John Tortorella continues to make news for the wrong reasons.
The Columbus Blue Jackets coach had some choice words for St. Louis Blues forward Ryan Reaves following the club’s 2-1 overtime loss. Tortorella referred to Reaves as an “animal” after the game for fighting Nick Foligno.
Tortorella on Foligno-Reaves fight: "The thing that crawls up my ass, I watched Nick Foligno fight that animal …" #stlblues
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) November 6, 2016
Calling one the league’s few black players an animal isn’t a good look. Usually, I’d give a coach the benefit of the doubt, as the comments could be just a poor choice in words, but Tortorella has a history of making backward comments about race.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXbDagQznzk
Back in September, when the Colin Kaepernick anthem protest was dominating headlines, Torts made it clear he’d bench any player who peacefully protested before a game. He was criticized league-wide, including this zinger from Lightning forward J.T. Brown.
Wouldn't benching a black man for taking a stance only further prove Kap's point of oppression? But hey 🐸☕️ https://t.co/p6aUjXYlq4
— JT Brown (@JTBrown23) September 7, 2016
Referring to Tortorella as a racist is jumping the gun, but it’s hard to deny his pattern of making absurd, offensive comments about race. If he hadn’t made comments about players protesting the national anthem and benched Byfuglien, the Reaves remarks could be forgiven, but he made them.
Calling Reaves “an animal,” whether intentionally racist or not, doesn’t belong in today’s game. Torts should know better — but perhaps, he simply doesn’t.
