It seems I've a bit of a 6th sense, just three hours after I posted about how I'm a judgmental jerk when it comes to female hockey fans and how I plan to correct it, the Rangers decided they want to top me and post a guide for female hockey fans.
That's right, apparently the backlash of the CBC's "While The Men Watch Hockey" has been stripped from the minds of those running the PR department of the Rangers.
You guys are a very large organization, with many people watching this stuff, how exactly did this slip through the cracks? Oh that right, instead of owning up to the mistake, Blueshirts United hides behind their new feature of a Contributor Network:
Really? Couldn't you have double checked what was being published under the New York Rangers masthead?
I could tell you I know a dozen women who could have written a more comprehensive post, but that's part of the problem, gender shouldn't play a role in fandom. Whether this was written by a man or a woman, it was a terrible, terrible post.
Mirna Mandil name checks who she deems as the most important players out on the ice: Carl Hagelin, Marc Staal, Ryan Callahan, Michael Del Zotto, and Henrik Lundqvist. That's great, we should all know who's on the team, but that's not the important part that any new fan should know. Forget them, what about the infuriating fact that their power play is abysmal? The nonexistent face off skills? The giant mess of the team in general? These are the things new New York Rangers fans should know.
Look, if you wanted to write a post about the dreamiest players on the team, don't hide behind some guide. Own it! But the guide is nothing more than a piece of fluff. No woman (or man) should ever use this guide as a way to get into hockey. And I clarify man because not every man out there is a hockey fan (GASP!), women are capable of introducing men to sports. LOOK! PROOF!
If you want a terrible piece any way, title it "A Guide to The Cutest New York Rangers" please don't drag gender into this.
I can't believe in 2013, I have published 3 different articles about gender and sports in a year. Get your shit together guys!
A special thanks to Puck Daddy for the screen grabs of this post before the Rangers took it down. Stupid work getting in the way of me seeing hockey stuff in real time.