The RIP 2023 Thread

[Tracker]

 

                        

[iHeart]

two last cast member standings in the same day (Michael McKean is still alive)

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/cindy-williams-dead-laverne-and-shirley-1235507240/

just play the damn song

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by iHeart

[Goalie]

Hull. I guess rip to a Jets legend   

But long time ago someone told me to not say anything about ppl who die unless I'm going to be nice so I'll leave it at... 

RIP to a legendary Jet but not a great person who was a big deal before I was born 

Don't like talking **** to the dead, we all make mistakes and we all will be judged one day. What me you and everyone else thinks don't matter and don't change that a grandkid lost their grampa today and a family is in mourning so... RIP

Edited January 31, 2023 by Goalie

[Tracker]

Rest in peace Cindy Williams will always remember you (picture:1976)

 

 

[SpeedFlex27]

9 hours ago, Goalie said:

Hull. I guess rip to a Jets legend   

But long time ago someone told me to not say anything about ppl who die unless I'm going to be nice so I'll leave it at... 

RIP to a legendary Jet but not a great person who was a big deal before I was born 

Don't like talking **** to the dead, we all make mistakes and we all will be judged one day. What me you and everyone else thinks don't matter and don't change that a grandkid lost their grampa today and a family is in mourning so... RIP

I'll repeat as best I can a tweet I saw today from Peter Young regarding Bobby Hull. "Craig McTavish killed two people. Hockey forgave him. Dany Heatley killed his best friend. Hockey forgave him. Ovie promotes Putin. We forgive him."

Bobby Hull had his demons & he was far from the perfect human being as he was presented to the public by the NHL as a blonde haired handsome athlete with a huge smile. It was common knowledge that Hull was an alcoholic when he played for the Jets. When he got drunk he got owly & angry. He was married three times because of it. 

I know from personal experience just how alcohol can make a person crazy or say crazy things. Nobody asked to be an alcoholic or to suffer the behavioural issues that go with it. Hitting your wife or any woman for that matter is totally wrong. Supposedly spouting off about Hitler to a reporter shows bad judgement. However, drinking oneself into a stupor shows bad judgement as well.

As far as what Hull allegedly said about Hitler? The Moscow Times??? Sorry, I don't trust any Russian publication or anything they print. If he said it then obviously he was wrong & you have to wonder if the reporter pumped him full of drinks to get that quote. 

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by SpeedFlex27

[Brandon]

Quote

In 2002, his second wife, Joanne, told an ESPN SportsCentury documentary what Hull had allegedly done to her on a trip to Hawaii in 1966. In it, she said: "He took my shoe — with a steel heel — and proceeded to hit me in the head. I was covered with blood. And I can remember him holding me over the balcony and I thought this is the end, I'm going." Hull was never charged.

In a 2010 interview with the National Post, one of Hull's few public acknowledgements of the allegations, he seemed to show little remorse. Asked if he is a different person in 2010 than 30 years earlier when many of the allegations were said to have taken place, Hull replied: "Same guy. Same guy with the same attitude toward life. You only pass this way one time, and if you don't have fun, you'll go to the grave, and you'll have missed a lot."

Hull's proximity to controversial comments is undeniable. In 1998 a Russian newspaper reported Hull as saying "Hitler had some good ideas. He just went a little bit too far…" when discussing his thoughts about genetic breeding because he felt the Black population was growing too rapidly. When asked about his comments and whether he is racist, Hull reportedly told the paper, "I don't give a damn. I'm not running for any political office."

I'm not sure why anyone would make excuses or try to use alcholism as an excuse for the guys life time of terrible behaviour.   If anything I'd say Bobby Hull suffered from extreme forms of narcissism similar to a Peter Nygard where he would think that he is invincible and can do anything because he is above everyone else.     If Bobby Hull was a regular 9-5 worker he would of been tossed into jail and nobody would revere him.   His great hockey play is what gives him a minor pass for some people who don't want to think of their idol as being a scum bag.    

Hull - A+ hockey player,   F level human being.     

RIP to his hockey legacy but I have zero respect for the guy as a human being and won't shed a tear for him at all.   

[SpeedFlex27]

Alcoholism is not an excuse. It's a disease. And if you had personal experience with it then you'd know just how devastating it is & how it can change someone's behaviour & personanlity.

