Off Topic Tim Thomas Skips White House Visit

[Vanflyer]

Hmm, wonder why they won the Cup...

It was a trick question. You pass.

Rats, he beat me to it!

[AJgoal]

I believe he was the only American on the team last year, however. Corvo wasn't with the team and the guy Sestito ran over was a call-up.

Thomas' beef is with the size and scope of government, at least according to his statement.

I still think that boycotting a traditioinal, non-political event meant to honor your team is the wrong way to make a point, but he did make it.

[mojo1917]

the white house is the dirty, slimy symbol of all our country's problems (aside from california). +1 for tim thomas for not feeling obligated to pretend being 'honored' by obama's presence.

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.

i mean i've been to boston and there's some good restaurants but when there's a chance for some white house made rice krispie treats you gotta jump at that shiz...

[Vanflyer]

you gotta jump at that shiz..

Is it shiz or shizzle?

[mojo1917]

@Vanflyer

shi# just trying to keep it clean for the kids...

grammatically i think shiz is correct. my intention was to use it as the object predicate...

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

Is it shiz or shizzle?

Shiznit fo shizzle

[Vanflyer]

Shiznit fo shizzle

At least you got it. Mojo (bless him) throws the whole object predicate jib at me. My father was an english professor and of course I hated english. I had go look up wtf an object predicate was!! ha ha (but I think he got it wrong, because Shiz is not a verb- the way he intended, but I think Shizzle could be used as a verb)! ha ha

[AlaskaFlyerFan]

I had go look up wtf an object predicate was!!

Damn it! Now I have to go look it up!!

[Spinorama]

i think sesito should run him next game... just cause

but isn't that... thug hockey

jk bro lol, i know what you mean

[OH1FlyersFan]

The president choosing to honor this team at the White House is a political event from which the president will gain visibility. These events are orchestrated and designed specifically to gain maximum exposure for the pols involved - that's why it's a "tradition". It's all carefully calculated and planned. The president knows what he's doing. They don't do this as a private meeting between parties. They do it publicly. Everyone benefits. That's political. In my opinion, if he can politicize the event, then so can Thomas by choosing not to go, being part of the spectacle, and being used in that way.

In my old job as a legislative aide to a state senator, it was my responsibility to round up winning sports teams, athletes, you name it, so that we could honor them with a resolution on the senate floor. Troop them all in for the presentation, shake the hands, take the pictures, the works. It was totally intended to get the member's name in the paper, as a reason to issue press releases, to maximise exposure with constituents, increase name recognition, play to the fans of the team.

[JackStraw]

In my old job as a legislative aide to a state senator, it was my responsibility to round up winning sports teams, athletes, you name it, so that we could honor them with a resolution on the senate floor. Troop them all in for the presentation, shake the hands, take the pictures, the works. It was totally intended to get the member's name in the paper, as a reason to issue press releases, to maximise exposure with constituents, increase name recognition, play to the fans of the team.

That may be true for a state senator, my guess is most people in this country couldn't name their state senators anyway. Doesn't really hold for the president though. Nobody is going to vote for Obama because he met the Boston Bruins at the White House. The President of the USA doesn't need a hockey team to get in the news. Every president does this, and everyone knows it. It's not going to bring any benefit to Obama.

[terp]

Well... here's what he said on the matter:

"I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.

This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.

Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.

This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT"

Tea Party Tim. I'm always fascinated to know about the political views of actors and pro athletes....not. In fact, I most definitely preferred not knowing his political views. I would imagine the rest of the Bruins' players would prefer not to know either because it is an election year and TT just created a distraction for himself and his team. He could have chosen to just not attend but instead made a political statement and dragged his team into the political spotlight. I don't see anything noble about this.

[OzFlyer]

Here is a good read on TT's decision- http://www.csnne.com...986&feedID=3352

Haggerty: Thomas on his own as White House distraction

January 23, 2012, 11:44 pm

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Perhaps a quick Tim Thomas anecdote will shed a little light on the goaltender’s politically-charged decision to skip Monday’s team visit at the White House with the Stanley Cup.

CSNNE was doing a piece weeks ago on Andrew Ference’s efforts to recycle and encourage his B’s teammates to live environmentally-conscious lifestyles in their day-to-day existences as hockey players.

Several of Ference’s teammates, like Tyler Seguin and Zdeno Chara for instance, smiled and spoke about the nuanced ways the forward-thinking defenseman had affected them in a positive way. Seguin said he now shops for all his groceries at Whole Foods for the environmentally-agreeable organic foods recommended by Ference, and Chara mentioned taking his bicycle everywhere rather than driving.

But Tim Thomas politely declined when asked his opinions about Ference’s efforts, and admitted “we’ve got pretty opposite viewpoints on that kind of stuff.”

