Did Simmonds Use a Slur on Avery?

Rangers-Flyers. One of the most contested rivalries in sports and the ones that will be in the Winter Classic come January 2nd. But the heat between the two teams came to one of its boiling points on Monday night.

In the Rangers' 5-3 loss to the Flyers, Rangers winger Sean Avery confirmed that Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds called him a homophobic slur during the first period of a bitter preseason battle. Video replay confirmed it when it caught Simmonds hurling the slur toward Avery while he was skating on the ice towards the Flyers bench.

"I did not hear it, but I'm sure Sean Avery is not lying about it," Rangers coach John Tortorella said to the press.

Wayne Simmonds, some of us might remember, was on the other side of a racially offensive scene last week when a fan hurled a banana peel right into his path while he was skating during a preseason game against the Red Wings last Thursday in London, Ontario.

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette didn't comment on the verbal exchange. From his point of view, he saw "a couple of guys battling out there."

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation has contacted the NHL and the Flyers about the incident.

"Hate speech and anti-gay slurs have no place on the ice rink," GLAAD acting president Mike Thompson said in a statement. "The word that Simmonds used is the same word that is hurled at LGBT youth on the playground and in our schools, creating a climate of intolerance and hostility. He should not only apologize for this anti-gay outburst, but the Philadelphia Flyers and the NHL have a responsibility to take action and educate their fans about why this word is unacceptable."

This is not the first time that somebody was fined for using an anti-gay slur. You may remember that Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for his anti-gay slur toward the ref, which probably should've cost him more because of the slur and it hurts human beings in general, who are just out there living their life.

I'll say this about Avery and Simmonds: Get your acts together. You may be tough guys on the ice, but when it comes to fighting verbally, you have a choice to either play it fair or end up serving suspensions. For Avery, I don't see a suspension coming for him. I understand that he might have had something to do with his, but he's the one saying that Simmonds said this, and I think if what he said is true, then there's no suspension to him.

Avery has now been actively involved with the LGBT community, including in a public service announcement in May supporting the gay rights and marriage equality. And I like Avery for doing this. This country should all be about equality and I know it's not there. But people out there like Avery are doing something that creates equality. And with Simmonds saying comments like those slurs to him, they bring hints of the past that we don't want back into the present.

Simmonds is the bigger story here because when he was in LA, nothing like this happened. They found him a great player and he helped the Kings when they needed it. But now that he's with the Flyers, there might be something different. He has already been involved in two situations involving racism and one of it was instigated by a fan. I'm sorry, Simmonds, but if what Avery said is true, you deserve a suspension and maybe even indefinitely. We can't have this kind of act on our ice and Thompson is making a great point here. We don't say this kind of stuff to our kids or to other people we are talking to. There's a fine line to what we say and what we don't, and if we say something that we shouldn't say, there's going to be criticism and maybe even anger directed at you because of this. Think about your past. Would you want somebody to say this to you? Would you want to be brought down in something like this? I know I wouldn't. So I suggest, Simmonds, that you get your act together. You deserve a suspension and maybe even a long suspension. And many people like me don't like this, because we don't want bad parts of our past coming back to the present. We promote equality and people like you just make it harder for us to get there.

We'll see in a couple of days what the NHL will do about this issue. I want to see a suspension even if it's a long suspension, because guys like Simmonds need to learn and I mean learn fast. You say comments like this and you pay the price. In fact, I don't expect to see him back for a long time if these comments turn out to be true and the way this story is going down, they should be true. Puckheads, it's time to learn a lesson. We promote equality and everyone should treat everyone else fairly and with respect.

Information from The Associated Press and Katie Strang of ESPNNewYork.com was used in this report. For Strang's report, go to:
http://espn.go.com/new-york/nhl/story/_/id/7024659/new-york-rangers-sean-avery-says-wayne-simmonds-philadelphia-flyers-called-homophobic-slur

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