Comparing Hull to a serial rapist & sex offender like Nygard is just daft. I don't agree with what Hull said at all & if he didn't regret it well then he's now in a place where he will be judged for what he did & said in his life.

I don't agree with anything Hull said about Hitler. However, there'd be no World Hockey Association without him & therefore no Winnipeg Jets & no NHL in Canadian cities deemed too small to support professional hockey. If you find his views repugnant, then I'd suggest you stop supporting the Jets & the NHL as it was Hull who brought pro hockey to town. You should do everything you can to make sure the team leaves Winnipeg because it was Hull who helped bring it here. Are you going to do that? 

The man is dead. For now, let him RIP. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by SpeedFlex27

[Wideleft]

4 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Alcoholism is not an excuse. It's a disease. And if you had personal experience with it then you'd know just how devastating it is & how it can change someone's behaviour & personanlity.

Comparing Hull to a serial rapist & sex offender like Nygard is just daft. I don't agree with what Hull said at all & if he didn't regret it well then he's now in a place where he will be judged for what he did & said in his life.

I don't agree with anything Hull said about Hitler. However, there'd be no World Hockey Association without him & therefore no Winnipeg Jets & no NHL in Canadian cities deemed too small to support professional hockey. If you find his views repugnant, then I'd suggest you stop supporting the Jets & the NHL as it was Hull who brought pro hockey to town. You should do everything you can to make sure the team leaves Winnipeg because it was Hull who helped bring it here. Are you going to do that? 

The man is dead. For now, let him RIP. 

He was a garbage human.  Why should we let him rest in peace when he has 5 kids and 3 ex-wives who are still dealing with the trauma he dealt.

Don't care how hard his slapshot was.  

"Then came a damning 2002 documentary on ESPN, which profiled his long history of alleged spousal abuse, among other issues. His first wife, Joanne, described several incidents of Hull physically beating her during their relationship, including once with a steel-heeled shoe. Their daughter, Michelle, a lawyer who works with victims of domestic crimes, described ugly scenes growing up in the home.

“A lot of bad memories stem from how my dad acted when he was drinking. When he had been drinking, you’d just know that you didn’t want to be around here,” she said. Upon hearing what her father had told the Russian paper a few years earlier, she replied “that’s exactly like him.”"

https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2023/01/30/hockey-hall-of-fame-human-hall-of-shame

[Wideleft]

Please compare and contrast the life of Hull with another hockey great who suffered through addictions before allowing Hull's alcoholism as an excuse for his abusiveness.

Leach (always) seeking to score an assist

 

By: Janine LeGalPosted: 2:09 AM CST Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023

Reggie Leach is a sports legend. Regarded as a star from one of hockey’s greatest eras, his hockey career includes winning the Stanley Cup in 1975 and the Conn Smythe Trophy as most valuable player in 1976. He led the league in goals, was a member of the Team Canada champions and continues to hold NHL and team records.

His list of awards and accolades received includes the Order of Canada, Order of Manitoba, induction into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame, Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame, Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame and Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame. He also received doctor of laws degree from Brock University (Ont.) and the National Aboriginal Achievement Award.

But there’s a whole other life, one after hockey, that makes Leach a star with a profound impact. Author of The Riverton Rifle: My Story — Straight Shooting on Hockey and on Life, Leach has dedicated his life to giving back.

 

“I’m very lucky that I’m in a situation that I can help people along the way,” said Leach, who is of Ojibwa ethnicity, and a member of Berens River First Nation in Manitoba.

Leach, 72, grew up in Riverton and now lives in Manitoulin Island, Ont., during the winter, returning to Manitoba from April to October every year.

Passionate about motivational speaking, educating and inspiring youth, Leach has visited about 300 First Nations communities throughout North America, sharing lessons learned and owning choices made.

“I’m a big believer in giving back to where you came from,” said Leach, who’s long been actively involved in fundraising through the Reggie Leach Classic golf tournaments and events to support organizations in Riverton.

“Those are things that I was brought up to do as a kid: to be kind, be humble, stay positive.”

 

Leach uses his life experience to inspire and motivate young people across North America. Connective North, which fosters student engagement and enhanced education outcomes in remote Indigenous communities, is one of the many organizations he partners with, doing Zoom calls with northern communities.

