Hockey superstar Ovechkin's . . . 'discomfiture'

[empedocles]

“Like, I’m Russian, right?” the greatest professional team athlete in D.C. history said in response to a reporter’s question Friday. “Sometimes some thing I can’t control. You know, it’s not in my hands.”

Later, he feigned athletic ignorance in defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin — “Well, he is my president,” Ovechkin said. “I am not in politics. Like, I’m an athlete.” — a man who appears on a megalomaniacal binge in waging war against Ukraine. It was the height of disingenuousness. After all, it was just in 2017 when the Great Eight, as we have celebrated Ovechkin, openly campaigned for Putin’s reelection, an event that apparently gave Putin the imprimatur in his mind to exercise his imperialistic designs beyond Russia’s borders.

Alex Ovechkin, the Russian star of the Capitals, says, ‘Please, no more war’

If there was any consolation to Ovechkin’s discomfiture at criticizing the widely condemned actions of his birth country’s president, it was that it stood in contrast to the unambiguous denouncement from others in sport, including his countrymen, of Putin’s tyrannical behavior. The same day, 24-year-old budding Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev grabbed a marker and bravely scrawled “No war please” on a television camera lens at the Dubai Tennis Championships after he won his semifinal match. “ . . .

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/02/27/alex-ovechkin-ukraine-war

[Wingus Dingus]

1. I don't expect much from a sports figure.

The fact that he publicly supported Putin in the past means little to me, when so many Republicans and our former pResident also did so. I would just leave this guy alone instead of trying to force the right words out of him. It's not important.

[empedocles]

3. Ovechkin is a major, national figure in Russia. Just his 'discomfiture' has significance in Russia.

No free passes on Ukraine.

[RobinA]

5. Thank You

It's not for Americans to tell this Russian man what to think and say. He's not a leader there, he doesn't affect policy, he's trying to be noncommittal. He doesn't owe the world his opinion on national affairs. He owes his employer and fans good hockey, which he is amply paid for.

[dem4decades]

2. Pay him in rubles, that's his currency too, just as Putin is his President. 10 cents on the US $

Oh and fuck him.

[empedocles]

4. ,

[dugog55]

6. On Ovechkin and other Russian athletes. Regardless of their

thoughts on politics or this war, while they may be living in America their families are mostly still in Russia. If you think for one second that Putin would not retaliate to unkind words from one of these athletes, you are sadly mistaken. The athletes know their families would pay the penalty for them speaking out. They have to protect their entire extended families, or the next time they go home they will have to visit them in Siberia.