Share Your "Why I Hate Sean Avery" Stories

by David Fine on Jul 24, 2011 10:14 AM EDT

During this relatively slow moving offseason for the New Jersey Devils, I thought it would be fun to bother Sean Avery and Ranger "fans" by telling stories of why we hate Sean Avery. Even if you don't have a story as elaborate as mine (bare with me for a second and continue reading past the setup of the situation, it gets good), please comment below on why you hate Sean Avery. Some of you may be saying, "stop using the word hate, you do not really hate him". However, in my case I can safely say I have an intense and passionate dislike for Avery (this is the definition of hate from dictionary.reference.com)

Here is my story, which took place during the 2008 playoffs, 1st round, Game 3, Devils vs. Rangers - All Devils and Ranger fans know remember this game because Avery was "faceguarding" Brodeur. Here is a youtube clip for those who do not remember (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec_2oKWe2Gw). While this alone would be enough to stir hate within a Devils' fans blood, I actually grew to truly hate Sean Avery for another reason during this game. I happened to get tickets last minute and was sitting with my father in section 80 in the Garden, right along the railing where the Rangers walk out and right behind the Devils bench. Thus, doing what any passionate fan would do to try to affect the mental mindset of the Rangers, I made it a point to yell "You Suck (Insert Name Here)" to each Ranger player. I did not take the "obscenties" any farther than that because I was 15 years old at the time and thought I was really sticking it to them by merely yelling "you suck". By the beginning of the 3rd period, Avery decided he had enough with me (Avery's faceguarding happened during the 2nd period). At that point the Devils held a 1 goal lead and I started yelling at Lundqvist a lot more. Avery took exception to a 15 year old's yells and, after he and his teammates were at the bench, actually turned around (he was about 8 ft. away from me) and started yelling at my father and I, telling my father that I was a "Fu***** Jerk" over and over again. I was surprised and extremely upset by his yelling because I hadn't really crossed the line by telling a hockey player he "sucks" (they here much worse on the ice and should know better than to let a 15 yr. old distract them) and Avery had taken my commentary to a new level of obscenities reserved for those who truly have no class.

It turned out the Devils won that game, the only time they won in that miserable series, on a John Madden overtime goal. As Avery walked out, I just stared at him, smiled and told him he was a loser.

I found out later through various youtube clips that Avery does this type of yelling to a lot of fans, but not to the level I experienced - check this out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E54BRaSnmiA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JclobeVjLZQ

From the first two clips, it is pretty obvious Avery has a "teeth fetish".

Here are some other clips that show why Avery sucks.

My personal favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU5-HJ9IDOE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B2n2G34YSE&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_UeN2JrOlw&feature=fvwrel

This one may be the worst:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2j5y9eUJ0c&feature=related

To avoid posting every single possible clip of Why One Could Hate Sean Avery, go ahead and post your own clips or tell your own stories. Let's make every Ranger "fan" angry!

All FanPosts and FanShots are the respective work of the author and not representative of the writers or other users of In Lou We Trust.

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A quick note just incase you missed it

I HATE SEAN AVERY

by David Fine on Jul 24, 2011 10:16 AM EDT reply actions

I hate Avery because he can’t control himself. I remember a few years back there was a record with the Rangers with Avery and without and when he wasn’t in the lineup they were a terrible team and when he was in they were great. The guy has no sense of morals what so ever on the ice but apparently does off the ice. Still a very weird character with probably some emotional issues to be acting as he does.

by KovyisLove on Jul 24, 2011 10:30 AM EDT reply actions

because he’s full of himself, because he’s deceitful, because he’s not ashamed to pick a fight with players at the end of their shifts, because he loves to provoke non-fighters, because he’s turtling against the tough guys.

He’s an efficient player otherwise his behavior is a big concern.

A perfect example why I would be embarrassed to see this guy playing for my favorite team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJwo2DBEvtE&feature=related

"It's magic, it's tragic, it's a loss, it's a win"

by Elektrostal_Kid on Jul 24, 2011 10:44 AM EDT reply actions

nothing that vile should have been allowed to defile elisha cuthbert. where was god?

עם ישראל חי

by nodisrespect on Jul 24, 2011 1:31 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

Maybe that's why lou signed Boulton & Janssen??

For the Avery & the Rags…

Niners,Nets,Reds & USC!!!

"We'll be the first really global team in the NBA. For me, being the first foreign owner, I want to do my best to invite all the fans for the team all over the world. I think the NBA is worldwide. But other teams [possess a] more local mentality. We are going to create and to build a global franchise to sell all around the world. I think I have a competitive advantage compared to other owners." - Mikhail Prokhorov

by Kidd2Petrovic on Jul 24, 2011 1:37 PM EDT reply actions

Why I love sean avery

Because he’s a character. It’s all an act, villains are fun. It’s funny to watch people get so worked up about it. What I hate are the people that go online just to hate the guy and call him gay because he like fashion. Wow, great insult, calling him gay. I don’t get it, why is saying someone is part of a persecuted minority funny?

by wolfcaster on Jul 24, 2011 3:28 PM EDT reply actions

Not so sure about this response ...

If the NHL were some sort of movie or even a “reality TV” show that is far from reality then I would buy your claim that he is just a character playing a part. I really like Gary Oldman as an actor even though he often plays a bad guy (at least before he became Commissioner Gordon). But for a professional athlete who consistently plays the part of a “villain” both on and off the ice, I’m having a hard time separating who you claim Avery really is and the a$$hole that he appears to be.

Maybe you are trying to say that he is just filling a role on his teams (if he is really such a great guy then why does he keep getting shuffled around the NHL?) of the agitator? Possibly, but you can frustrate your opponents on the ice without breaking rules. One of the things I remember most about the infamous Brodeur faceguarding was the way that his teammate (and Captain, if I’m not mistaken) Chris Drury took the time to leave his powerplay set position and skate over to Avery and yell at him to cut it out.

I can agree with you on your final point though, I also don’t like when people call him “gay” for being in the fashion scene. I can only imagine how difficult it must be for the gay community to live in a world that for the most part does not accept them. Why put them through the added agony of having to be associated with a jerk like Avery? But in all seriousness, I agree that is a stupid an insensitive insult. As a proponent of minority rights, surely you must have been outraged when Avery called Georges Laraque a “monkey,” right?

by Sher-Wood on Jul 25, 2011 8:52 AM EDT up reply actions

This nasty little piece of business certainly doesn’t help my opinion of the guy. As bothersome as I find that particular incident, I’m more bothered by how two-faced he is and how the media doesn’t call him out on it. He says things like he did in Dallas, he says all sorts of other nasty things to people (probably including various slurs)…. and he’s lauded as a hero for his pro-gay rights stance.

I know consistency is often seen as a peculiar little hobgoblin of one’s mind, but would a little bit of consistency with the media be so much to ask? Let’s not make him out to be some paragon of equal rights and the progressive movement when he’s a despicable human being in so many ways. Tell the whole truth and the whole story, not just those parts that serve to advance your agenda.

by acasser on Jul 24, 2011 4:37 PM EDT reply actions

I’m not sure I have one particular moment that sparked my hatred for him as he always had that reputation of being an idiot. I named my blog in his honor.

Here’s the beginning of Down Goes Avery.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbSbDYFCIMA

DownGoesAvery. Check out the hockey blog that's shaking the world: Down Goes Avery and on Twitter (@DownGoesAvery ). And now
Down Goes Avery on Facebook

by DownGoesAvery on Jul 24, 2011 7:57 PM EDT reply actions

I find it funny how Drury was banging his stick on the boards at the end, like Avery did anything honorable or something.

There is nothing quite as satisfying as out running security after you've punched out a Flyers fan!
"I was in the moment, and the moment said smack you." - Bruce Willis

by slackdog_rm on Jul 25, 2011 11:08 AM EDT up reply actions

A classic Avery turtle job. All bark, no bite.

Status quo.

by nyynygnjd on Jul 25, 2011 11:22 AM EDT up reply actions

I hate Sean Avery so much...but..

I’d take Avery instead of Carcillo and Cooke. Carcillo is a complete low-life and it completely baffles me that Chicago actually signed him when Philly walked away.

by Devils1192 on Jul 24, 2011 8:06 PM EDT reply actions

A little somethin-somethin for all you to enjoy

Micheal Haley does it right – double-tap to Avery, who promptly holds on for dear life. (The jive turkey ran Haley from behind a week or so earlier, because going face-to-face was obviously beyond his ability.)

The Avery of my Avery is my friend.

We may be in the box, but you get the penalty.
Lighthouse Hockey - a beacon of greatness on the rocky coast of sports blog mediocrity
Non-hockey scribblings at nightflyblog

by mikb on Jul 24, 2011 9:15 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

pwned.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle

by Tim G on Jul 25, 2011 8:25 PM EDT up reply actions

I hate Sean Avery because he “plays” for the Rangers

Ilya Kovalchuk is good at hockey

by 3 already on Jul 25, 2011 12:57 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

He's Gutless...

That’s my reason…Takes cheap shots on the ice, talks smack, and then rather than show some guts when someone goes after him (like Clarkson), he’ll hide behind a ref or turtle instead of fight. So many times you see him whack someone with his stick and then give that “I didn’t do anything” look.

