conservadouche

he doesn't get it. regardless of his politics (and I'd guess I have lots of disagreements with him based on his tea party affiliation) that moment is about a team getting recognition for an achievement from the leader of the country that he seems to love enough to have strong views about. Have some class and accept the compliment and congratulations.

FWIW based on his interactions with the local media and fans it seems that he's a pretty decent guy. I think he's just made a bad decision this time.

i'm confused...you say that like it's a bad thing

Can and does Merge do any advertising? I see so many threads of people that go where can I play? I know casual fish can just go to google and type in where can us players play poker but would be nice if Merge has people wear BCP, Carbon, etc gear at the WSOP this year. I try to advertise for them whenever I play live poker if the subject of online poker comes up to try to get more players pumping into the site.

yeah im just messing around. i dont get involved in any of the coaching drama or anything malicious but you do some funny stuff so i just try and encourage that to make the forum interesting

i highly recommend you do a poobah post like your previous thread with maybe some new topics. yeah people disagree with you but eff them, that stuff is gold

+1000 on this. It is better that he not show up than to say something out of line.

link? i could use some laughs today......the chieve didn't really have anything going for it today.....

The way i see it, is he pretty much said **** you to the white house. He had the guts to do it, and showed why he stands out from the crowd. I don't see how its anything to do with class. He did say he was exercising his right, and i think it shows about his character a lot. He def earned even more of my respect for him.

I don't get why Merge games aren't must move.

Lol seriously, there'd be so many more games going which would = way more rake for them.

first off he's not the first person to do this, he's just to first to blog about it on facebook. Secondly it doesn't change the fact that the gesture of the office of the president to host championship sports team is one of generosity and appreciation, and has nothing to do with politics. Every president in recent history has done it, from both sides of the aisle. Third, taking a vague political stance on the internet doesn't really make anyone stand out from the crowd. You can find lots of people doing that. Fourth, he drew attention away from his teammates and turned their celebration into some media discussion about his lack of appearance. He could have just no showed and not made a big deal about it I wouldn't think it was classless. If I was his teammate I would think it was a bit selfish, even if unintentionally so.

Lastly if you really believe that what he was doing was giving a "**** you" to the white house then it clearly is a classless move. If someone was generous enough to host a party in your honor and you declined to attend people would probably be surprised. If you then posted on facebook that the reason you don't want to attend is that you disagree with that person's political views you'd look like a huge douche. If you finished that thought by telling them that this was essentially a "**** you" maneuver people would probably think you're an *******. And rightfully so.

if Thomas is some radical separatist that can't stomach doing anything that could be construed as cordial to an acting politician than he should have stayed at home and kept his mouth shut.

fwiw I like Thomas, and he seems to be a good guy and teammate. I don't think he would classify his move as giving a "**** you" to the white house, I think he decided to spend some time on a soapbox and he picked the wrong time to do it. I think it was a mistake, and I wouldn't be surprised if later in his life he changes his opinion about going to the white house.

Why is the internet so important? He decided not to show up and explained his actions via the internet. He won the stanley cup last year, he was the MVP, but he also cares about his country. He did NOT WANT to be honored by Obama or the white house. He is obviously unhappy with the Obama Administration, and he is doing something about it. What he is doing is actually very unselfish, he will surely influence some people out there to not be afraid to stand up for their beliefs and he will surely wake up a few sheep.

he wasn't being invited, the team he is a part of was being invited. so by choosing to not go for personal political reasons, he's being selfish, unless the entire team decides to decline the invitation for similar reasons.

because if he hadn't said why he was sitting it out no one would care. Missing an event doesn't hold any significance and wouldn't have drawn any attention. Intentionally declining and then releasing a statement claiming that your absence was a part of a political stance (no matter how he claims it wasn't about politics) draws attention away from your team and it's moment and puts it on you and your stance.

He brought politics and divisiveness into a situation that called for class and celebration. And he did it for purely personal reasons. If you feel that his justification for missing the event is reasonable (and I don't but whatever) you have to at least agree that he and everyone on his team would have been better served if he kept his reason to himself. If he wants to make political statements he could simply use his standing as the Finals MVP and Vezina trophy winner on one of the most popular NHL teams in the country to make them whenever he pleases. He could endorse candidates, donate money, and continue doing things like putting the tea party symbol on his helmet (which he does). But none of those things would require him to skip this event, or more importantly use it as a political symbol to distract from the celebrating of his team's accomplishment.

tbh there isn't much reason in discussing this anymore. I like Thomas despite my opinion on this decision, and maintain that it was simply a poor decision from a seemingly good guy. But if you don't agree with me you're not going to, and vice versa.

