While I was asleep during the day (stupid graveyards), all hell broke loose on the Twitterverse and it seemed that an agent put their foot in their mouth. Huzzah!!If you hadn't heard, Sean Avery is in a new New York State campaign to legalize same sex marriages-- which he should definitely be given some dap for. However, it seems Todd Reynolds, VP of Uptown Sports Management doesn't not agree with Avery and went on Twitter to voice his opinion on it; much like Avery did in the advertisement.
However, Reynolds did not see what had happened to Dan Ellis and version one of Paul Bissonnette's Twitter Fiascos. This did blow up in his face and he had to explain himself on Twitter and then on a print and other media spree to clear himself up.
You can read it all on the wonderful Puck Daddy, mostly because he does a much better recap and has the tweets and whatever. Much better than this dreck.
First-- with Reynolds, not only does he work for a place that was probably named for a Billy Joel song; but his opinions are the same reasoning that Sean Avery went out and said what he said. Sure, it was a bit of a brash commentary, almost shaming Avery for his opinion and voicing what he feels is right. But he is right in his backtracking-- it doesn't mean that he or his company is bigoted by any nature; they maybe aren't as progressive as some other people out there. You look at the client list and guys like Chris Neil and Mike Fisher pop up-- both of whom are devout Christians. That makes me think that this company is a little right-winged/conservative leaning company that has their own ethics clause....which could make things a little more understandable-- though doesn't make it any less near-sighted.
But like I said-- it's not necessarily bigoted or intolerant-- just not as progressive. We don't think the Amish people are crazy or intolerant for not using electricity; they just aren't as free thinking or open to ideas because they have been taught one way and that's how their convictions have formed. That should count for something, at least-- they won't waiver too much from their position. To me, it wasn't right for Reynolds to do this on a CORPORATE outlet; but he's entitled to his opinion-- that's what makes North America great.
Personally-- I don't agree with Reynolds and I think you can interpret marriage or whatever how ever you feel. My big thing is that he went on the corporate feed to do this venting. It's one thing for an agency to put over their players or put over their sponsored events, but to vent about a hot-button issue on the corporate side of things is usually universally frowned upon. If you want to do it on your own feed or just not to the masses-- sobeit. I think that's the big thing that irked me, dragging the corporation into it.
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That brings me to Avery, who definitely has a set to put himself out there like that and maybe voice an opinion that a bit of taboo in terms of publicly saying this. But from someone that's out there like Avery, it's not unexpected and he's a guy who has a thick enough skin to actually defend and fight back any kind of criticism that does come his way.
Yet, I don't see how he's an angel and absolved of everything he's done beforehand. Sure, he does move up a notch, but this is still a guy who said his ex-girlfriends get passed around the NHL like a puck during a Vancouver Canucks power play. He's an agitator to the extreme, even getting annoying enough to have his own rule for being an all-around jerk and putting himself over on a gamely basis. I don't see how an opinion like this from him absolves him and puts everything else to rest. As good as he is coming out on this and standing up for gay marriage-- there's a lot of crap he did beforehand and this almost feel like community service for the past bad deeds he's done.
In any case-- Avery comes out looking good; Reynolds comes out looking bad-- as does Uptown Sports Management. Yet, in the end-- it's all a matter of opinion, it's all a matter of viewpoint, and regardless of which way you look at it, the other side shouldn't be lambasted if they think differently.
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