Responding To Comments

I'll be honest when I say to you that I don't mind a harshly negative criticism of my blog. In fact, some are so downright crude and vile that I find myself laughing while wondering what causes people to lose their minds while reading what I wrote. And while it takes some ability to let these angry comments roll off one's back, there are the occasional comments that simply make me wonder about humanity and where we are headed as a society. For the vast majority of people who comment, I am quite happy to be the recipient of constructive criticism and helpful advice, especially when I've made a mistake. Comments like those received today, however, show we may still have a few gene pools that are a little shallow.

The article that drew the ire of the two online critics was my article about my hatred of the black alternate uniforms introduced by Canada for the Olympics, aptly titled I'm Defecting. If you know anything about me, it's that I can't stand black uniforms, especially if that color is a tertiary color in the color scheme of the team in question.

Hockey Canada, whose logo cannot be worn at the Olympics due to IOC rules, still manages to get its third color worn on the ice as an entire third jersey despite there being no black in the Canadian flag whatsoever. Team USA with the red, white, and blue? Two uniforms. Team Russia with the red, white, and blue? Two uniforms. Team Sweden with yellow and blue? Two uniforms - one yellow, one blue. Team Canada with the red and white? Three uniforms. Forgetting my hatred for black jerseys in general, does anyone see a math problem here?

Anyway, back to the comments. The first comment, posted by the popular screen name "Anonymous", started off fairly nicely, playing off my comments in the I'm Defecting article about turning in my passport. However, then Anonymous starts denigrating US cities before starting in on me.

please turn in your canadian passport, move to buffalo or some other dump in the US and leave your computer here so i dont have to read this garbage ever again. cant believe i wasted 5 minutes of my time reading this waste of space your calling a blog

Look, I've been to Buffalo and it's not a bad place to live. I'm not sure why this commenter has a bone to pick with Buffalo or "some other dump in the US", but perhaps it should be the hater of our neighbours to the south that should turn in his or her passport?

In any case, the commenter chose to use five minutes of his or her life to read my personal opinion of what I think of Canada's decision to employ a black jersey. Thank you, anonymous commenter. I appreciate that you took the time to read through the article. That's more than some of the angry people have done, so thanks for that. While there wasn't a lot of constructive criticism, I'll certainly take your recommendation under advisement.

The second commenter, who left a name that I won't use in case he feels some remorse over his comment that I will post, was a tad more crude. And while I appreciate some crass comedy, there are just some things about which you shouldn't make jokes.

listen buddy its a 3rd jersey, they're using them to play Austria...... canada will not be wearing black ( cross my fingers) in the gold medal game. Pus im pretty sure they picked black so P.K wouldnt be the only black player on the ice. so can you stop wasting peoples time with these useless blogs.just enjoy the Olympics and stop being a b---h

Picking apart this comment for spelling and grammatical errors would be petty of me, so I won't. Instead, let's look at the bigger issue of the race card being played.

First off, why would anyone even consider PK Subban's race as being a reason to wear a black jersey? There is nothing funny about that whatsoever, and to even allude to it is inconsiderate, not to mention overtly racist. Does pointing out that PK Subban being a black man help the discussion in any way?

Secondly, I'm not sure whose time I wasted, but Racist Commenter and Anonymous Commenter may want to discuss all this time they seem to wasting on me. I use my blog to post my thoughts on the game of hockey, and it's available for anyone to read. Some people actually use the comment section constructively, and I regularly reply to comments that are well thought-out and intelligent.

If you want to see your comments posted on HBIC, there's a simple formula. I will not post comments that contain profane language, racist comments, sexist comments, or comments that are demeaning to the appearance of a person. This blog is about my views on hockey and everything that comes along with it. You're welcome to disagree at any time, but things need to remain civil if we're to have a discussion.

I think everyone can agree on that.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!