Simmonds blasts 'gutless' tweeters
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
Simmonds blasts 'gutless' tweeters
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds was sickened by the dozens of racist and vulgar comments that Twitter users directed at his close friend, Washington’s Joel Ward, after he scored an overtime goal to defeat host Boston, 2-1, in Game 7 of their first-round series Wednesday.
“It’s the Internet. They can say whatever they want, and they don’t have to show their faces,” said Simmonds, who, like Ward, is one of 28 black players in the NHL. “It’s disgusting. Things like that have happened to me before. It’s not something you want to happen, but it’s sad in this day and age that it continues to happen.”
Simmonds, 23, and Ward, 31, both grew up in Scarborough, Ontario, but they didn’t meet until about five years ago. They have trained together in the last two off-seasons.
“We’re good buddies and it was nice to see him score. You could see the relief on his face,” Simmonds said after the Flyers’ practice Thursday in Voorhees. “The celebration was classic. He just smashed his stick into the ice, and it was pretty funny.”
Simmonds, who denied tweets that he received racial slurs during the Flyers’ recent games in Pittsburgh, said social media is getting out of hand.
“It is what it is. People can be as gutless as they want,” he said. “They don’t have to show up. They just throw a comment out on the Internet and it’s getting kind of ridiculous. Social media is not meant for that. It’s for ‘Say, hey, nice score. Congratulations.’ You’re not supposed to throw things out like that.”
In the preseason, a fan threw a banana peel at Simmonds during a Sept. 22 exhibition in London, Ontario, against Detroit. The 26-year-old man was fined $200 for “provincial trespassing,” but police said there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him with a hate crime.
“I guess it is what it is, but it’s sad I have to say that, though,” Simmonds said of the latest incidents.
Ward told USA Today the slurs were “shocking to see, but it didn't ruin my day. It doesn't faze me at all. We won, and we are moving on. … People are going to say what they want to say.”
Ted Leonsis, the Capitals’ owner, wrote on his blog that “there should be zero tolerance for this kind of hate mongering. Their messages should now stay glued into the algorithms to place a forever warning and a mark upon these people and their actions.”
Leonsis called Ward “a great teammate and a great citizen. He is now the star of stars in our city for his heroics” on Wednesday night.
Ward said he thought it was “just kids” who tweeted the comments.
Contact Sam Carchidi @scarchidi@phillynews.com, or on Twitter @BroadStBull.
I'm a die hard Philadelphia fan who lives in Boston. I'm saddened to hear anything to to do with racialism in society. It's pure chicken &@&@&@— adipaolo- Hope the incident provides motivation, not a distraction, to Ward and Simmonds.— Claudio Vernight
- It's not just Boston, racists are everywhere, sad to say. Hopefully, they all burn for eternity!— JBinPA
- Take the "high road" Wayne. You'll always have ignorant bigots who, as you point out, hide behind their computer screen and say anything they want without consequence. As a fan, I am impressed with your attitude and hard work on the ice. Let your actions continue to speak for you.— dogman5
- wawa22, what the hell are you talking about? Talk about stupidity at an all new level? Geez!!!!!!
— cote32 - Hey snipes...How about you quit the political BS in here. Especially on the conservative sites. Seriously? STFU. People on both sides of the aisle are racists. Save your liberal slant for a real debate.— crossefire00
- You are correct about racism on both sides, and in both directions. I didn't say (nor do I know) if the people spewing racial hatred on articles are republican or democrat, but I don't see a lot of anti-black comments on liberal websites, do you?, and that is what we are talking about in this article. Sorry if that upsets you-- I certainly was not trying to make a political statement; more like a humanitarian one.
- I didn't realize so many Republicans were Bruins fans.— pigday31
- To be honest, I am so thankful for social networking...it makes it all that much tougher to hide from the truth about the society we live in. Sure it is the minority, but it's still more than most people would like to admit.
Take for instance a comment & a response I saw after the Flyers eliminated the Penguins: I saw a comment about how hockey is for "white trash" who are inferior athletes to black men; and the response was that it would be better if black men were "hung".
I think hatred like this needs to be brought to the masses through vehicles like social network; it exposes the ignorance & racism that still exists in this country and world at a large...and hopefully gives the righteous all the more motivation to get to the ROOT of the problem, (not just get pissed about the end results).— Reality Speaks - This is a riot all the self righteous comments. If the Flyers had been ousted of the playoffs by the same player it would have been the same social hate coming from this City. Bunch of hippocrates.....— delcodanno
In the end the best thing is to not be "connected" with Twitter, etc. I'm like Coach Reid in that regard, I'm not sure what a tweet is, but it wasn't a good tweet.......
- If you want to find out what a tweet is you might call Councilman Jim Kenney - he's contracted a company to help him tweet and it only costs #28,800 per year.
Of course you'll have to cough up the money yourself - Kenney charges it to us, the taxpayers... - Unfortunately, the anonymity of twitter and comments to articles has set the stage for the immature, negative, and even racist portions of the population to run rampant.
And, unfortunately, sports and politics is where much of this type of commentary runs rampant.
I've been known to poke the bear a little bit when it comes to Flyer fans (1975!!), but I don't insult people or wish harm on them. And I'm always disheartened by what I read on blogs and twitter, whether it's the n-word from Boston, Philly fans talking about how they want to see Crosby have another concussion, or Pitt fans saying something similarly hurtful.
Have fun and instigate each other, but at the end of the day, it's just sports.
I have to say it again: 1975. lol— WhatWhiners - Unfortunately, the anonymity of twitter and comments to articles has set the stage for the immature, negative, and even racist portions of the population to run rampant.And, unfortunately, sports and politics is where much of this type of commentary runs rampant.I've been known to poke the bear a little bit when it comes to Flyer fans (1975!!), but I don't insult people or wish harm on them. And I'm always disheartened by what I read on blogs and twitter, whether it's the n-word from Boston, Philly fans talking about how they want to see Crosby have another concussion, or Pitt fans saying something similarly hurtful.Have fun and instigate each other, but at the end of the day, it's just sports.I have to say it again: 1975. lol (HTML deleted)— WhatWhiners
- Best thing to do is ignore it, as the first commenter suggested. If I were a professional athlete I would never look at social media stuff (including comments here). Why bother? Just ignore it because the people behind the keyboard (like myself) are anonymous and can say anything we want with no recourse. :)— Sam Crow
