Shut Out: Bobby Orr's Politics Trump His Right To Free Speech
As Simone Signoret once (approximately) said, “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be”.
For evidence, please refer to the pearl-clutchers of Woke Nation who’ve decided that your childhood sports heroes are free to have their own opinion— as long as it’s the same as theirs. This SJW mantra has been shattered by the discovery that their boyhood/ girlhood heroes are (get a firm grip on your chair) supporting Donald Trump for re-election.
First it was golf icon Jack Nicklaus (who BTW lives about 20 minutes from Trumpo’s Mar-A-Lago Resort) casting his support behind #OrangeManBad. While admitting that he could do without the Twitter storms, the Golden Bear opined :"I have been very disappointed at what he's had to put up with from many directions, with that, I have seen a resolve and a determination to do the right thing for our country.”
Next, and most crushing for Canadian fainting goats, NHL icon Bobby Orr (whose winter home is about 30 minutes from Mar-A-Lago) took out a full-page advertisement in the New Hampshire Union Leader to boost Trump. Showing a picture of No. 4 giving the thumbs-up to Trump, it read, “Trump has come through for Americans ‘regardless of race, gender, or station in life’.”
He then added, “He’s the kind of teammate I want”.
Orr’s endorsement was followed by a Trump back-pat from NFL legend Brett Favre. And while he hasn’t been as public as these three, QB star Tom Brady has also let people know he’s in the Trump camp. There are others, but you get the drift.
For people whose dial never strays from #CNNbreakingnews or #CBCNews this has all come as a shock that anyone in their proper mind would be in favour of Trump’s re-election. “Must be the dastardly mind tricks of FOX News!”
None more shocked than the peerless pundits of Canadian journalism. Just weeks after giving LeBron James’ political activism a tongue bath, the Globe & Mail sent in the goons for Orr. “Neither Bobby Orr nor any other athletes should be leading the political conversation” thundered Cathal Kelly.
Sure. Leave it to us.
Other Canadian sports media called Trump a “monster”, a “racist” and “a totalitarian”. You could heat most of the GTA with the steam emitted by their indignation at Orr having the temerity to speak out. Others swore to sell off their precious Orr memorabilia as if Orr had been accused of throwing a Stanley Cup Final.
One tweet sums up the indignation of the Grate White North, “Who would have thought that Bobby Orr, a close friend of Don Cherry, would support a racist blowhard who regularly spouts insane theories and insults immigrants and foreigners???"
Some political figures also jumped on Bobby. Perennial Democratic Party loser Howard Dean accused Orr of besmirching his childhood. “I’m tearing up my personally autographed photo of Orr’s winning (1972) Stanley Cup goal. He may have been a great hockey player, but he is a crummy example for my kids.”
Dean added he now prefers Wayne Gretzky, who’s a “better person”. (Best not tell Howie that Gretzky supported Harper/ Hitler in the 2015 Canadian election.)
The tell is that progressives’ right to sacred childhood memories surpasses the right of these athletic legends to have political opinions. It’s all about them. (Which is, more or less, the Woke motto. “It’s all about me.”) You can hear them howling, “Don’t harsh my childhood vibe, Dude”.
The ruckus from the sports endorsements echoed a similar pushback from Hollywood influencers to the emergence of prominent black rappers supporting Trump. In one, Tinseltown stick person Jennifer Aniston did some girl-splaining about Kanye West after he told Joe Rogan that he is still running for president.
“It's not funny to vote for Kanye. I don't know how else to say it. Please be responsible.’” Kanye laughed off the condescension. “'Wow that Rogan interview got em shook Let's gooooooooo,’… Friends wasn’t funny either.”
But #Outkick sportswriter Jason Whitlock says it shouldn’t be a surprise that black rappers are supporting Donald Trump— and catching heat from the in-crowd. “There’s been a charade, I think, particularly among black men pretending that they don’t have something in common with President Trump, and that facade is starting to end… If you go listen to hip-hop music and black men and our mentality — it’s just not that inconsistent with President Trump.”
Whitlock stresses that liberal white women like Aniston or Chelsea Handler “think it’s their job to control, maintain, and limit the amount of freedom that black people enjoy here in America. We are supposed to be beholden and dependent upon them, and it threatens them when people like Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, 50 Cent and any of these guys stray from their prescription or course of action that they want us to take. It threatens them.
“And it is (their) job as basically a modern-day overseer to whip us back in line, and it really is that simple.”
How many people will support Trump/ dump Biden because of the rappers’ endorsements or the GOAT support? We will soon learn. But nothing about the vote is likely to repair the schism in North America between those who think for themselves and those who want— no, need— to do your thinking for you.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author of Cap In Hand is also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, his next book Personal Account with Tony Comper will be available on BruceDowbigginBooks.ca this week.