On Monday night the Chicago Blackhawks played the Vancouver Canucks in what was a much hyped game in the final week of the NHL's regular season, both teams fan bases and players don't like each other very much after some memorable playoff series and regular season contests, and no player exemplifies the hate the two sides have for each other more than Duncan Keith.
The Hawks defensemen concussed the Canucks Daniel Sedin last season, ending Vancouver's hopes of getting back to the Stanley Cup after being first in the league in the regular season. Vancouver lost in the first round of the playoffs and many people in BC blame Keith for that.
While that may be an on ice issue many Canucks fans have with Keith, the successful NHL defensemen drew my ire on Monday night, not with his actions on the ice, but with the way he treated a reporter from Vancouver's radio station.
After the game when asked about a play Keith earned criticism for, the player rudely attacked a female reporter with the lines "Have you ever played the game," and when told she can't skate the phrase "Oh the first female referee, great."
The reporter in question asked Keith a very difficult question that was going to anger the player regardless of what was going to happen, but the way Keith handled the reporter was unacceptable for one of two reasons.
Firstly, it was sexist. I have seen people on twitter and in columns defending Keith using the argument "He would have said the same to a male reporter asking the same line of questioning" but that is a joke and it is even more shameful people in the media are defending it. You can't bring someone's gender into insulting someone trying to do their job, if you did that at any other place of business (yes, a hockey rink is a place of business, people earn their money there and it has employees) you would be kicked off the premises and police would be involved. Plain and simple.
Secondly, the phrase "you haven't played the game" is one of the biggest cop out comebacks athletes have ever used against the media. Yes, I understand that some people in sports media are not the most athletically inclined or the most physically built people in the world, but many of them are involved in this career because they love sports. They likely have played sports at a competitive level at some point down the line in their lives and they understand the heat of the moment.
Duncan Keith lost. Duncan Keith did something in the game that caused his team to lose. That is his job.
The reporter then asked him about it. That is her/his job. It is then Duncan Keith's job to answer it or say "next question" or "no comment." There is no need to belittle someone doing their job just because they don't play in the NHL. Or they don't have hockey credentials. That is some of the stupidest logic I have ever witnessed involving sports media. It's just wrong.
We as reporters do something that Duncan Keith has yet to ever do, we write about the game, we write about the event. Often we write it without getting our personal emotions involved, or our own opinions. We also as reporters, have to develop a knowledge for our field. If that reporter knew nothing about hockey, she wouldn't be there. Especially in a major media center like Vancouver. It wouldn't happen.
I have never played one game of competitive hockey in my entire life. Never played minor hockey, nothing more than some schoolyard shinny with friends. Am I unqualified to write this column? I have watched over 100 Junior hockey games this year, and many more on television as part of my freelance gig on an NHL blog and being a fan of the game since I was practically an infant. Am I still unqualified? Duncan Keith thinks I am. Just because I can't fire a 100 MPH slap shot.
Would everyone following the political beat be unqualified because they are not a president? Or a member of parliament or at least a MLA? Duncan Keith thinks they are. "They have never played the game." So they probably should look for other employment. I am defending the media on this, know why? I play the game and he doesn't.
