Ottawa head coach Cory Clouston in the post-practice scrum on the difficulty of shadowing players: "You used to be able to almost rape a guy."
How is this appropriate? Sens PR, we await your response. I hope it comes with an apology.
Credit to Dan Seguin's Twitter for this.
P.S.: And before anyone makes an "oversensitive" remark, you might want to take a look at your daughter, wife, sister or mother before you get back to me. Much obliged.
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Yes, you are too sensitive. Sorry. I have a daughter and a wife and don't find this in anyway shape or form offensive. Have you read the dictionary?
See 4 and 5. Lots of words have multiple meanings! Who would have thought?
1.the unlawful compelling of a woman through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse.
2.any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.
3.statutory rape.
4.an act of plunder, violent seizure, or abuse; despoliation; violation: the rape of the countryside.
5.Archaic. the act of seizing and carrying off by force.
Anonymous
4:59 p.m.
That's exactly what I think of when I hear the definition of "rape" - borderline semantics!
Sincerely, Drunken Frat Boy
The Universal Cynic
5:09 p.m.
If an older person refers to something as queer are you so quick to assume they are being derogatory towards gay people? Sad, that you become condescending with your "Sincerely, Drunken Frat Boy" because you can't respect someone else's opinion. Why do you have a blog if you are going to be so close-minded and super sensitive? Quite odd actually.
In no way was my point insulting. So, if you want to avoid that, don't talk down to others from your pedestal.
Anonymous
5:50 p.m.
Wow, I am a Sens fan but that's crossing the line just a little bit — even if Clouston meant rape in its archaic sense, as Cameron points out
Sarah Millar
6:02 p.m.
There was no malice or ill intent in his comments, he should choose his words more carefully but should not be forced to appologize. The only thing offensive about it was that it wasn't funny.
It's a word often used when discussing sport, as is mugged, murdered and killed which are all used frequently. I Do believe you are being overly sensitive.
Chris
6:25 p.m.
Cameron,
My intention wasn't to be condescending. Sorry if you took it that way. However, you can't seriously expect me to take your first post seriously. As for "queer", it does have alternate definitions. "Rape" does not. End of story.
The Universal Cynic
6:28 p.m.
Chris,
You're right about the use of other words, and now that I think about it, it really isn't right to employ those ones either. To be fair, I am rarely sensitive about these things. Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that. However, the word "rape" has no place in sports. It is completely unnecessary and there's nothing funny about it.
The Universal Cynic
6:31 p.m.
Really - Cameron when was the last time you used the word rape to mean dispoiling the countryside? I am a wife and a daughter and I find it a horrible thing to have said and yes he ought to apologize.
There are some words whose alternate meanings are still in common usage. Other words are not.
whiskybaker
6:32 p.m.
Isn't it better to just ignore the comment rather than draw as much attention as possible to it?
I'd love to know who in this world is better off from knowing that buddy here carelessly used the word rape. I suspect that no one is, and this amounts to nothing more than moral grandstanding on the part of the blog author and anyone else who felt compelled to draw attention to this unfortunate use of a emotionally charged word.
McLea
6:35 p.m.
He didn't say it in a closet, McLea. He said it in a public scrum. As for "moral grandstanding" against the use of the word -- you're OK with a term reserved for sexual brutality to be employed in a casual fashion, even perhaps, for the purpose of extremely poor humour?
The Universal Cynic
6:40 p.m.
Thanks for this. All season I've wanted to post something about how annoying and offensive rape analogies in sports talk are--like for a game with a lopsided score, to give one I've seen on blogs.
Regardless of what the word USED to mean, there's a way it's commonly understood NOW. And losing a game, no matter how badly, isn't the same thing as being raped.
k of c
6:49 p.m.
McLea
6:50 p.m.
The sports lexicon is filled with inappropriate use of words. I don't think any sport should ever be compared to war or battle which happens often. The use of words I mentioned in a previous comment. I chose to not let them bother me or be offended by them unless I sense true ignorance or a intent to offend. I Do think we have become a little too PC.
