GDT: Charlotte Hornets and other NBA talk

Navin R Slavin

Fifth line center
Jan 1, 2011
16,175
63,350
Durrm NC
One of the things I've always liked about the internet is its anonymity. Sometimes that's a bad thing. Sometimes it's a good thing.

We've got black hockey fans on F26. Because we know them only as usernames, we come to know them as hockey fans and hockey fans only. And over time we relate to these people as part of our hockey family.

So when a username suddenly becomes A Black Person, it means that we've now got one more close member of our hockey family who hurts for real over all this stuff, and the stakes feel a little different, and a little more personal. Maybe that's how change happens.

I don't know what to say beyond that, except to say thanks for being willing to say something you didn't have to say, and thanks to everyone for being mostly respectful and kind to each other here.

I guess that's why I've kept coming back here all this time. God knows the hockey hasn't always been compelling enough.
 

MrazeksVengeance

VENGEANCE
Feb 27, 2018
7,036
26,653
I doubt this post lasts long but I have to get it out.

I feel very lucky to be a Canes fan that's found F26. For the most part the group here is pretty accommodating to everyone and with one exception able to be pretty good about issues when it comes to race. As an African American who loves hockey and lives and dies with the Canes, you know what type of spaces you're going to be in. I've seen the dirty looks when I would make my way down to my seat at the glass. I remember having a game where I would count the number of folks who looked like me when I would go to games and for a long time you could count them on one hand. It's gotten much better now with the team being better and kids from State deciding to come to games.

Venturing out of this forum and going to the basketball forum to see what was being said about today's boycott was a mistake. Looking at our Facebook group was a mistake. Expecting the NHL to postpone today's games was a mistake. I keep expecting more from our society but looking back I'm the one who keeps making the mistake of setting my expectations too high. I bawled like a baby at work when Philando Castille was murdered. I've known it in the back of my mind forever but it was at that moment when I called my mom barely able to speak and told her it doesn't matter whether I comply or not. There is no about of money, success, education, or politeness that can stop me from being profiled and killed. Since then I haven't been able to cry or really feel anything when someone who looks like me is killed by the police. I'm just tired. Tired of being afraid. Tired of having to research what places are the most racist and dangerous when I travel. I'm tired of watching people tell us how to protest, what we should be doing, and how property is more important than what we're telling you is wrong.

I know I'm not telling you anything new or groundbreaking. I know we need change but men much smarter and wiser than I have been saying that for years/decades/centuries and things are somewhat better but that's an admittedly low bar to cross. With the changing national demographics this is an issue that isn't going to go away anytime soon. Our country is going to be more and more brown and with more influence will come more disruptions to everyday life until true change is made. So obviously I support what Milwaukee did today. I hope you do as well but I won't be surprised if you don't. All I can ask is that you do what you can to help. Until change comes you never know, I could be next.
It’s no secret I am a whiteass European, so I don’t have a real perspective what it’s truly like since I have visited the US only for few weeks as a tourist when I was seventeen.

I am just gonna say that I hope that one day these feelings of frustration and fear will leave for good. And I hope it will be sooner than later.

...

Also this post should definitely stay up. It’s articulate, heartfelt and if anyone has issue with it I have several caps lock buttons to break on their asses.
 
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MinJaBen

Canes Sharks Boy
Sponsor
Dec 14, 2015
20,669
79,605
Durm
I doubt this post lasts long but I have to get it out.

I feel very lucky to be a Canes fan that's found F26. For the most part the group here is pretty accommodating to everyone and with one exception able to be pretty good about issues when it comes to race. As an African American who loves hockey and lives and dies with the Canes, you know what type of spaces you're going to be in. I've seen the dirty looks when I would make my way down to my seat at the glass. I remember having a game where I would count the number of folks who looked like me when I would go to games and for a long time you could count them on one hand. It's gotten much better now with the team being better and kids from State deciding to come to games.

Venturing out of this forum and going to the basketball forum to see what was being said about today's boycott was a mistake. Looking at our Facebook group was a mistake. Expecting the NHL to postpone today's games was a mistake. I keep expecting more from our society but looking back I'm the one who keeps making the mistake of setting my expectations too high. I bawled like a baby at work when Philando Castille was murdered. I've known it in the back of my mind forever but it was at that moment when I called my mom barely able to speak and told her it doesn't matter whether I comply or not. There is no about of money, success, education, or politeness that can stop me from being profiled and killed. Since then I haven't been able to cry or really feel anything when someone who looks like me is killed by the police. I'm just tired. Tired of being afraid. Tired of having to research what places are the most racist and dangerous when I travel. I'm tired of watching people tell us how to protest, what we should be doing, and how property is more important than what we're telling you is wrong.

I know I'm not telling you anything new or groundbreaking. I know we need change but men much smarter and wiser than I have been saying that for years/decades/centuries and things are somewhat better but that's an admittedly low bar to cross. With the changing national demographics this is an issue that isn't going to go away anytime soon. Our country is going to be more and more brown and with more influence will come more disruptions to everyday life until true change is made. So obviously I support what Milwaukee did today. I hope you do as well but I won't be surprised if you don't. All I can ask is that you do what you can to help. Until change comes you never know, I could be next.

