Pests. They're the guys you love to hate. That really scrappy player that loves to get under the other team's skin. The guy that puts up good numbers even as he's annoying the heck out of the opposition and their fans. He's the 5'6" second baseman that your team can never seem to get out and who always hits in the clutch against your team (I'm looking at you Dustin Pedroia). He's that running back that only gets 10 touches a game, but still manages to put up monster numbers because teams just can't seem to wrap him up -- Leon Washington comes to mind.
No sport values the "pest" more than hockey. It seems that every team needs one. The guy who is constantly buzzing around the ice, hitting everything in sight, drawing penalties by annoying opposing players, and contributing the occasional goal here and there.
Besides that loving hatred though, I bet there is one other thing that each of these players gets from you....respect.
Well there is one hockey player that has all the traits of a pest, but is the epitome of DISRESPECT -- Sean Avery. He's not a pest. He's a parasite.
He is not a player I love to hate. He is a player that disgusts me. His antics in last year's playoffs when he started waving his arms and stick in front of Devils' goalie Martin Brodeur's face were so ridiculous that one of Avery's own teammates on the Rangers yelled at him on the ice to cut it out and get back into the play. This is a man who during a pre-game interview told reporters that he was going to "rip the stitches out" of Islanders' defenseman Radek Martinek's chin -- which he then "attempted" to do during the game. This kind of nursery school behavior has no place in hockey, in sports, or anywhere for that matter.
Several days ago though, the impossible happened...he stooped even lower. Avery transcended the game of hockey and went from being a childish, unsportsmanlike athlete, to being a despicable human being. If you haven't heard about this, Avery (now playing for the Dallas Stars) called some TV cameras over before a game and made this incredibly disgusting and sexist statement, "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds. I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight." This was in reference to his ex, actress Elisha Cuthbert, now dating Dion Phaneuf of the Calgary Flames, the team that Avery's Stars were playing that night.
Much has already been chronicled about the human aspect -- the comments were disrespectful, sexist, disgusting, and altogether inappropriate -- so I am not going to be redundant and add to that here. However, I think there is one angle that is being overlooked, and that is Avery's competitive motivation behind this.
Aside from whatever reasons he had for making this comment, I have to believe that he said these things in order to really piss off Dion Phaneuf so that during the game Phaneuf would be distracted with trying to get revenge on Avery. No doubt he was hoping that Phaneuf would take a whack at him with his stick and get a penalty, maybe even get him to retaliate so strongly that he gets kicked out of the game.
How low do you have to stoop to get under another player's skin? Is this what he has to resort to these days? You want to yap at other players while you're on the ice? Fine. You want to give a guy an extra shove after the play is over? Fine. But this? THIS??? Just so you can get your team two minutes of power play time? Never.
Sean Avery is not a pest. He's a parasite, and it is time for the parasite to go away.
And if you disagree...go ahead and tell me I'm wrong.
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