Friday, December 05, 2008
Why Sean Avery Got Six Days
People expressing surprise at the severity of Sean Avery's suspension from the NHL have missed, from the start, exactly what Avery was saying when he made his ill-conceived remarks.
It was clear to us from the first we heard it that Avery was using the term "sloppy seconds" intending its most graphically sexual and vulgar meaning -- not as "a disparaging term for an ex-girlfriend" but in its most literal, graphic and pornographic sense.
Sean Avery, oft-ridiculed as "Sean Gayvery" for his interest in fashion, wasn't insulting his ex-girlfriends; he was making a sexual insinuation about other NHL players. What he was saying, in so many words, was, "Gee, they call me gay but there's a lot of guys in this league that like to sleep with women after I've slept with them."
As in, immediately after he'd slept with them.
Understand that it isn't the "sexual preference" aspect of this remark that was the problem; it was that Avery intended "sloppy seconds" to be understood in its most literal, graphic, and sexual sense. That's why he's in trouble.
We knew NHL commissioner Gary Bettman would throw the book at him because we suspected that Bettman, aged 56, would hear it the way we heard it.
It was clear to us from the first we heard it that Avery was using the term "sloppy seconds" intending its most graphically sexual and vulgar meaning -- not as "a disparaging term for an ex-girlfriend" but in its most literal, graphic and pornographic sense.
Sean Avery, oft-ridiculed as "Sean Gayvery" for his interest in fashion, wasn't insulting his ex-girlfriends; he was making a sexual insinuation about other NHL players. What he was saying, in so many words, was, "Gee, they call me gay but there's a lot of guys in this league that like to sleep with women after I've slept with them."
As in, immediately after he'd slept with them.
Understand that it isn't the "sexual preference" aspect of this remark that was the problem; it was that Avery intended "sloppy seconds" to be understood in its most literal, graphic, and sexual sense. That's why he's in trouble.
We knew NHL commissioner Gary Bettman would throw the book at him because we suspected that Bettman, aged 56, would hear it the way we heard it.