Thomas went on to say – with the wonderful usage of paraphrasing in hindsight – that he didn’t believe in the scientific theories powering the greenhouse effect and global warming. Instead Thomas felt like the efforts behind both notions were being pushed by those interested in growing the current green industry that’s turned into a cash cow in the United States over the last decade.

That’s pretty radical, right?

But it’s not all that distant from something you might hear tossed around on Fox News during any random weeknight broadcast where the radical right wing talking heads rule the roost. That memory immediately came to mind when it was first noticed that Thomas was the only current Bruins player missing from attendance at the White House. Mark Recchi, Shane Hnidy and Tomas Kaberle aren’t with the team anymore, and they still made the trek to the nation’s capital for the high honor.

It wasn’t all that jaw-dropping Thomas opted out of the White House visit and the photo op with President Barack Obama. Thomas has always seemed to lean very far to the right perhaps reaching all the way radical tea party range with his personal politics, and there’s no doubting it played into his decision. Perhaps he’s so far over that he’s passed right on by the edge of the right and into a whole different category where things start getting a little goofy.

Thomas’ world beliefs are pretty far off-center in most cases, but he genuinely stands behind them. There is something to be admired about all of that.

The 37-year-old goaltender released a statement distancing himself from either political party and simply stated he believes the current US government is broken.

“I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People,” said Thomas in a statement. “This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.”

The funny thing is that the Hollywood-actress thin statement brought very little to the table beyond tea party rhetoric. Thomas had a golden opportunity to look Obama dead in the eye and engage him in some lively conversation about his beliefs. That is the true democratic way: expressing beliefs, exchanging ideas and engaging in healthy debate over whatever is ailing this wonderful country of ours.

Instead Thomas – an American hero, an Olympian and the epitome of the American success story while building up from meager beginnings in Flint, Michigan – remained behind at a hotel in Washington, D.C. crafting a Facebook message while his teammates, coaches, managers and team owner answered questions about his absence.

Bruins President Cam Neely respected that his goaltender’s personal beliefs kept him away from the pomp and circumstance with the Commander in Chief, but his public “disappointment” spoke volumes about the organization’s feelings on a day intended to be a breezy, feel-good moment. Peter Chiarelli tried multiple times to convince Thomas to change his mind and do what was best for the team and the B’s organization.

But Thomas made a pretty symbolic change at the beginning of last season when he drained the Black and Gold colors from his goaltending pads and goalie mask after a summer of trade rumors. Thomas removed the Bruins logo from his mask and instead replaced it with an image of the lucky coin he wears around his neck.

The message was simple: From then on, Thomas was playing for himself first and the team second. That seemed to again be the case on Monday at the White House.

“As an organization we were honored by President Obama’s invitation to the White House. It was a great day and a perfect way to cap our team’s achievement from last season,” said Neely in a statement. “It was a day that none of us will soon forget. We are disappointed that Tim chose not to join us, and his views certainly do not reflect those of the Jacobs family or the Bruins organization.”

Thomas’ liberty-given rights, and his courage for that matter, to stand out as the only player opting out of the ceremony were never in question. Any athletic champion can decline a Presidential invitation if they choose to. Everyone remembers that Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein was conspicuously missing from both White House visits in 2004 and 2007 when Republican President George W. Bush was in office.

There was an opportunity for Thomas to make a statement about the current plight of government in the country he loves, and he seized it like a 100-mph heat-seeking puck headed straight at him.

There’s little doubt Thomas’ world view has been shaped strongly by his upbringing in hardscrabble Flint, Michigan. So he took his shot and stirred up national debate in the process. On some level it probably accomplished every goal he set out for when listing Glenn Beck as the person he’d most like to have dinner with if given the choice.

But there was a Chara-sized downside to Thomas’ actions that speak to the biggest critique of the Conn Smythe Trophy winner and Vezina Trophy winner as an overall hockey teammate.

He’s often looked at as a “Lone Wolf” that doesn’t have very much in common with his teammates. Thomas often goes his own way throughout the season, but that’s not unusual for a goaltender. It’s also not to indict him as a divisive influence or a problem because he’s neither of those things.

But Thomas clearly went his own way with the White House event, and his actions largely overshadowed the moment for everyone else in the Bruins organization, whether Thomas fans like it or not.

The question was never whether Thomas HAD the right to skip the White House visit, but SHOULD he simply have stifled his personal interests for the betterment of a team celebrating their win one last time. Many will applaud the B’s goaltender for damning the torpedoes and simply doing what he felt was right in his world view. That is the kind of stand-alone bravery that can foster change in times when it’s needed.

But here’s one suggestion: why not announce Thomas’ intentions prior to the visit in order to defuse the situation and take the heat out of it on Monday afternoon. Thomas is wonderful at stopping pucks in tense situations and he’s one of the most humble athletes you’ll ever come across.