“I speak about life choices; how important education is. I talk about the mistakes I made growing up. I believe that everybody makes mistakes, that if you take responsibility for yourself, you become stronger. I tell them my life story, about drugs and alcohol, life choices, life in general,” said Leach, who entered rehab for alcohol abuse in 1985, and has remained sober ever since.

Grades 9 to 12 students from northern communities get a copy of his book before his visits and through open dialogue ask everything from why he stopped drinking to what it took to do so.

“One school called me back several times. The kids are asking very important questions,” he said.

“Whatever choice you make, you own that choice, good or bad. I think overall in today’s world, what’s going on, we as grandparents and parents, we’ve got to guide the kids in the right direction. We give the kids everything they want and they don’t have to be responsible for anything.

 

“In today’s world, there’s no respect for elders, teachers. I’m a big fan of educators. I tell the kids, the teachers you have there, they have to go to college. All you have to do is listen. If you don’t listen, you don’t learn.”

That persistence and determination runs in the Leach family.

His son Jamie, who runs a Shoot to Score program out of Winnipeg, played in the NHL for parts of five seasons, winning the Stanley Cup with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992. They are the only First Nations father-and-son duo to have their names engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Leach and his two children have all represented Canada: Leach with Team Canada in 1976; Jamie at the world junior hockey championship in 1989; and daughter Brandie at the world lacrosse championships in Scotland in 1993.

His wife, Dawn Mahdabee Leach, has received numerous awards and will be recognized next month in Toronto with the 2023 Business Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business.

 

For Leach, it’s both important and gratifying to give back to the community.

“Being an elder and stuff like that and receiving all these awards, I always give credit to all First Nations people and the people of Riverton. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be getting all these awards. It takes a whole community, they’re still very proud of who I am,” he said.

“It’s a good life, it really is. Everybody knows me as a hockey player; that’s just a stepping stone to who I am today. I am more proud of what I have done after hockey.

“Today’s world is dangerous. We have all these drugs around the country. Things are going bad. First Nations communities, that’s what I think about all the time, I want to help them… A lot of people are not well off, they’re struggling. I think it’s our responsibility to help as many as possible, keep them on the right path.”

Leach will be fundraising for Riverton organizations including the local rink, fire hall and minor hockey programs every month until April, and is planning a golf tournament in July. (To contribute or find out more about speaking engagements, email: zreg27@yahoo.com.)

 

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca

[bearpants]

5 hours ago, Brandon said:

Hull - A+ hockey player,   F level human being.     

RIP to his hockey legacy but I have zero respect for the guy as a human being and won't shed a tear for him at all.   

you pretty much nailed it with these last two statements...

Was he a great and influential hockey player? Absolutely!.... Was he a great human being? Not even close

[Brandon]

5 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

Alcoholism is not an excuse. It's a disease. And if you had personal experience with it then you'd know just how devastating it is & how it can change someone's behaviour & personanlity.

Comparing Hull to a serial rapist & sex offender like Nygard is just daft. I don't agree with what Hull said at all & if he didn't regret it well then he's now in a place where he will be judged for what he did & said in his life.

I don't agree with anything Hull said about Hitler. However, there'd be no World Hockey Association without him & therefore no Winnipeg Jets & no NHL in Canadian cities deemed too small to support professional hockey. If you find his views repugnant, then I'd suggest you stop supporting the Jets & the NHL as it was Hull who brought pro hockey to town. You should do everything you can to make sure the team leaves Winnipeg because it was Hull who helped bring it here. Are you going to do that? 

The man is dead. For now, let him RIP. 

I cannot rationalize Bobby Hull being a good guy purely because he helped bring the Jets and NHL to town.   I'm wired differently in that I can never give anyone a pass for beating and apparently nearly killing a woman he supposedly loved and even worse the mother of his children.    

I cringe for the day when OJ Simpson dies and when you rationalize what he did (allegedly)  because he was a great football player and how it's only human nature to be jealous and that because he was on drugs it wasn't his fault. 

[Wideleft]

14 hours ago, Goalie said:

Hull. I guess rip to a Jets legend   

But long time ago someone told me to not say anything about ppl who die unless I'm going to be nice so I'll leave it at... 

