Well, it didn’t take long for Wayne Simmonds to return to the spotlight.
Within a week, the former Attack forward has been the target of a racial display and then travelled the spectrum to be the alleged perpetrator of a homophobic slur.
We talked at length Monday about the incident last week at London where Simmonds had a banana thrown into his path prior to making a shootout attempt.
This week, in a contest against the Rangers, Simmonds who is now with the Flyers is accused of making a homophobic slur at former Plater Sean Avery.
Interestingly enough, the entire episode was touched off by a play in which another former Owen Sound junior, Andre Deveaux, of the Rangers was hit from behind by Tom Sestito of the Flyers.
That touched off the rumble which led to Avery delivering a ” sucker punch ” according to Simmonds, who also stated he can’t remember everything he called Avery, but did admit the verbal barrage included the homophobic slur.
Pretty ugly incidents in this day and age of the NHL and, I think it’s fair to include, pro sports in general.
What will you do to gain an advantage ? How far will you go in order to win ?
A lot of this comes down to respect, or lack of respect player to player, fans to player, maybe even players to fan.
Act of racism. Hit from behind. Sucker Punch. Homophobic Slurs.
It’s been quite a week for Wayne Simmonds and the NHL.
I’m Fred Wallace