NHL Can't Xi Its Way To Beijing Olympics

Revenge, goes the phrase, is a dish best served cold. If that’s true then the Communist Party of China is dining on frozen puck pie at the news that the NHL and NHLPA will not participate in the Beijing mens hockey tournament in February— the signature event of the Games. 

Forget (if you can) the messy pottage that allowed the CPP to acquire these Olympics when no one in their right mind wanted any piece of the International Olympic Committee’s demands to host the Games. Forget (if you can) the abominable human-rights performance of China ranging from the Uyghurs concentration camps to the Two Michaels imprisonment.

No, concentrate on the karma sandwich delivered to the Chinese autocrats who either willfully or accidentally unleashed the Covid-19 viral disaster upon the world. And who’ve refused to accept any blame for the calamity. This refusal by NHLers to participate in the highlight event of the Potemkin Olympics is exquisite payback to the schemes of Chairman Xi and his apologists in the West (you know who you are Mr. Trudeau) to gloss over their roles in the tragedy of the past 20 months.

A number of compromised Westerners ranging from Dr. Anthony Fauci to the NBA bootlicks have tried to obscure what a heinous crime the Covid release has been. Understandable since they often funded the labs in question and want plausible deniability. But it appears unequivocal that the virus that killed over five million worldwide had its origins in Wuhan. 

Some believe it was a tactical biological weapon the Chinese were testing on their own people before unleashing it on enemies for military purposes. Others say that it inadvertently escaped due to gross incompetence in the lab that was being financed by American and European money.

(Canada’s role in the Covid coverup has been obscured by its feckless PM shutting down information about the workings of Chinese technicians in a Winnipeg lab— under the flimsy pretext of national security.) Whichever  scenario you prefer, to suggest that its origins were not with the CPP and their military arm is countenanced only by China grovellers like LeBron James.

Oh sure, there will be a C Pool hockey tournament foisted on the public so China won’t lose every game 20-0. The women’s hockey teams still appear ready to go. Ditto skiers and figure skaters. And top athletes in a number of other events are holding their nose and risking five weeks in a quarantine for the right to win a gold medal and some endorsement money. Sportsnet/ CBC will dedicate zero scrutiny to this farce . 

The compromised suits of the IOC will mumble on about the loss of prestige and the Olympic spirit as reasons to still participate in their CPP love-in. But the recent decision by the WTA (the women pro tennis organization) to forgo billions in profits over the treatment of Chinese star Peng Shuai shows this for the staggering hypocrisy it is .

Before we put NHL commissioner Gary Bettman up for the Nobel Peace Prize it should be noted that the Omicron invasion gave his league cover to dodge a Games “distraction” his owners hate. There is no noble human-rights stance at work here. Connor McDavid is not worried about the Uyghurs so much as not having to be locked up in the Beijing Hilton for five weeks when he could be leading the Edmonton Oilers to the postseason.

Still, this reluctant rain check by the NHL is a seismic PR shot to a Winter Games that was supposed to show the world what a swell place modern China is— when you’re not choking on pollution. Having the very best hockey players and their fans across Europe and North America watching the tournament in China was a PR coup for the people who live in fear of political coups. 

Now the desired videos of a beaming Chairman Xi will have to be with other compliant athletes. With the wild card of governmental Omicron panic there may yet be withdrawals of other high-profile athletes before the Games begins. We can only hope. If those withdrawals get to be too much some has suggested delaying the entire event for a year so nations can get past the current hysteria. 

And while we’re looking at athletes denying politicians a PR bonanza, will any tennis players forgo a trip to January’s Australian Open after the images of police-state tactics on their unvaxxed population in the host city of Melbourne?  What messages are the best tennis stars sending by going ho-hum about a government that creates detention camps in Queensland for people not buying the mandated vaccines and lockdowns? A regime that does midnight raids, snatching people from their homes in the dead of night?

Defending mens champion Novak Djokovic— who says he won’t be vaccinated— is a tipping point. The Victoria state sport minister, says ”If Djokovic chooses not to be vaccinated and is not accepted in the expert committee, he will not play the Australian Open. In order to enter the tournament, he must have a good excuse to explain the reason for their non-vaccination," said Martin Pakula.

The CPP would be proud of his rigidity. It will probably be enough to cow the rank-and-file of the ATP and WTA. But tennis has long been the courageous sport of Billie Jean King. Wouldn’t it be great if they told the Stasi minister… err, sport minister that you’ll come back when they start acting like liberal democracy again?

We can dream. Till then we can send Chairman Xi DVDs of the 2018 Olympic hockey tournament to help the old tyrant fill his nights without NHL players in Beijing. 

Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx