The best mess

The league obviously has never been some kind of moral effigy that's suddenly and inexplicably gone downhill. they've always had pieces of shit that they protect.

But I think there is a difference between "this guy is a piece of a shit but he's a good player so we're gonna sweep it under the rug, put our media on it so people either don't believe it or didn't know it happened. a dirty open secret we ignore." and what's happening now, of "this guy, very publicly, was on trial for a felony, and admitted, under oath, to things that are completely unacceptable. and we're going to purposefully, publicly, let him continue to play immediately. we're gonna mention it all the time, so everyone knows, and act like him getting away with it was a burden on him, and that you should be proud of him for getting away with it. Celebrate it." How good a player is has nothing to do with their moral character, and him being a good goalie should be completely irrelevant to this conversation. But even with that, it has felt like it's less "he's good despite his character," and more "he's good and we enjoy his character." There is no despite.

Same with Quenneville, where I just kept hearing about his "comeback." His comeback from what? Minor consequences of ruining two kid's lives by knowingly employing/recommending their molester? That's inspirational? But they literally are telling us that they think it is.

it's like a Trump-era brag, where they're showing who they are and are loudly proud of it, instead of it being this dirty underbelly. Maybe it's just a curse of announcers, but announcers represent the league, and it's also been socials, player interviews, and frankly, reporters.