And let’s not forget his cowardly attack on Smid of the Oilers…

So this is what it's like to be an Islanders fan...

FIre John MacLean

by Marty 4 Prez on Jul 25, 2011 8:35 AM EDT reply actions

He's A Coward

He runs his mouth all the time but never backs it up. There’s so many reasons why I hate him, but it would take forever for me to write them all. The face-guarding of Marty is probably one of the biggest reasons. Every player at any level knows that you can’t do that, it’s an unwritten rule. That’s why it’s sad that the NHL had to make a rule change for it because of idiots like Avery. I hope Boulton or Janssen demolish Avery this year (but Avery will probably just try to run away or fall to the ice covering his head.)

Here is a perfect example of Avery running away from Tim Thomas after he delivered a cheap shot to his head. What a disgrace of a “hockey” player.

by HockeyDude628 on Jul 25, 2011 10:04 AM EDT reply actions

Time to take out the trash!

He has absolutely no respect for the sport or the greats that played before him. He is nothing by hockey trash!

Head shots are for the weak, a real man hits the body.

by Biggs Johnson on Jul 25, 2011 2:20 PM EDT reply actions

I will give one (there’s only one) reason for why I might like Sean Avery (“might” being the operative word because one reason isn’t enough to go against 1,000,000 others): his vocal support for gay civil rights. Considering the culture in hockey, it’s extremely brave to come out in support of that issue. It’s even braver when you’re supposed to be a “tough guy” (even if you’re not really a tough guy).

Wow, I had to use three qualifiers in three sentences. But I applaud his corageous support of that issue, especially considering just how vocal he is about it and the fact that he has refused to back down.

by Dr. Witticism on Jul 25, 2011 3:40 PM EDT reply actions

I don't so much hate Sean Avery

It’s like getting upset over, say, Adam Mair. He’s a fourth liner who’s overpaid and overhyped – I question those Rangers fans who like him because I don’t think he helps them win games.

THAT SAID: Chirping at Jason Blake for fighting cancer was really low and is probably one of the key reasons most players in the league think ill of him. Avery denies it but given that he was fined for it, I can’t say I believe the man.

Devils in my heart! Devils in my mind! Devils in my eyes! Devils until I die!
In Lou We Trust - The New Jersey Devils SBN Blog

by John Fischer on Jul 25, 2011 5:22 PM EDT reply actions

The Rangers, as a team, seemingly have a better record when Avery is in the lineup versus when he is out. I’m sure Ranger fans use that as the only ammunition they need to ‘like him.’

by Skuba7 on Jul 25, 2011 5:44 PM EDT up reply actions

I agree. He is definitely valuable to the Rangers and, as much as it pains me to say this, he has legitimate hockey skills. He’s certainly nothing special, but he’s much better than, say, Rod Pelley, Adam Mair, Cam Janssen, and lots of other fourth and even third liners in the league.

Just because we hate the guy doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be honest about his abilities.

And while we’re talking about being honest, let’s all admit something else: we loved Claude Lemieux when he was on our team because he helped us win. Yes, he was dirty, nasty, and everybody else in hockey hated him, but we loved him because he was on our team and helped us win. If a guy helps a team win, the team’s fans will generally like him regardless of all his crap and the fact that he is just a terrible person on the ice (I won’t claim to know what he is like off the ice, but the evidence we do have is more bad than good).

by Dr. Witticism on Jul 25, 2011 10:06 PM EDT up reply actions

That's an outdated argument.

On Avery’s first pass through, they became a different team with him. In 06-07, ignoring that he was actually immensely productive w/ 20 points in 29 games, he brought a ton of energy to an older team that definitely needed it, and they got on a hot streak that reflected that.

This is not the 06-07 team though. They now have youth, they have energy, and they have a lot more sandpaper than a Nylander-Jagr-Straka led team could ever could. Avery’s production isn’t nearly the same, nor is his presence reliably tied to the team’s record.

Fans will make a lot of excuses, but he’s on the wrong side of 30 now, and it’s natural that he’s not able to play like he OD’d on adrenaline anymore. He clearly (at least to me) picks and chooses when he wants to give max effort now, and when he does, he can still be an effective hockey player.

The shenanigans are a sideshow, they work a lot better at pissing off the fans (clearly) than actually influencing a game.

Blueshirt Banter - Where Rangers' Fans Matter
Tracking the Rangers - Numbers don't lie. They just don't agree with you.
Twitter: RangerSmurf

by George E. Ays on Jul 26, 2011 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Do you ever get the impression that Sean Avery cares more about Sean Avery than he cares about the New York Rangers or even winning hockey games? PK Subban’s antics remind me a lot of Sean Avery, in that you feel like Subban has no respect for other players or even his team or the league itself.

