Phaneuf

by David M. Getz on Dec 4, 2008 6:26 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

I know

but how could they have met. I assume she lives in LA, and hes obviously in Calgary.

by jobe on Dec 4, 2008 8:44 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Surely, the people that apology needed to be directed towards were Phaneuf and Cuthbert, with everything else in a clear secondary position.

Unless, heaven forbid, he wasn’t sincere?

by Dave178 on Dec 4, 2008 4:20 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Well in fact the most harm caused (besides to himself) was to his team, organisation and teammates. Which is who he apologizes to. He doesn’t give a damn about Phutbert, and he shouldn’t.
This joke has been blown out of proportions big time, most of the damage coming from the league’s overeaction and the media overcovering it, so I think it’s right that Avery offers apologies to the people who are truly embarassed in this, which is the Stars players and management.
Besides, I’m really not sure Phaneuf would’ve accepted any form of apology, however sincere it might be.

by Habs on Dec 4, 2008 8:18 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

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