OHL player suspended after `Euros' comment

Duluth News Tribune ^ | 02-02-04 | AP

[jaykay]

	Posted on Mon, Feb. 02, 2004
	OHL player suspended after `Euros' comment Associated Press PLYMOUTH, Mich. Plymouth Whalers defenseman James Wisniewski has been suspended for five games by the Ontario Hockey League for using the word "Euros" during a game. During Plymouth's 7-4 loss Friday to visiting Owen Sound, Stefan Ruzicka challenged Wisniewski to a fight, and Wisniewski reportedly responded by saying he did not fight "Euros." The comment was overheard by a linesman. Wisniewski, Plymouth's captain, received a gross misconduct penalty. Ruzicka, a third-round pick by Philadelphia in last year's draft, is a native of Nitra, Slovakia. Wisniewski said he didn't think he was being insensitive, and Plymouth coach Mike Vellucci agreed. "I don't think he meant it in a harmful way," Vellucci told the Detroit Free Press. Ted Baker, the OHL's director of hockey operations, said the league does not tolerate comments directed at players based on their origin, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Baker said there was no opportunity for Wisniewski to appeal. "It was a transgression," Baker said of Wisniewski's comment. "I'll leave it to others whether it was major or minor." Wisniewski began the suspension Saturday.

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© 2004 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.duluthsuperior.com

[jaykay]

"Euro" is now an ethnic slur?

[Always Right]

"Euro" is now an ethnic slur?

Gee, I wounder if that protection only applies to native Europeans and not ones who have came to America.

[swilhelm73]

You know, Slovakia being in Europe and all, I don't really see the problem.

I think the league is fining him really for not getting in a fight when he had a chance. I mean, even the Canadians can't be crazy enough to call "Euro" an enthic slur...

[Hibernius Druid]

Please, tell me this is satire, a spoof of Political Correctness.

[jaykay]

This may seem trivial and amusing, but where may this "PC" insanity lead?
Speaking of Euros:

"Since 1993, charges of 'racism' can be brought against ethnic Swedes who raise the Swedish flag or play the national anthem"

"Laws against nationalism show us only one dimension of decrepitude. There are also laws against the Christian religion. Sixteen years ago a Swedish evangelical minister opened his Bible to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. He told his congregation that sexual perversity angered the Lord. A few months later this evangelical pastor found himself in jail serving a four-week sentence."

"The cause of free speech is lost in Sweden. A recent ruling of the district court of Stockholm against the Swedish daily Aftonbladet held that an anonymous user on the Aftonbadent Web site was guilty of "hate speech." To be sure, the publisher had removed the offending sentence. But the prosecution charged that the offending sentence had not been removed from the forum as fast as it should have. But even this point became irrelevant when the court decided that the crime was committed immediately upon publication."

Source: http://www.financialsense.com/stormwatch/geo/pastanalysis/2004/0129.html

Can this happen here?

[Broadside Joe]

The OHL is absolutely right. The correct term is weenie. :)

[jaykay]

Now, if anyone ever calls somebody French, then I can see throwing the book at them.

[Broadside Joe]

"Now, if anyone ever calls somebody French, then I can see throwing the book at them."

At the French? Or the person calling them French?

I vote for the french.

[Benrand]

I'ds hate to see what they'd do to Don Cherry.

Maybe there's something to be noticed when HOCKEY starts in with this boring busybodiness...

[Viet Vet in Augusta GA]

But you can call someone a "redneck" without penalty...

[Atlantic Friend]

I vote for the book being thrown at your broadside...

[GAGOPSWEEPTOVICTORY]

The OHL is absolutely right. The correct term is weenie. :)

I prefer the term "Eurotrash" myself. :)

How the heck can Euros be considered a considered a racial slur when the currency is a frigging Euro, and if you have one more than one Euro, you have two Euros? Political correctness just baffles me sometimes.

[Broadside Joe]

Ok so far that's 1 vote for french and one vote for me..


Let's see what happens..

[Atlantic Friend]

No offense taken, by the way.

[Gil4]

I guess if he had just beat the crap out of him, everything would have been OK. It's the first time in hockey history someone has received a penalty for NOT fighting.

[Broadside Joe]

"How the heck can Euros be considered a considered a racial slur"

Inferiority complex?

(Of course it isn't all euros, but for those that wish to throw stones can expect me to pick them up and throw them right back)

[Broadside Joe]

(Of course it isn't all euros, but for those that wish to throw stones, THEY can expect me to pick them up and throw them right back)

[flying Elvis]

Hilarious. So now in Hockey you can beat the scat out of someone but cannot call them a Euro? This nation is on greased skids straight down!

[raybbr]

I vote "Throw it at the french."

By the way, if I knew I was going to get fined for calling someone a euro, I would be a lot more derogatory than that.