- Apr 25, 2006
- 49,563
- 52,731
Around The League; Offseason
- Thread starter Qurpiz
- Start date
Wow that organization has a lot of shit they need to change, starting with their name... then their culture. Reading that makes me sick to my stomach. I encountered a lot of that personally in midgets in the Springs when I was on the Miners. It actually led to me giving up on playing high school hockey too.
I mean I'm sure this has existed in other rooms... but wow... speechless.
Metallo
NWOBHM forever \m/
- Jul 25, 2006
- 31,361
- 21,810
Hawks knew that was going on and that dude went and got another job. What proof do they need?
Yeah that's part of the story which seems really fishy to me. You play effin' hockey, get beat up on the ice, and then get sexed by a dude who threaten you with a baseball bat? Just get the hell out of that situation and call the f***ing cops. Holy crap wtf happened here? Just beat the motherf***er up.
What is up with this victim blaming garbage? The players who were victimized knew that doing something like that would be an instant 100% end to their hockey careers and probably a prison sentence. Aldrich clearly had the full support of the entire Blackhawks organization from top to bottom, everyone from the owners to the players.
- Oct 24, 2008
- 22,704
- 30,758
I knew this was coming.
I’m not blaming the victim, don’t start that stupid shit with me.
I said that coach deserved to get his f***ing head pounded in and I said I feel really bad for the player. Entire organization acted f***ing disgustingly.
Pick another petition, Karen.
mhmmm bailing out of this thread to stay friendly with all
Ok internet tough guy. It's easy to act tough and throw shade when you're not the one in the room. But don't shit on someone who is threatened with the loss of their entire career and the passion that has been guiding their life for decades.
- Oct 24, 2008
- 22,704
- 30,758
Ok internet tough guy. It's easy to act tough and throw shade when you're not the one in the room. But don't shit on someone who is threatened with the loss of their entire career and the passion that has been guiding their life for decades.
I feel bad for him and the coach needs to have his ass kicked as well as the organization reprimanded.
Internet tough guy
Have you ever been in a dressing room or do they get changed in their cars for tennis?
Foppa2118
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2003
- 52,347
- 31,516
I don't think anyone has gone full on victim blaming in this thread, but the way I view it is that people are allowed to be weak in this world. They can be meek as a mouse if they want to be.
This player could be 6'5" 230 lbs, but they also could have been abused as a child, so now they fall victim to predators looking for people who feel defenseless and afraid of people like Aldrich.
They might not put up as much fight as you or I would, because the trauma they experienced makes them feel weaker than they actual are, so they just shut down mentally and physically. Especially when that person is in a position of power over them like Aldrich was.
I think we're all on the same page as far as who was right and wrong in this situation, but if we focus too much on what the victim should/shouldn't have done, instead of what the abuser should/shouldn't have done, we're inadvertently letting the abuser off the hook a little bit.
This player could be 6'5" 230 lbs, but they also could have been abused as a child, so now they fall victim to predators looking for people who feel defenseless and afraid of people like Aldrich.
They might not put up as much fight as you or I would, because the trauma they experienced makes them feel weaker than they actual are, so they just shut down mentally and physically. Especially when that person is in a position of power over them like Aldrich was.
I think we're all on the same page as far as who was right and wrong in this situation, but if we focus too much on what the victim should/shouldn't have done, instead of what the abuser should/shouldn't have done, we're inadvertently letting the abuser off the hook a little bit.
- Feb 24, 2012
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We don’t know the situation exactly and how it happened beyond court documents… but sexual assault doesn’t tend to be a beat up the guy situation even when males are the victim.
That is the hardest part to believe. They probably recommended him for the job too or didn't tell about his past. That's ******* disgusting. Especially to a school team!!
Imagine some father sending this guy to a school team. How messed up is that? They would never want that to their own kid.
Foppa2118
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2003
- 52,347
- 31,516
Yeah that's one of the worst parts of all this.
The Hawks allegedly profided a reference letter for Aldrich, even after they had heard from multiple people what he had done, and that another member of the organization was asking them to take it to the police.
Then Aldridge took that reference letter to get more jobs in hockey, and allegedly went on to assault a high school student. Just awful.
I regret making a hasty and inarticulate post on the subject when I just had to go back one page to find that the perfect posts have already been written.
MarkT
Heretic
- Nov 11, 2017
- 3,997
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The Hawks had a responsibility to make sure he never worked again with anyone he might assault.
However, that does not mean they were actually contacted before he was hired elsewhere. It's possible that all he did is say he worked for them, show his name on the website or a picture of him with the cup, and that was it. I've read that the way he was hired at the high school was his uncle worked there and they brought him in without doing any kind of background check.
dahrougem2
Registered User
Who knows how certain people react to certain situations. I know me personally, I'd probably black out and try to kill the guy if he ever tried to do anything like that to me.
Some people just don't have it in them, though. Some people just take it. Grown adults, yes, but it's like an elementary bully/bullied situation. Often times the bully gets his/her way because the kid(s) getting bullied just take it and won't do anything about it.
