St. Louis Blues fans will have the opportunity to see several of the NHL’s top players of color this month at the Scottrade Center.
On Thursday night, Joel Ward and the San Jose Sharks are in town. Ward was a thorn in the Blues’ side during the Western Conference Finals, helping propel the Sharks to the Stanley Cup Finals. Ward scored three goals, including the game-winner in the clinching Game Six.
The game’s best black player, P.K. Subban, visits with the Nashville Predators on Saturday. Subban has three goals and five assists this season. He was traded from Montreal for Shea Weber during the offseason. Weber has outplayed him, scoring seven goals and adding six assists.
Former Blue Chris Stewart (two goals, three assists) and the Minnesota Wild take on the Blues on November 26. The Dallas Stars, featuring tough defenseman Johnny Oduya (four assists) are here on November 28
Popovich words are perfect
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was born in 1949 in East Chicago, Indiana. There was no silver spoon in his mouth, no easy path to stardom. His father was Serbian, his mother Croatian.
After graduating from high school, he attended the U.S. Air Force Academy. He played basketball on scholarship and graduated in 1970. After serving his nation for four years in the U.S. Air Force, and considering a career with the Central Intelligence Agency, Popovich embarked on his Hall of Fame basketball coaching career.
I never knew his political persuasion or his beliefs – until last Friday. The gut-wrenching result of the presidential election on Nov. 8 has left much of America in a struggle to find the right words.
Coach Popovich, the stage is yours.
“Right now I’m just trying to formulate thoughts. It’s too early. I’m just sick to my stomach. Not basically because the Republicans won or anything, but the disgusting tenor and tone and all of the comments that have been xenophobic, homophobic, racist, misogynistic,” he told reporters.
“I live in that country where half of the people ignored all of that to elect someone. That’s the scariest part of the whole thing to me. It’s got nothing to do with the environment and Obamacare, and all of the other stuff. We live in a country that ignored all of those values that we would hold our kids accountable for. They’d be grounded for years if they acted and said the things that have been said in that campaign by Donald Trump.
“I look at the evangelicals and I wonder, those values don’t mean anything to them? All of those values to me are more important than anybody’s skill in business or anything else because it tells who we are, and how we want to live, and what kind of people we are. That’s why I have great respect for people like Lindsey Graham and John McCain, John Kasich, who I disagree with on a lot of political things, but they had enough fiber and respect for humanity and tolerance for all groups to say what they said about the man.
“That’s what worries me. I get it, of course we want to be successful, we’re all going to say that. Everybody wants to be successful, it’s our country, we don’t want it to go down the drain. But any reasonable person would come to that conclusion, but it does not take away the fact that he used that fear-mongering, and all of the comments, from day one, the race-baiting with trying to make Barack Obama, our first black president, illegitimate. It leaves me wondering where I’ve been living, and with whom I’m living.
“The fact that people can just gloss that over, start talking about the transition team, and we’re all going to be kumbaya now and try to make the country good without talking about any of those things. And now we see that he’s already backing off of immigration and Obamacare and other things, so was it a big fake, which makes you feel it’s even more disgusting and cynical that somebody would use that to get the base that fired up. To get elected.
“And what gets lost in the process are African Americans, and Hispanics, and women, and the gay population, not to mention the eighth-grade developmental stage exhibited by him when he made fun of the handicapped person. I mean, come on. That’s what a seventh grade, eighth grade bully does. And he was elected president of the United States. We would have scolded our kids. We would have had discussions until we were blue in the face trying to get them to understand these things. He is in charge of our country. That’s disgusting.”
A reporter then interrupted him.
“I’m not done,” Popovich said. “I’m a rich white guy, and I’m sick to my stomach thinking about it. I can’t imagine being a Muslim right now, or a woman, or an African-American, a Hispanic, a handicapped person. How disenfranchised they might feel. And for anyone in those groups that voted for him, it’s just beyond my comprehension how they ignore all of that. My final conclusion is, my big fear is – we are Rome.”
Dexter Fowler could go red
Dexter Fowler has rejected a qualifying offer from the World Champion Chicago Cubs, officially making him a free agent. The St. Louis Cardinals desperately need a center fielder who is decent defensively and brings a steady offensive profile – and it would be ideal if he could bat leadoff.
Should he not re-sign with the Cubs, Fowler’s resume makes him the perfect candidate for the Cardinals – not to mention it would be refreshing to have an everyday player that is black.
“You can’t control what goes on, but I loved my time in Chicago and I’m definitely not counting them out, but we’ll see what God has planned for us now,” he said recently on ESPN.
Fowler hit .276 with 13 homers, 48 RBIs, 84 runs and an .840 OPS in 125 games in 2016. His .393 on-base percentage would have led the Cardinals, topping Matt Carpenter’s .380.
Obviously, the Cardinals are not Fowler’s lone suitor. The Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, L.A. Dodgers and Texas Rangers are also reportedly in the running for his services. These teams figure to not shy away from the hefty price tag, while the same cannot be said of the Redbirds based on past free-agent failures.
