Drama King August

Last week, Jason Robertson, the Dallas Stars’ half-Filipino left winger, who leads American players in the NHL in points this season, got left off the USA’s roster for the Milan Olympics. 

And this, finally, has helped me understand Shane’s fear. Let me explain. (also look at both these cuties).

By all accounts and statistical measures, Jason Robertson is an attacking powerhouse. He’s tied for 9th in total points (goals + assists) this season, but is the top American, and he’s 4th overall in goals scored. He’s a damn good hockey player and seems like he could be a helpful guy to have on your team if the goal is to win six straight hockey games by as large a margin as possible. 

US Olympic GM Bill Guerin spoke about wanting to build a roster that's a “true team” and not just an “All-Star” team. He’s talked about prioritizing physicality, which tbh is an unhinged choice, considering referees in international hockey permit way less physical contact than the NHL.

This Guerin character seems like an ass, and, oh, his implicit racial biases are showing. 

Indeed, the Hockey Graphs blog did an in-depth analysis of racial bias in hockey scouting, called “Racial Bias in Drafting and Development: The NHL’s Black Quarterback Problem”. Though, as the title suggests, this report is largely focused on bias against Black hockey players, the analysis compares scouting report language used to describe white, Black, and Asian players. 

“Asian players were much more likely to be cited than Black players for their hockey IQ, while Black players were significantly more likely to be cited for their athleticism (particularly size and strength).  If we drill down by comparing players of Asian and Black descent to White peers of similar rankings at the same position on [Central Scouting lists, we find a similar bucketing of skills sets.”

Even though Jason Robertson is 6’3”, even though his defensive statistics are somewhere between average and excellent, Guerin clearly perceives him as not being “physical” enough. 

So, in short, racism is why Jason Robertson is not going to the Olympics with Team USA.

And this racism is exactly why Shane and his mom work so hard to associate Shane with old-school luxury, and its incumbent whiteness, in his endorsements. 

It’s why Shane pushes himself to be perfect. Because he has to be the best, at everything in hockey, or the doors won’t even open for him. 

It’s also probably why Shane is drafted second. Why Shane wins rookie of the year, but Ilya wins MVP.

If this blatant racism is still happening in hockey in 2026, I can only imagine how much worse it was in the 2000s and 2010s timeline of the show. Shane’s professional life, his professional success, in a racist hockey landscape relies upon his difference, his Asian identity, fading out of focus for the white men in power. 

Jason Robertson’s Olympic snub illustrates that being “too Asian” might’ve been enough to harm Shane’s career. Shane must then have viewed being both Asian and gay as an absolute death knell to his involvement in hockey. 

8/8 teams complete!

website

As a known sports enjoyer, the PWHL is awesome and everything I hope that the WPBL turns into. While the WPBL season is only in Illinois this year and runs for a month or two, the PWHL could be in your city! The league keeps growing and there were another two or so expansion teams added this year, one in Detroit and another up in Canada

As we all know, thanks to the support of the good people of Tumblr, Tylenol has experienced a meteoric rise to second place. Even though her competition is stiff, I believe in Tylenol's ability to go the distance.

But let's take a look at the competition:

Elmer seems to be a lovely boy. I have no qualms with Elmer, and think he would look fantastic on a beer can. But what about Elmer's campaigns? Who is the power behind the throne here, and how have they managed to find such breakout success on this competition?

A handful of wealthy donors are trying to buy this competition.

At the end of the day, all donations are good donations here. This is a charity event so every penny earned is going to help animals in need. But it's not lost on me that Elmer's current ranking is thanks entirely to a few individuals with the financial means to put their thumbs on the scale.

Tylenol's donors, comparatively, are small and numerous, mostly $1-10 donations from many passionate believers in what she stands for (autism and pain relief I think).

Overall, the donations tell a very different story than what the base ranking shows you. Elmer is held aloft by just 24 donors and bolstered by a few wealthy patrons, whereas Tylenol has won the hearts of literally hundreds of people. Even the current third place, Abby, owes her ranking to numerous small contributions rather than one or two large ones.