My Thoughts After the Kyle Beach Interview
I haven't written a post in a while but after Kyle Beach's interview with Rick Westhead I felt a need to write a post today. Anyone who follows hockey and possibly at this point sports knew that two days ago the report came out about the Blackhawks and how they covered up abuse in 2010 and I have hyperlinked the report here. The report itself is 107 pages long and I only read a few pages last night and those pages were hard to read but imagine living it. That is what happened to Kyle, he lived it and his life was changed. Thank you Kyle for your bravery in coming forward, you didn't have to and "reporters" trying to out you shouldn't have forced your hand. Thank you also to Rick Westhead who conducted the interview with so much compassion that is rarely seen when it comes to people discussing sexual assault in professional sports, the way you let Kyle speak and let him drive what he wanted to say while giving him support is what I wish more reporters and journalists would do. I started following you on twitter and your tweets since then have just further made me appreciate what a gem you are in the sports journalism world.
Now to why I'm writing this post sadly what happened to Kyle has happened before and will continue to happen unless changes are made. In his interview he mentioned USA Gymnastics, the NWSL, hockey and the countless other instances of sexual assault being covered up because it could hurt the chances of winning a medal or championship. He said and this made me cry granted the entire interview made me cry and I didn't live it but he said that Joel Quenneville cared more for winning a Stanley Cup then the well being of his players, and I'm paraphrasing here. This is unacceptable but sadly all to common, allegations of sexual assault are covered up in the sports world at an alarming rate just like in other aspects of the world. If you can win a team championships what does it matter what you do behind closed doors if no arrests are made and even if there are arrests made. In the NFL why is Antonio Brown still able to play when there are lawsuits against him, why is Deshaun Watson even being considered on the trade block with over 20 lawsuits pending, need I go one because I can why was Ben Roethlisberger given a redemption story after his two assault allegations. That is just the NFL in the NHL on the same Blackhawks team Patrick Kane was given a redemption story after 2015. The man that assaulted Kyle and I will not put his name next Kyle's in this post was allowed to resign and still be paraded around while Kyle had to suffer and watch this man who took so much from him be heralded while he was being bullied. Also this man was allowed to work at other hockey institutions and at schools where he continued to assault young men. Why did this happen the Blackhawks are to blame for everything that happened after the fact because they knew what this man was capable of and instead of making certain he never worked in hockey or around young athletes again, they gave him recommendations and quietly let him resign.
The Culture of Sports must change and people must be held accountable for their actions. This culture of it doesn't matter what you do so long as we win must be rooted out because if it isn't then we are never going to see change. Kyle deserved so much more then he got in 2010 and I'm so happy that he is getting his day now and that the NHL is now taking it seriously but they didn't in 2010, they didn't a few months ago when this first started back up. The NHL, NHLPA, Blackhawks and so many more failed Kyle as they failed so many others over the years. They must do better and we as fans must hold them accountable to be better like we must do that to every other sports league because if we as fans don't hold them accountable then they will just continue on doing nothing and shrugging their shoulders when they get called out.
Here are some resources for survivors:
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