If the team decides to commit hari kari and he declines to follow suit is that also being selfish? He declined an invitation. It's his prerogative to do so. that's why they call it an invitation and not forcing someone to go somewhere.

logic dictates that this means he was, in fact invited. You probably meant to say he wasn't personally invited but that does not preclude him, an individual, from rejecting his part of the invitation.


It makes me lol that I haven't seen people give OBAMA 1/10th as much stick ITT for not holding up his pre-election promises (which is what his campaign was basically centered around), but this poor bastard gets hung up from the balls for not getting in line w/his teammates to give good ole mr president some nice publicity and a tongue cleaning of his arsehole


nope, the media did that in their constant search for something that can be spun into some sort of drama and everyone gobbled it right up like a hungry black pothead with a bucket o nuggets in front of him*

Ummm and who the **** cares exactly what these people think of him?


why? because you say so? what makes you any kind of authority on this? Oh, because he's the president and he's doing something to get himself some positive publicity than we should automatically stick our noses up his ass and take a hard sniff?

And here, we see how the media have succesfully spun it into this huge thing. Why is this worthy of being considered a mistake, or what does it matter that he might or might not change his opinion later? It's not like he's deciding to bomb a country, or declare war on one. He didn't take a goddamn trip to the WH and blogged about it. Now the media says this is a big fugging deal and everyone jumps on the bandwagon b/c hey what's moar important than dodging a trip to the WH?


But hey can't blame the media outright really, i mean they prob get their orders from up top to do their very best to keep the masses away from any real issues, from having any constructive thoughts. And what do the masses love more than sports and drama? well, it's boobs, but they already get that on their computers so this was the next best thing,
Why have the country discussing stuff like SOPA or PIPA when we can create this artificial scandal over nothing at all?

that whole rant was absurd and made little sense. And fyi the only authority I claim is over my thoughts/opinion on this person's actions. Which I believe someone in the thread asked for, and being that this is a discussion forum I gave. I've tried to explain them, and I'm pretty sure I finished my last thought on the subject with something to effect of "agree to disagree".

I'd address your post more formally but frankly none of your arguments are in the slightest bit persuasive and are clearly just angry opinions mostly towards Obama. I myself am not a fan of Obama (and probably will abstain from voting this November assuming Ron Paul doesn't get the republican nomination), but my opinions on the president and his policy don't really dictate my opinion on Thomas making a poor and (imo ldo) a classless decision to skip the event and use it to make a political point.

Note that this is not me criticizing his right to a) skip the event OR b) make political statements. Simply put the event wasn't about him or politics and he made it into both to the detriment of the fans and his teammates. Local fans tend to agree with me fwiw.

also I don't understand your rant about the media (or Obama for that matter). what does that have to do with this issue? and why are you trying to change the subject? Are you really trying to make all of this a relativistic situation? that we shouldn't talk about it because it's not important enough, and he's right because other people are wrong? I think I've clearly focused on the topic and addressed the person and precisely what he did and why my opinion is that it as a selfish and poor decision. I'm not sure why you're attempting to turn this into a debate about the success or failure of the president's first term or the efficacy of American media.

this seems to be a mix of red herring and ad hominem, and there is really no reason for me to counter it as it doesn't pertain to the discussion and has little relevance.

pizzle is correct.

[ ] argument
[ ] angry opinion towards Obama
[ ] Obama is mentioned

[ ] argument
[ ] angry opinion towards Obama
[ ] Obama is mentioned

[ ] argument
[ ] angry opinion towards Obama
[x] fact about Obama or any other president who has done this
[x] Obama is mentioned

[ ] argument
[ ] angry opinion towards Obama
[ ] Obama is mentioned


Take from that what you will

I accept that this is your opinion and that if I disagree then we just agree to disagree, but do you mind explaining:

a) What the 'detriment of the fans' is
b) What the 'detriment of his teammantes' is


There's a saying: Any publicity is good publicity. Sure, dump millions of gallons of oil into the sea or go on a mass murdering spree and exceptions to the rule can be found, but this is not the case.

Want 2k BCP, can pay with paypal, BoA, ally, quickpay, or check. PM or skype me please

what is the significance of this? i thought a must move table just means you assign some "main" tables and if a seat opens up on one of them, you have to move to them. how would this help increase volume? I guess I'm missing something?

we expect more from our goalies than our presidents

Jah is correct.