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Last week, Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds, who is black, was hailed for his dignity in dealing with an explosive situation when a banana was thrown at him out of the stands at a preseason game in London, Ontario.
There was nothing dignified about Simmonds' interaction with the Rangers' Sean Avery Monday night, in the first period of the Blueshirts' 5-3 exhibition loss.
Television cameras captured Simmonds appearing to use a homophobic slur as he yelled at Avery following an altercation in the first period. When asked if such lip-reading was correct, Avery said, "Yeah. Yeah. .. . I mean, Kobe Bryant got fined 100 grand (for using the same slur against an NBA referee in April). Everything's different now. It's an issue. It's an issue that people are dealing with and trying to overcome and I guess 10 years ago maybe it wasn't so much an issue, but it's certainly an issue politically, with people in the game, and just in life in general."
Simmonds did not deny Avery's charge, saying that a lot of trash talk was going back and forth.
"He didn't think he said something?" Simmonds said. "It's Sean Avery, come on now. Who knows what comes out of his mouth? We were going back and forth, battling the whole time. He definitely said some things to me that I wasn't too happy about, but that's the way it is."
Asked if that meant Avery had crossed the line, Simmonds said, "I don't know. I can't recall every single word that was said, so I can't really - I'm not here to be, not to say that 'He said this.' I'm not going to rat him out. It doesn't really matter to me."
While Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said that he was "unaware" of what had been said between Simmonds and Avery, John Tortorella stood by his player.
"I heard about it, yeah," the Rangers' coach said. "I didn't hear it. I don't think Sean Avery's lying. I think I'd better need to stay out of that one. It's a pretty sensitive area. I'll let the league handle that."
Avery, who publicly supported gay marriage in New York State this summer, also was ready to leave the matter behind as the Rangers prepared for their flight to Europe last night.
"I think that first of all, me commenting on things like that, the backlash that I could receive is the unknown," Avery said. "And I wouldn't want to put the team in a situation where they would have to deal with something because of me wanting to see something happen or anything along those lines, so, I'm not gonna go there."
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There was nothing dignified about Simmonds' interaction with the Rangers' Sean Avery Monday night, in the first period of the Blueshirts' 5-3 exhibition loss.
Television cameras captured Simmonds appearing to use a homophobic slur as he yelled at Avery following an altercation in the first period. When asked if such lip-reading was correct, Avery said, "Yeah. Yeah. .. . I mean, Kobe Bryant got fined 100 grand (for using the same slur against an NBA referee in April). Everything's different now. It's an issue. It's an issue that people are dealing with and trying to overcome and I guess 10 years ago maybe it wasn't so much an issue, but it's certainly an issue politically, with people in the game, and just in life in general."
Simmonds did not deny Avery's charge, saying that a lot of trash talk was going back and forth.
"He didn't think he said something?" Simmonds said. "It's Sean Avery, come on now. Who knows what comes out of his mouth? We were going back and forth, battling the whole time. He definitely said some things to me that I wasn't too happy about, but that's the way it is."
Asked if that meant Avery had crossed the line, Simmonds said, "I don't know. I can't recall every single word that was said, so I can't really - I'm not here to be, not to say that 'He said this.' I'm not going to rat him out. It doesn't really matter to me."
While Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said that he was "unaware" of what had been said between Simmonds and Avery, John Tortorella stood by his player.
"I heard about it, yeah," the Rangers' coach said. "I didn't hear it. I don't think Sean Avery's lying. I think I'd better need to stay out of that one. It's a pretty sensitive area. I'll let the league handle that."
Avery, who publicly supported gay marriage in New York State this summer, also was ready to leave the matter behind as the Rangers prepared for their flight to Europe last night.
"I think that first of all, me commenting on things like that, the backlash that I could receive is the unknown," Avery said. "And I wouldn't want to put the team in a situation where they would have to deal with something because of me wanting to see something happen or anything along those lines, so, I'm not gonna go there."
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