Off Topic Tim Thomas Skips White House Visit

[brelic]

I view Thomas' decision in the same light as when Sean Penn goes to Venezuela to see Chavez, both are retards, except Thomas is probably worse because he is putting himself above his team. Thomas is dumb enough to think a rich hockey player expressing his political view has any affect and Sean Penn is dumb enough to think a wealthy actor expressing his political view has any affect.

If Thomas is political, he should do things on his own time, not at the expense of his team.

I didn't read anything about Thomas using his 'status' as a vehicle for expressing his political views. Certainly, he has the ear of the media when it comes to hockey matters. And by declining the visit, those who cover hockey as well as those who cover politics took note of it. But he didn't urge citizens to take any sort of action. He just expressed that because of his views, he can't in good conscience attend.

But the bottom line is that it *does* matter to some people what the Sean Penns and Tim Thomas' of the world think. Just like it matters to millions and millions of people what Oprah thinks. But it matters to very few people what you and I think. They have built up a following based on their careers, so why is speaking out about another topic taboo? They have political opinions just like the rest of us.

I get that some people think he put himself above his team. But I don't see it that way. In his mind, in his world, his particular stance or principles or whatever you want to call it in this particular case was more important to him than the Boston Bruins.

[JackStraw]

http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/wilbur/2012/01/schneider_weigh.html

At least one Canucks player had to weigh in on Tim Thomas, right?

It happens to be Cory Schneider, the Boston College grad and Marblehead native who earned the right to play in front of his hometown fans earlier this month when Vancouver visited the Garden. Schneider's message to Thomas: "Suck it up."

"I'm not that religious but if I had the chance to meet the Pope, it'd be pretty cool,"

Schneider told The Province. "I don't believe in everything the Catholic church does, but I'd still show up to the Vatican and say Hi to the Pope.

"I have no problem with his personal beliefs, but (Thomas) can suck it up for an hour, say Hi and be with the team, and avoid all of this.

"Respect the (Presidency). He plays for Team USA and he has no problem making millions of dollars in the USA but he can?t go say Hi to the President.

"You get a lot of benefits living in the US and he should have little bit of respect for that.

"It's just the timing. It's poor timing. It's about putting your own agenda aside to do something with the team whether you like the guy or not."

Maybe it's just sour grapes?

[vonginous]

shoot i'd go just for the lunch, i'll bet the food was freakin awesome, i saw the kitchen on a cooking show once

Doesnt our taxes pay for it all anyway. We should get lunch there too.

[mojo1917]

@vonginous

totally. i'm having the mako shark sandwich pomme frittes and a white house short bread cookie dipped in the tax payers chocolate.