Sean Avery used to be a professional hockey player. He played his last game in December 2011 and formally announced his retirement the following March on the Bravo television program “Watch What Happens.” At 32, Avery’s career, which was better known for everything else but hockey, was over.
Nearly five years later, after making a name for himself as a trash person on the ice, he may have cemented his legacy as a trash person off the ice as well.
Avery is receiving much-deserved scorn for a Snapchat bit where he walks up to sleeping homeless people on the streets of New York, wakes them up and asks them for the time.
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Retired sports millionaires have many ways to fill the hours after a whirlwind career ends. Some go into broadcasting. Some go into coaching. Some start philanthropic endeavors. Some walk through Manhattan and film homeless people for their own amusement. Life is a rich tapestry.
If you’re unfamiliar with Avery’s non-hockey work, here are a few highlights:
• In 2007, Avery was fined $2,500 for incident involving Jason Blake of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Blake had been diagnosed with leukemia, and reports indicated that Avery used that in trash talk on the ice.
• In 2008, Avery was suspended six games for saying NHL players love his “sloppy seconds” to reporters. At the time, Dion Phaneuf was dating Elisha Cuthbert, who used to date Avery, hence the comment from Avery.
• Also in 2008, there was an incident with a fan that involved such graphic language that there’s no way to tease it here and keep this thing PG-13.
But hey, sometimes things get said in the heat of the moment — although that doesn’t really apply to the scripted thing about sloppy seconds. Walking outside with the predetermined intention to make fun of homeless people is depraved. Although, the brilliant Avery has answer for anyone angry at him for the harassment of homeless people.
Harassment (the act of systematic and/or continued unwanted and annoying actions of one party or a group, including THREATS and DEMANDS)
— Sean Avery (@imseanavery) July 5, 2016
Next time someone asks me for the time while I'm standing on the street I'm calling the police….#Harrasement
— Sean Avery (@imseanavery) July 4, 2016
Man, he’s like Jack McCoy and Will Hunting all rolled into one! “Your honor, if I may object forthwith to the prosecution’s claim of harassment, all due respect, based on this Google search, I must be making THREATS or DEMANDS for this to constitute the heretofore threshold of harassment, your honor. No further questions!”
Just because something doesn’t rise to the criminal definition of harassment — although I’d love to see this play out in a courtroom — maybe the fact that you just did something that caused you to look up a legal definition is a time to pause for reflection.
Asking a homeless person living on the street for the time is not the same as asking you for the time. A homeless person has nothing, and you know it; hence you’re asking them the question for a crappy laugh. This would be like hockey players walking up to you and asking you, “Do you know how to play hockey?” It’s funny because you were bad at it and just like the homeless person, you don’t have the answer.
Buddy, you’re harassing homeless people. At least own that you’re being awful. Everyone else accepts it, even the people you’re mass retweeting to make it seem like everyone likes what you’re doing.
This won’t be the last we hear from Avery, as he has a role in the upcoming movie Patriots Day, which is about the Boston Marathon bombings. Against all odds, Avery is playing a police officer, which goes against his personality in every way.
Then again, maybe the role requires Avery to play a cop that’s distracted from his duty because he’s walking around creating Snapchat stories where he asks homeless people if they are in the race.
(Via Daily Mail)