RIP to a legendary Jet but not a great person who was a big deal before I was born 

Don't like talking **** to the dead, we all make mistakes and we all will be judged one day. What me you and everyone else thinks don't matter and don't change that a grandkid lost their grampa today and a family is in mourning so... RIP

For those like me who don't believe the Pearly Gates exist, I have no qualms about that day being yesterday, today, tomorrow, 10 years ago or 10 years in the future - hence my lack of willingness to respectfully acknowledge his passing.

[Tracker]

8 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I'll repeat as best I can a tweet I saw today from Peter Young regarding Bobby Hull. "Craig McTavish killed two people. Hockey forgave him. Dany Heatley killed his best friend. Hockey forgave him. Ovie promotes Putin. We forgive him."

Bobby Hull had his demons & he was far from the perfect human being as he was presented to the public by the NHL as a blonde haired handsome athlete with a huge smile. It was common knowledge that Hull was an alcoholic when he played for the Jets. When he got drunk he got owly & angry. He was married three times because of it. 

I know from personal experience just how alcohol can make a person crazy or say crazy things. Nobody asked to be an alcoholic or to suffer the behavioural issues that go with it. Hitting your wife or any woman for that matter is totally wrong. Supposedly spouting off about Hitler to a reporter shows bad judgement. However, drinking oneself into a stupor shows bad judgement as well.

As far as what Hull allegedly said about Hitler? The Moscow Times??? Sorry, I don't trust any Russian publication or anything they print. If he said it then obviously he was wrong & you have to wonder if the reporter pumped him full of drinks to get that quote. 

 

In vino veritas. 

[Wideleft]

8 hours ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

I'll repeat as best I can a tweet I saw today from Peter Young regarding Bobby Hull. "Craig McTavish killed two people. Hockey forgave him. Dany Heatley killed his best friend. Hockey forgave him. Ovie promotes Putin. We forgive him."

Bobby Hull had his demons & he was far from the perfect human being as he was presented to the public by the NHL as a blonde haired handsome athlete with a huge smile. It was common knowledge that Hull was an alcoholic when he played for the Jets. When he got drunk he got owly & angry. He was married three times because of it. 

I know from personal experience just how alcohol can make a person crazy or say crazy things. Nobody asked to be an alcoholic or to suffer the behavioural issues that go with it. Hitting your wife or any woman for that matter is totally wrong. Supposedly spouting off about Hitler to a reporter shows bad judgement. However, drinking oneself into a stupor shows bad judgement as well.

As far as what Hull allegedly said about Hitler? The Moscow Times??? Sorry, I don't trust any Russian publication or anything they print. If he said it then obviously he was wrong & you have to wonder if the reporter pumped him full of drinks to get that quote. 

 

Or he was divorced three times because of it.

[Noeller]

all the examples SF listed about hockey forgiving people.....that's not a GOOD example....that's a PROBLEM. It's the problem that hockey has. It tends to use the idolization of athletes to sweep awful, criminal things under the rug. Hockey needs to be better. One of Graham James' victims had some good quotes yesterday about how there are still people who "Yeah, but think about all the good things he did..." about James, which is just unconscionable. The same for Hull. Ovi will be judged harshly one day for his Putin-backing. Heatley, MacT and others are a bit different in that they were unintentional accidents. 

[Wideleft]

20 minutes ago, Noeller said:

all the examples SF listed about hockey forgiving people.....that's not a GOOD example....that's a PROBLEM. It's the problem that hockey has. It tends to use the idolization of athletes to sweep awful, criminal things under the rug. Hockey needs to be better. One of Graham James' victims had some good quotes yesterday about how there are still people who "Yeah, but think about all the good things he did..." about James, which is just unconscionable. The same for Hull. Ovi will be judged harshly one day for his Putin-backing. Heatley, MacT and others are a bit different in that they were unintentional accidents. 

Peter Young, besides being an awful person, relies on his sports contacts to maintain what's left of his "career", so will be at the front of the sportswashing crowd.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

Sports fans are the most forgiving folk. What's a little cheating, beating, rape & murder when winning is the most important thing.

Edited January 31, 2023 by FrostyWinnipeg

[Rich]

It is a tough pill to swallow and dissapointing when it turns out that people we idolize and look up to aren't the people we hoped them to be.