But he’s not a brilliant PR strategist and there seems to have been no notion of getting out ahead of the train wreck that steamed into the East Wing of the White House Monday afternoon. The day should have been about Obama mentioning the “Little Ball of Hate” to Brad Marchand’s red-faced embarrassment. Or perhaps it should have been about Obama mistakenly referencing the baptism of Dennis Seidenberg’s “son” in the Cup when it was actually his two daughters baptized in the Stanley Cup on a boat off the coast of Atlantic City this summer.

Everybody makes mistakes, right?

But instead the world’s eyes, ears and mouths were dishing with frothy fervor about Thomas thumbing his nose at the president’s invite.

The team’s actual White House honoring turned into nothing more than a minor sidelight rather than the marquee top-billing it truly deserved. For that Thomas should perhaps be a little remorseful even if his government protest was well within his rights as a red-blooded, radical free-thinking Son of Freedom.

Edited January 24, 2012 by OzFlyer

[Bakanekimiwa]

It was a trick question. You pass.

brian burke's dream team almost come to fruition.

[brelic]

You really can't make such a gigantic political stand and then try to fall back into "I'm not political." Not if you're the two-time Vezina winner, Conn Smythe, Stanley Cup winning goalie.

I think he had to. If he really felt inside that he couldn't in good conscience attend, he's going to have to explain himself. Any other excuse would not have been sufficient ('I'm visiting family, it's a personal issue, etc') to skip visiting the White House.

So, he had to say *something*, and he chose to be truthful. And for that, I respect him.

If there were more people like him, maybe things would be different. Or not.

[terp]

So, he had to say *something*, and he chose to be truthful.

He didn't "have" to say anything. He could have not gone and not commented.

[mojo1917]

At least you got it. Mojo (bless him) throws the whole object predicate jib at me. My father was an english professor and of course I hated english. I had go look up wtf an object predicate was!! ha ha (but I think he got it wrong, because Shiz is not a verb- the way he intended, but I think Shizzle could be used as a verb)! ha ha

whoa big fella didn't mean to throw you into a tizzy there LOL...

however let's review and we'll skip the part where this really isn't a sentence but a bunch of fragments strung together.

"i mean i've been to boston and there's some good restaurants but when there's a chance for some white house made rice krispie treats you gotta jump at that shiz"

I believe I used the word shiz as a noun there, thus making it the object predicate of that sentence; shiz is the thing at which you must jump.

thanks for rolling with my sillyness.

[mojo1917]

@Spinorama

or course we should run Tea Party Tim.. I mean he plays for the other team... duh !

*insert 14 year old punk voice for maximum effect*

we're good, i get you...

[sarsippius]

I read Thomas' statement, and I completely agree with his view of overreaching government. Also he properly noted that this state has been willingly brought on by the actions of both Republicans AND Democrats.

But go to the White House dude, not cool to draw attention to yourself when your TEAM is being honored.

Edited January 24, 2012 by sarsippius

[flyerrod]

I guess we won't really know the full story until he posts it on FB, but I still think "good for him".

It was meant to honour his team, but from a political office. Would you feel the same way if he refused to be honoured by the American Muslim Council or the Vatican? If you don't agree with an organization or party and what they stand for, and they invite you to an official (not a personal) ceremony that represents their office, I think it makes sense to stand up for what you believe in.

Absolutely on the freakin nose brelic. Too much political correctness has crept into the world today.

[PhilsFanDrew]

I think people put way too much stock in these White House visits. Do you really think in the immediate and near aftermath of winning the Stanley Cup they thought about going to the White House to meet Obama? Not a chance. I highly doubt his teammates look at him any differently for exercising his right by not going and if they do it speaks to their own insecurity and they are the ones with the issue not him.

[brelic]

He didn't "have" to say anything. He could have not gone and not commented.

True... but that probably would have just drawn more attention. But, you're right, he could have just not said anything.

[flyerrod]

That may be true for a state senator, my guess is most people in this country couldn't name their state senators anyway. Doesn't really hold for the president though. Nobody is going to vote for Obama because he met the Boston Bruins at the White House. The President of the USA doesn't need a hockey team to get in the news. Every president does this, and everyone knows it. It's not going to bring any benefit to Obama.

Well if I was Tim Thomas and had his views (which I do), I would have chosen not to go. You can bet that he was pressured to make that event, especially by the UNION driven NHLPA to show that they as a whole (the Union), have his back and support him. TT did not stand on a podium and start taking sides, preaching what you should or should not do, He made his own personal views known which in my world, will get my vote when he decides to run for political office.

[Podein25]

A good article in the Boston Globe on this.

http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/01/24/thomas-absence-left-bruins-shorthanded/0IZldFXHIvciMSfbNnkBfL/story.html

"Shabby. Immature. Unprofessional. Self-centered. Bush league" - that about sums up my views.

[JackStraw]

So, he had to say *something*, and he chose to be truthful. And for that, I respect him

Truthful? You boycott a visit to meet the president and then say it's not about politics? What is it about then, opera? Particle physics?