Thank you for making it personal. I grew up as a white person in one of the whitest states in this country, so my perspective on race relations has always been very skewed. I do really appreciate you "letting us inside" a bit on how this affects you.

I must say, I was surprised and disappointed to see hockey do nothing last night when all the other "big four" leagues playing had a response. Hopefully they learn from that mistake.
 

the halleJOKEL

strong as brickwall
Jul 21, 2006
14,479
25,292
twitter.com
the nhl's response to race issues has always been lacking, but this year has been particularly disappointing. you can't run a campaign called "hockey is for everyone" while proving time and again that it isn't. actions speak so much louder than words, and the nhl has not taken a single meaningful action in this respect. i was also disappointed/disheartened by our team's response to all of this a month ago, especially slavin's. if anyone on this team should know how tangible the issues are, and how meaningful it can be to make an actual stand for what is right, it should be him. he is in a very unique position to speak to the people who need to hear it most as a star athlete who is directly impacted.

the league really needs to read the room at this point.

something has to change. this country has major institutional issues with race, and it is unacceptable that we keep having the same conversations over and over. some people just can't or won't listen.

signed, a white guy without a shift key

@Bunch of Jurcos - thank you for your post. your contributions on this site are always highly valued, and i personally find you to be one of our best and most knowledgeable posters. i hope one day the hockey world (and the country at large) can make you feel as welcome as you do here.
 

Canes

Registered User
Oct 31, 2017
24,996
69,428
An Oblate Spheroid
As someone who gets called a communist (and worse) for my views on other places around the interwebz I understand why the striking players did what they did last night. I personally don't really see anything tangible happening because of it but I can acknowledge that players are doing what they think is right and that obviously things still need to drastically change around the country and maybe this is just the start but I truly don't know the answer(s). I feel helpless and I'm sure that's what a lot of black people have been feeling for a long time. All I can do is just try to be a good person and encourage others to do the same.
 

Joe McGrath

Registered User
Oct 29, 2009
18,055
37,805
@Bunch of Jurcos Getting dirty looks from folks in your own building is so ridiculous. I’d say it breaks my heart if it didn’t both piss me off and not surprise me at all.

On the issue here, the bare minimum a police officer can be asked to do right now is not shoot a person in the back 7 times. That seems like a real low bar to clear, yet here we are.
 

MrazeksVengeance

VENGEANCE
Feb 27, 2018
7,036
26,653
communist
Now that’d be something I could actually identify.
@Bunch of Jurcos Getting dirty looks from folks in your own building is so ridiculous. I’d say it breaks my heart if it didn’t both piss me off and not surprise me at all.

On the issue here, the bare minimum a police officer can be asked to do right now is not shoot a person in the back 7 times. That seems like a real low bar to clear, yet here we are.
On this topic let me vent here...

Imagine having half-hidden neonazi chants at a stadium. Like the number of those f*****s is low and they are usually going to football, but that’s a bloodboil material.

@the halleJOKEL

No response is better than a dishonest one. It’s obviously disheartening, but at least it shows NHL as it is - indecisive at best.
 

MrazeksVengeance

VENGEANCE
Feb 27, 2018
7,036
26,653
I just realised there is something I should share even though I am... típsyy

I was a part of a 250.000 crowd previous June. This crowd protested against our current government.
At that moment I was proud there was zero violence on behalf of the protesters.

What I didn’t cherish enough was that our police didn’t engage in any violence either.
...
These situations put things into perspective.
 
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Nikishin Go Boom

Russian Bulldozer Consultent
Jul 31, 2017
21,571
50,233
Steve Nash hired in Brooklyn. Cool.
I guess Brooklyn didn’t learn from the last time they hired a HOF PG with no experience.

I don’t like the recycling of coaches in professional sports and I don’t know that Sam Cassel would be a better option. The Nets have been here before.
 

HisIceness

This is Hurricanes Hockey
Sep 16, 2010
40,106
70,024
Charlotte


You're down 0-2 (now 0-3). You're the best team in the East (record-wise) and your star player is a year away from UFA and you absolutely need to win a championship to keep him. Him leaving will cripple your franchise and will give ammo to the fact that small-markets in the NBA cannot compete.

Just unbelievable.

I guess Brooklyn didn’t learn from the last time they hired a HOF PG with no experience.

Different ownership. I get your point though.
 
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Sens1Canes2

Registered User
May 13, 2007
10,664
8,284
I find the type of basketball the Rockets play abhorrent (and specifically, the way James Harden plays)....but if I cheer for them at all, it’s against LeBron and the Lakers. Good start.
 

MrazeksVengeance

VENGEANCE
Feb 27, 2018
7,036
26,653
I will just remind y’all that if Clippers or Lakers win, Kawhi or LeBron become the third player to win with three different franchises after Salley and Horry.

If Raptors make it, Patrick McCaw becomes the greatest luckbringer of all time.
 

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