Here is the video link, as my current location does not like youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NQB6ul2kzw
Here is what Avery said:
DALLAS -- Of all the cajoling, snide remarks and other stunts Sean Avery pulled on the way to becoming the biggest pest in hockey, never had he gone so far that the NHL believed it had to suspend him -- until Tuesday.
Avery was punished indefinitely by commissioner Gary Bettman for using a crude term about his former girlfriends now dating other hockey players. Bettman acted within hours, in time to keep Avery out of the Dallas Stars' game against the Calgary Flames on Tuesday night.
Avery's inflammatory line came following a morning skate in Calgary, Alberta. Reporters were waiting to speak with Avery about disparaging remarks he'd made last month about Flames star Jarome Iginla when Avery walked over to the group and asked if there was a camera present. When told there was, he said, "I'm just going to say one thing."
"I'm really happy to be back in Calgary; I love Canada," the Ontario native said. "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight." He then walked out of the locker room.
Now Matt is really going to be riled up...because the person Avery was referring to was his former girlfriend and daughter of Jack Bauer, Elisha Cuthbert. Cuthbert is now linked to a Calgary Defenseman, Dion Phaneuf.
Some people are saying the league went too far. I don't think so. This is not just based on Avery's current comments, but on a body of work, some of which I am very familiar with. Sean Avery, on his way to the NHL, spent two seasons in Cincinnati as a member of the now defunct AHL Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. Avery has always been a pest on the ice, getting under others skins, but he has been an arse off the ice. He frequently harassed fans, and showed up drunk at promotional events, including a charity auction where he made disparaging remarks in a drunken stupor. He frequently made disparaging remarks about fans, including young female fans. He was a horrible person, and while he had some talent on the ice, he had few friends in the locker room or in the stands.
Avery went on to stops in Detroit and Los Angeles, as well as the New York Rangers. With the Kings, he was traded from them because of his poor attitude, prima donna work ethic, and disparaging teammates. This from a player who averages less than 20 goals a season, and who frequently costs his team with penalties that supercede the value he gives by being a rabble rouser.
Avery is a bum. He has no friends in the locker room. He is violent, drunk, and abrasive.
Now, don't get me wrong. Trash talk is part of sports, and hockey. However, it is done on the ice, not in front of a camera. It is done between players, not to the media, especially when it involves a third party. Avery crossed a moral line by saying things like sloppy seconds, but also a line in terms of the code of players. You keep that stuff between the boards, not in public.
He was also suspended for his own safety. The NHL is lagging in popularity, and doesn't want this type of tabloid publicity. What if Avery had been allowed to play, and was seriously injured on the ice or crippled? People would be asking what the issue was.
Some have said the NHL went too far. However, the owner of the Stars said he would have suspended Avery if the league hadn't, because he doesn't want that crap on his team. The NHL had little choice, especially given Avery's body of work:
There is no guarantee Avery will be able to repair the damage he caused within the Stars' dressing room.
"It's going to take some time," teammate Mike Modano said. "It's a situation we'll have to address when that time comes, if it does."
Said Stars goalie Marty Turco: "It's just so disappointing for guys who have been around here for a long time and have taken a lot of pride in how this organization has been perceived. The disrespect of this morning and other things over the course of the season have been extremely disappointing for us. It's a slap in the face."
Dallas will play at Edmonton on Wednesday, again without Avery.
"Sean crossed that line," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "He won't continue with us on the trip. We've always professed that there is nobody that's ever bigger than our group or bigger than the team.
"Sean said something that just doesn't paint our organization in a good light, and appropriate steps are being taken."
Despite his tough-guy image in his job, Avery has cultivated another image in his private life: fashionista. He's pursued his interest in the fashion world by interning with Vogue magazine. He's broken into pop culture through appearances on MTV and in tabloid gossip columns; he also grabbed a spot on People's "Sexiest Scars" list in 2007 for a gash on his lip.
The Stars signed him in hopes that his grittiness would boost last season's Western Conference finalists. Instead, the injury-riddled Stars have only 22 points, tied for the fewest in the Western Conference and near the bottom of the NHL. Avery had 77 penalty minutes in 23 games. He also had three goals and seven assists.
"It's disappointing," Stars co-general manager Les Jackson said. "Brett really stuck his neck out for him. I feel bad for Brett, because he put his total trust in Sean, and Sean hasn't respected the league, the game, the Dallas Stars, Mr. Hicks. He hasn't represented anybody professionally."
Avery and Iginla were to meet on the ice for the first time since Avery told ESPN "the NHL does a terrible job of marketing" by not promoting its "villains," and that "nobody cares about Jarome Iginla and guys like that, they're just not exciting enough."
The Stars and Flames meet three more times. Next is Feb. 3 in Dallas; the Stars return to Calgary on March 18.
"He made stupid comments and it bit him," said Flames forward Craig Conroy, Avery's former teammate with the Kings. "He probably thought it was funny. The league didn't think it was funny, the Dallas Stars didn't think it was funny and nobody thought it was funny."
His current teammates were in the locker room when Avery spoke Tuesday, but didn't necessarily hear his interview. Told what he said, most were not surprised.
"We expect that out of him like we have all year," said Turco, who was critical of Avery's agitation of Brodeur during the playoffs when it happened. "You know, the show continues."
In other words, Avery is all about Avery. he cares little for the team or his sport. It is all about Avery.
Some have said why suspend him and bring him back later because he has to play the Flames eventually. Well, it is all about safety. Giving the Flames time to calm down, maybe there won't be such violence.
But, some people have said this is a first amendment issue, that Avery is being unfairly censored. No one is censoring Avery. And, nowhere does it say in the Constitution that you don't have to deal with consequences of your speech. If you say something stupid, you lose friends or have a fractured relationship. If you are the Dixie Chicks and basically insult your audience, you pay the price. No one was censoring them by not buying their records. They were exercising choice. When we engaged in free speech by doing 3 Questions, people were upset, and we paid some consequences. No one censored us. We had to deal with consequences. Sean Avery, it appears, has screwed his career for a cheap attempt at self promotion. Well, Sean, you might have a future on E! or the WWE but your days in the NHL are surely numbered. And I don't think your teammates, the fans, or the league will miss you at all...Then we will see what kinds of "seconds" YOU get.....