Chris
6:59 p.m.
I've been out of the media for some time. I don't think I can draw any more attention to it than a CBC reporter already has. Just my take. Furthermore, to ignore it, in my belief, would suggest that it should be accepted, tolerated and forgotten. I don't think that's right.
The Universal Cynic
7:02 p.m.
@McLea I Don't quite understand what you are saying? If you find something offensive you should ignore it? I also think you're missing the whole purpose of blogs which to me is to further discussion
Chris
7:03 p.m.
Sorry, that last reply was intended for McLea but it looks like he deleted his post. Oh well.
The Universal Cynic
7:04 p.m.
"Guys used to get MUGGED out there" probably would have sufficed. What Clouston said was stupidly over the line. The sign of a man who spends too much of his life surrounded by dudes.
It would be nice to think that Clouston might have his words played back to himself so he can hear how they sound awful. I don't know if he's the sort to admit when he's gone over the line for effect, but I would hope so.
Tao of Stieb
7:45 p.m.
It's true that words can have multiple meanings. That's why context matters. And in this case the context makes it absolutely clear what Clouston meant, so the dictionary quotes are a complete red herring.
Nobody's calling for the guy to be fired. Nobody's demanding he booed out of town. Nobody's suggesting he was trying to offend. But he said something stupid, and he should be called on it.
If that's being PC or too sensitive, well, count me in I guess.
Down Goes Brown
8:22 p.m.
Fine, the word's been used in the context of sports a million times. That doesn't make it okay. Misogyny is rampant in pro sports. That doesn't make it okay.
I like Clouston a lot more than I should but his choice of words was stupid and insensitive. He probably knows it too, but I doubt there will be an apology since I haven't seen any fall-out from it.
Not to turn this into a whole cultural and sociological debate but when we live in a culture where there are people who believe date rape is a "fuzzy concept", it just goes to show that people are not being sensitive enough about it.
Miss. Scarlett
10:18 p.m.
What Sherry said. thanks for putting this out there!
Unknown
8:31 a.m.
I'm of the firm belief that the PC crowd is WAY out of control. That said, I've been guilty (far too guilty) myself of tossing the term out as crass analogy.
Now I'll be thinking twice. Thanks TUC. You know how much I hate that!
Senators Lost Cojones
9:10 a.m.
That "R" word has now become part of pop culture vernacular, thanks to rappers. It is definitely not cool - it degrades woman, and gives an unofficial stamp of approval to treating women as possessions and objects. It comes from the whole gangster/rap culture, and of course there is an army of suburban white kids who all want to emulate the rappers they see on Youtube.
I see and hear it in the 13/14 year olds I coach. Every time I hear it, I ask them, calmly and sweetly, how they would feel about that word being used towards their mom, their sister, or their girlfriend. That always makes them stop to think, and you can literally see the wheels turning as they struggle with the true meaning of the word versus word they had come to believe was simply cool slang.
Clouston's slip, to me, is simply evidence of the bubble in which pro athletes live. During the season, those guys don't get out much - their world is pretty much the dressing room, the ice, and travel together. In that environment, you can see how you might get disconnected from polite society somewhat. (I say this as someone who lived that life for a long time.) I don't need him to give a grovelling apology, but hopefully someone from Sens brass whispered to him that his choice of words was poor at best.
Dennis Prouse
9:28 a.m.
@ Dennis Prouse
Maybe I'm missing the joke, but I've never heard a rapper use the word "rape". EVER.
And if you consider the sort of misogynistic tomfoolery gets tossed around in certain hip hop songs, that only underscores how offside Clouston was.
Because guys who make their living posturing as angry criminals who don't give a fuck actually care enough not to toss around that sort of reference.
Still waiting for that apology or gesture from Clouston...
Tao of Stieb
2:12 p.m.