In any given population of people there is going to be a wide range of people from really horrible to really great (and everything in betwen).  Being a hockey player, actor, or any kind of celebrity doesn't automatically make you a great person.   It just makes you great at some things that happen to make you famous.

At the end of the day, take care of yourself, be careful of who you idolize and make sure the people you choose to emulate are deserving, and represent the kind of person you want to be.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/obituaries/father-peeps-marshmallow-candy-dies-98-rcna68385

[GCJenks]

Lost in all the Bobby Hull talk I think this was missed. 
 

We may not all know the name Barrett Strong but we all know some of the songs this Motown legend wrote. 
 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/barrett-strong-dead-obit-1234670626/

Edited January 31, 2023 by GCJenks
Typo

[SpeedFlex27]

6 hours ago, Wideleft said:

Or he was divorced three times because of it.

Both. I come from an alcoholic family. There's no difference. Three marriages. Lots of scorched Earth in each family. Believe me, I know. So it's sad.. However, I can tell you that no one who is born wants to be a an alcoholic. They never asked for it.

[SpeedFlex27]

6 hours ago, Wideleft said:

Peter Young, besides being an awful person, relies on his sports contacts to maintain what's left of his "career", so will be at the front of the sportswashing crowd.

And alcoholism or drug addiction isn't unintentional??? Man, aren't you a forgiving person. Yep, when I grow up I want to be an alcoholic & hurt people that I love beyond anything imaginable. FFS. 

And don't get me started on Heatley. Spoiled athlete with too much money who raced thru the streets of Atlanta at 200 kph killing his teammate. As bad as that is, it could have been worse as he could have taken other innocent people with him. that's okay because it was"accidental????" 

[Wideleft]

2 minutes ago, SpeedFlex27 said:

And alcoholism or drug addiction isn't unintentional??? Man, aren't you a forgiving person. Yep, when I grow up I want to be an alcoholic & hurt people that I love beyond anything imaginable. FFS. 

And don't get me started on Heatley. Spoiled athlete with too much money who raced thru the streets of Atlanta at 200 kph killing his teammate. As bad as that is, it could have been worse as he could have taken other innocent people with him. that's okay because it was"accidental????" 

 

Please save your energy to defend a better person than Bobby Hull.

[Goalie]

7 hours ago, Wideleft said:

For those like me who don't believe the Pearly Gates exist, I have no qualms about that day being yesterday, today, tomorrow, 10 years ago or 10 years in the future - hence my lack of willingness to respectfully acknowledge his passing.

I don't give a **** about pearly gates either. Just saying. I think it's just called respecting the dead. I didn't know him personally so for me to judge him makes me kind of an ass. Hull is dead now. I know somewhere ppl are in mourning because they lost a dad or brother or grampa, so to judge Bobby hull when I wasn't even born then, just seems I dunno what the word is... it's  not really my place to judge someone I never met 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Goalie

[SpeedFlex27]

6 hours ago, Noeller said:

all the examples SF listed about hockey forgiving people.....that's not a GOOD example....that's a PROBLEM. It's the problem that hockey has. It tends to use the idolization of athletes to sweep awful, criminal things under the rug. Hockey needs to be better. One of Graham James' victims had some good quotes yesterday about how there are still people who "Yeah, but think about all the good things he did..." about James, which is just unconscionable. The same for Hull. Ovi will be judged harshly one day for his Putin-backing. Heatley, MacT and others are a bit different in that they were unintentional accidents. 

How can you compare what Hull said & did to what Graham James did??? I'd love to be able to open the closet on most people here criticizing Hull & find out what they're all hiding in their closets that make them experts on how people should be judged. Domestic violence is wrong. been married for nearly 40 years & never once ave I lifted my hand to strike my wife. The Hitler thing he saidm yeah, crazy talk. And he deserved critism. I don't like what he said & marvel at how he could have been so stupid to have said that to a reporter as Bobby was definitely media savvy. For all we know he was liquored up when he said it. Which doesn't make it right. My dad when he got drunk said some hurtful & bizarre things that were totally out of his character when he was sober. Therefore, who is the "real" person??? The one spouting **** when he's drunk & me almost punching his lights out when I got older? Or the quiet one who barely talks when he's sober?? That was my father.