Some people just don't have it in them, though. Some people just take it. Grown adults, yes, but it's like an elementary bully/bullied situation. Often times the bully gets his/her way because the kid(s) getting bullied just take it and won't do anything about it.
MarkT
Heretic
- Nov 11, 2017
- 3,997
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I'm piling on because these attitudes deserve it. You really don't seem to understand that it wasn't just a matter of physical force. Alrich was using every tool in his arsenal including emotional and psychological threats and manipulation and had the power to back it up.
It is within the realm of perfectly normal human behavior to take actions you would otherwise never do when something you care deeply about is threatened. The only way to think about this is to assume that you have spent your whole life working towards something, and if you "beat the motherf***er up", that dream is dead. It's not such a simple decision, and maybe the weak thing to do is to just give in to anger and use violence to solve the issue. Seriously, I don't know you guys or what your goals in life have been, but people make huge sacrifices and do plenty of things they don't want to do in order to reach their goals. You can't just assume he's weak because he chose not to throw away his hockey career in exchange for the satisfaction of "smashing his f***ing face in".
As for calling the cops, look at how gentlemen such as yourselves are reacting to this. The cops would take one look at the professional athlete and one look at Alritch, and probably laugh in the player's face. And even if they took it seriously, it's he said, he said, and there's no evidence to base a prosecution on, plus if he just leaves as you suggest, no assault even occured. Unless of course he beat the shit out of Aldrich, in which case Alritch could go to the cops and probably get the player arrested for assault.
SaltySkywalker
Bushes of Love
I feel bad for him and the coach needs to have his ass kicked as well as the organization reprimanded.
Internet tough guy
I feel attacked.
Going to be perfectly clear and say that I in no way shape or form condone the actions of the POS video coach and Hawks organization in this situation. It's a truly disgusting thing to even consider being possible but yet here we are. I haven't really seen anything in this thread where anyone is victim blaming or even suggesting that aggressors have any inkling of innocence here. All I have read are differing view points on how said player should have reacted to that situation and how the Hawks organization and POS coach should be punished (they should and no amount of punishment would be enough for this disgusting act).
Personally, I was raised with the mindset that personal health and safety was more important than anything else. It's the reason my parents would explicitly tell me that if I'm being bullied in school or if I see anyone bully my little brother, to take shit into my own hands. I'm not condoning violence in any sense and believe me that that mantra got me into a few situations as a child that saw me get my ass kicked lol but what it did tell me is that nothing comes above personal health of yourself and your family, no matter what. I think people like RIAL have been raised under the same philosophy as I and no matter the goal, those same type of human emotions would defer us to that decision (whether or not it's the right one is completely subjective).
In my profession (Dentist), I've gotten some training on being able to spot victim abuse and reporting it via the proper channels in order to secure the safety of a victim which is the most important thing BY FAR. I've seen one case in my career (albeit short career so far) where the victim was truly in a no way out scenario unless outside intervention was carried and they were a child. With everyone else, the message is always the same, there is always hope and there is always help. Don't be afraid to speak out and seek assistance. Those words are easier said than done and often require a very large perceived physiological barrier to be crossed but the message remains true.
I understand the predicament that the player was in here and it's a truly horrible situation to be in. The fact of the matter is that there's many different ways to skin a cat and although beating the coach up might seem drastic, there was likely other ways for said player to remove themselves from that immediate situation and seek assistance. Just horrible business though and the Hawks and that POS coach deserve all the reprimanding and punishment.
MarkT
Heretic
- Nov 11, 2017
- 3,997
- 4,513
I don't know why you're telling me that nobody is victim-blaming, considering I never accused anyone of that. My main issue is the lack of empathy I have seen. I understand that many people are raised to respond to situations like this with violence. I personally was not raised this way although I responded to bullying with violence many times, so I understand the urge. The problem is there are people in this thread who seem to believe the only acceptable response to this situation is violence, and are then judging the player for not taking this avenue. To me, that smacks of a lack of empathy.
What I'm trying to explain is that for many people, "nothing comes above personal health of yourself and your family, no matter what", but not everyone ranks personal health of themselves as high. I think based on what happened, we can assume being a pro hockey player was more important to the victim than anything that happened to him personally. Despite how people in this thread want to describe that, it is not a character flaw or something worthy of criticizing him for. Just because he had different priorities and values than someone else doesn't mean that person is better than him.
I'm not including you in that, except that last paragraph. Honestly, to me, all the looking for what he should or could have done instead comes across as attempts to either place blame on him for what happened (in addition to Alritch) or in some way lessen how much support or compassion he should be given. The darker motive though might be to infer that he actually wanted to go along with Aldrich, and thus isn't even a victim after all, but a willing participant - after all, if he didn't want to do it, he should have fought back or "found some other way to remove himself from that immediate situation and seek assistance", right?
In a different context, say in a discussion about self-defence or how to respond to sexual coercion, these kinds of comments might be appropriate. But as the primary comment in response to a story of someone being sexually assaulted? Even if you have perfectly noble motives, you can't blame anyone for accusing you of victim-blaming or other negative motives.
