Still into hockey, but some days it's harder

[schneefink]

Follow-up to my post from yesterday about quitting fandoms and hockey (rpf) in particular: there is yet another in a long list of shitty incidents. This time, an AHL prospect was charged with a revenge porn felony, and even though he was arrested and charged over a month ago the team let him keep playing until it became public on social media. UGH.

There were some good responses and comments on being a woman in hockey sports fandom on Twitter:
Hannah Stuart
@Puckologist
Jen LC
Megan Richardson
Sarah Connors
Sasky Stewart
Hockey Babbler
And not on Twitter:
"The NHL's problem with women", by Julie Di Caro
Women in hockey being heard, but not loud enough, by Scott Wheeler (Pension Plan Puppets)

One that feels unfortunately familiar:
m g: "Hockey has brought me a lot of fun and many friendships, but when I see the decisions made by @Puckologist @acciohockey @butyoucarlotta ... amongst many others, I know that's my future. That I'm just waiting for the scales to tip. For the negative to outweigh the positive."

Every time someone leaves the sports fandom feels lonelier/scarier afterwards. Fandom should not feel like a fight.

To sum up, Casey:
"To the women who stay and push back: thank you.
To the women who need a break: You deserve to feel safe & happy, not trapped."

Comments

[schneefink]

:( It must be even worse for Blackhawks fans. *hugs* (Hossa is indeed amazing!)

If you can't find another team to fall in love with, for what it's worth I think there's nothing wrong with continuing to be a fan of the Blackhawks, excluding Kane. It's possible to love things that are very problematic. Unfortunately in this case, from what I've seen, large parts of (the remaining) Blackhawks fandom are, uh, unpleasant to put it mildly, that makes things harder.

[myrdschaem]

Yeah, and the fans that give me hope - subtlelikeseabrook, regressedpdo, raedances and others - are the reasonable ones and are also turning their back. Those are the "mainstream" fans I enjoyed the most and their approach to fandom. At least they turned out as good as I thought.

On the other hand, there's active, fanfic writing fans that want to stay put and kinda sour my experiences before through their conduct now.

(Sorry for taking so long to answer! and always complaining when I do!)

[schneefink]

No excuse necessary, it's a hard topic.

Newest development, they found out that the prospect committed the crime in another state (where it's only a misdemeanor and not a felony) and so the charges were dropped. The Blackhawks immediately lifted the suspension. At this point I'm not even surprised anymore.

I'm a bit worried that I'll fall out of love with both hockey and hockey rpf before I've found a new fandom, but I'll see what happens. It'll probably be a slow process anyway, might be this summer, might be another few years.

[myrdschaem]

Argh, I didn't see this yet but ofc. Just another strike not to stay.

Idk how t is for you but I can feel myelf antsy for something? Another team or another fandom, but right now it's not really compelling to stay. I will probably watch Panthers in the playoffs I think now! The style is similar and I can see myself rooting for Lu getting his hard ware :D Also, chicago south, I guess, so some faces I know.

[schneefink]

I'm lucky, I'm not aware of anything overly stupid my team has done since employing douchebag Harry Zolnierczyk and he's gone now. (And of course Lemieux still shows up every so often.)

The Panthers should be fun! Sadly I'm not optimistic that they'll make it very far into the playoffs, but who knows? Iirc their most likely first round opponent are the Islanders who haven't been that good lately so it's definitely possible. Lu and Jagr, and Willie Mitchell even if he doesn't play anymore, getting a Cup together would be great :)