Sports is the one place where things can be very simple for fans. Yes, the sports world is a business and can be massively complicated, but for fans there is simply “my team” and everyone else. This afternoon John Tavares went from being captain of my team, to someone else.
I don’t wish him harm, or personally hate him for it. I don’t wish personal harm or hate any athlete just for being an athlete. But he simply no longer matters to me. I root for the New York Islanders, the crest on the front of the jersey, if you will. John Tavares plays for a competing team, so I will not feel happy for him if he wins, I’ll hate it, like I hated watching the Capitals win last month, or the Penguins win the last couple of seasons, because it’s not my team.
For nine seasons, I rooted for the Islanders and John Tavares. Now I’ll continue to root for the Islanders, and not John Tavares. I don’t want to see a video tribute, a classy bit of applause or any of that when the Leafs make an appearance in New York. I just don’t care, and I don’t care if he doesn’t like it. He’s a Maple Leaf, and I don’t really care about Maple Leafs.
If you want to have that classy response, go for it. If you want to hate JT, go for it. If you want to boo him, go for it. It’s sports, the one place we can have a complete us and them mentality and not really hurt anything.
Just try and keep that mentality otothe ice, and leave his fiance, family, and health out of it.
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