I’m not saying either Avery or Subban do believe that, but I can certainly make an argument for it.

by Alamoth on Jul 26, 2011 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions

Sure, you can make that argument, but I have no idea what runs through the head of either.

Neither is the first ‘pest’ to have made it in the league, neither will be the last. Some guys just feel that’s what it takes to get in the league. With Sean, I think it was more a survival thing, he was an undrafted UFA who probably saw being a feisty, PITA as a path to the NHL, something to distinguish him from other little fast guys. Since then, I think it just fed on itself, old tricks grew tired, so he tried other ethically questionable things to maintain. I don’t know much about Subban’s history, so no clue what his story is, maybe MTL lurkers can chime in.

Anyway, with Sean, the league’s on to him, the refs are on to him (he used to draw twice as many penalties as he took, now it’s 1:1), and his usefulness is running it’s course, because you have plenty of guys that can chip in 25-30 points without half the baggage. I’ll be absolutely shocked if this isn’t his last year with the Rangers.

Blueshirt Banter - Where Rangers' Fans Matter
Tracking the Rangers - Numbers don't lie. They just don't agree with you.
Twitter: RangerSmurf

by George E. Ays on Jul 26, 2011 1:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Good point. There have been many pests in the past who have expressed their feeling that the only way they could play the game they love for a living and in the best league in the world was to being a jerk on the ice. It’s sad, but true.

by Dr. Witticism on Jul 26, 2011 2:52 PM EDT up reply actions

Good work George, coming over and dropping some knowledge.

by Skuba7 on Jul 26, 2011 3:25 PM EDT up reply actions

Many thing make u hate avery. He is quite a coward. I remember a game last yr. Where he refused to fight clarkson and only wanted to fight kovie. I also really hate how imature he he is. He acts like a 10 yr old kid on the ice. Such a douche bag

by zachattack997 on Jul 25, 2011 7:18 PM EDT reply actions

He doesn’t act like a ten year old kid! I was way more mature than him when I was play hockey at ten.

I take offense. I challenge you to a duel!

[glove slap!]

Tomorrow. Dawn. Playground.

by Dr. Witticism on Jul 25, 2011 10:22 PM EDT up reply actions

That can be argued as a strategy

Its a douche move but bringing the devils best offensive weapon to the box for 5 minutes is much better then bringing clarkson to the box for 5 minutes.

Avery will gladly fight any important player to a team, win or lose the fight just to take the guy off the ice. He wont get pounded by a guy like clarkson who doesnt matter if he is in the box or on the ice.

by Pballer505 on Jul 27, 2011 3:48 PM EDT up reply actions

I can’t wait for the look on Brad Richards face if he’s told his linemates will be Marian Gaborik and Sean Avery. His first response will have to be “Wait, you mean Sean can actually play hockey?” followed by “Did I just sign a long-term contract with a team whose best left winger is Sean Avery?”

by Alamoth on Jul 26, 2011 9:34 AM EDT reply actions

Come On Guys

I HATE AVERY. But there are bigger problems in the league. At least Avery is not a cheap shot artist like Matt Cooke. Now there’s a difference between between the two guys. At least Rangers fans don’t defend Avery, like Pens fans defend Cooke. Pens fans are like “oh without him our penalty kill would be soooooo much worse.” Please the guy doesn’t even play with all the suspensions he gets. Also, Trevor Gillies another guy who has no place in the league.

There was a time when Avery was decent hockey player, when he could take stupid penalties and win games like the Charlestown Chiefs, but with Torts as his coach he is on a much shorter leash. The only bad incident I remember Avery doing this year was him slashing Komisarek in the ankles after the play.

I apologize if it sounds like i am defending Avery, or worse that it sounds like I am a Rangers fan, but there are way more players that are more detrimental to the league nowadays than Avery. Most of Avery’s acts were a few years ago, and should be somewhat forgotten. Not forgiven but forgotten.

by Mr. Boom on Jul 26, 2011 10:08 PM EDT reply actions

This post reminds me of some fan fiction I read a couple of years ago. It concerned a girl, a news reported by trade, who was in love with Parise (and in a relationship with him) but Avery kept wanting to hit on her as well. In this particular story, Parise and Avery even got into an on-ice fight about her.

That particular story portrayed Avery as a total douche bag and portrayed Parise as a good guy.

Rocking the Red for teams on the banks of the Potomac and at the Gateway Arch and Singing the Blues about Hockey.

by CapsFan75 on Jul 30, 2011 12:34 AM EDT reply actions