Hockey seems to be a more "liberal" sport!

There was an interesting posting here about different sports and the political ideologies they seemed to correlate with etc...

Well, as of today we have some evidence that hockey seems to be a sport that correlates with pretty liberal views on social issues. (I know that Brendan Shanahan of the Detroit Red Wings appeared at a Kerry rally in Detroit).

For those of you are who are non-Canadian, Don Cherry is the very redneck, rightwing loudmouth shnook who hosts Hockey Night in Canada.  He spends most of his time bashing Quebecois and European players as being "softies" who don't get into enough fights!

Anyways, today Cherry weighed in on same sex marriage.  He said: "I don't have any problem with it... Does it cost me any money - NO, so why should I care"

Meanwhile hockey star Brett Hull also commented on equal marriage on Saturday Night Live two weeks ago.

POEHLER: Brett, you're Canadian. What do you think of this new gay marriage law passing in Canada?

BRETT HULL: Well, that's what happens in Canada when there's no hockey. Guys have more time to hang out, talk about their feelings, next thing you know they're in love with each other. I've got nothing against it, but I'd rather be playing hockey.

POEHLER: You heard it hear first folks: Brett Hull would rather play hockey than marry a dude.

•  Thanks for that

  God I miss hockey.

  If the NHL ever comes back, hopefully Hull and Roenick one day will have their own show or do color commentary for ESPN/CBC.

  still holding out hope for the season (and for Portland to one day have a pro franchise)!

  by pdxcutter on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 03:17:51 PM PST

•  That being said...

  I don't think there is anything about the sport of hockey itself that has a more leftwing ethos than baseball or football etc... (keep in mind all that fighting etc...) Its just that the people who play have habit of coming from very socialistic places like Canada and Sweden.  Even in the US, blue states are places where hockey is popular (ie: New England, Minnesota, Michigan etc...) and John Kerry even plays the sport.

  by CanuckObserver on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 03:35:43 PM PST

•  What amazes me about hockey

  About 99 percent of the players are unfailingly polite in post-game--and even in-game--interviews. Contrast that with Major League Baseball, the NFL, and the NBA.

  by Dump Terry McAuliffe on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 04:06:41 PM PST

  •  Canadians are polite people!

    I have heard this before.  There was an article in Sprts Illustrated a few years ago about how ruse players were in various sports.  The consensus was that baseball players were absolutely the biggest assholes of any sport, followed by football players.  Apparently basketball players were OK siunce so many of them are Black and it seems that Black athletes tend to be more pleasant than Whites.

    But the consensus was that hockey players were by far the friendliness, nicest, most respectful of all pro-athletes.

    Again, I don't think its the sport itself that makes people like that.  Its just that about 60% of hockey players are Canadian and Canadians tend to be very polite people (and so are Swedes for that matter) - you know only in Canada can someone manage to say "Please" and Thank You" and "You're welcome" five times in one sentence!

    BTW: One of the things that drives me the most crazy in the US, is the following typical rude exchange

    Me to store clerk "Thank you very much"
    Clerk to me: "Uh huh"

    by CanuckObserver on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 04:38:48 PM PST

    •  If that happened here

      that clerk would lose his/her job.

      by shaking my head in Ottawa on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 05:29:58 PM PST

      •  aoeu

        uh huh

        by TealVeal on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 05:36:17 PM PST

•  Thanks for the laugh

  I've been wondering how the folk up north have been getting by without their national pastime this year.  Withdrawal is starting to set in down here.  A fellow Shark fan was just describing to me in the elevator that he watched a rerun of an old Sharks game the other night... I didn't even know they were rerunning old games.

  I'd given up on the year before it ever started, but the election kept me sufficiently distracted for the first couple of months of what would have been hockey season.... now it's very disorienting... need something to do with my time lest I become a vegetable sitting in front of the computer.

  What does Cherry talk about on HNIC now, the minors?

  by dalemac on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 04:10:27 PM PST

  •  Yes

    He has a financial interest in a major junior A franchise in the Toronto area. That and talking about his fast food chain.

    by shaking my head in Ottawa on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 05:31:30 PM PST

•  That was the TSN interview

  from last Friday, right?

  by shaking my head in Ottawa on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 05:27:49 PM PST

•  Now I Know What Don Cherry Really Means

  When he says, "never turn your back on a guy in the corner."

  by Voting Dem on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 05:37:04 PM PST

•  Hockey fan and ...

  ... (gasp!)a liberal!  Okay, it's just the Washington Caps which barely passes for hockey but hey ... what can I say? I live in DC (sorta).  

  (I'm still hoping for a season but that gets dimmer and dimmer)

  Feh.

  And w still rules the white house.  Sucks.

  by Bexley Lane on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 05:40:32 PM PST

•  aoeu

  So what's up with the strike?  Why's it happening?  When is it over?

  by TealVeal on Tue Dec 21, 2004 at 05:48:00 PM PST