I was genuinely surprised by the number of retweets and responses to my first official blog post! Lots of support and plenty of appreciation, here are some of the best ones, starting with my first reply from Mike Wilner (who I really admire for his infinite patience with irate callers on JaysTalk):
@msnikkithomas I liked it a lot. Very good points made, and all of it very true.
— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness590) September 25, 2012
@msnikkithomas Very impressed, actually.And I didn’t know you were a fellow U of T alum!
— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness590) September 25, 2012
@msnikkithomas I’m not sure.I was smart enough not to go back, but look at all the good my degree has done me.
— Mike Wilner (@Wilnerness590) September 25, 2012
Mike is great, he always makes time for me and other people who tweet him, which makes us feel so much more connected to our favourite team. Thanks for the comments Mike! 🙂
Had a nice discussion with Dirk Hayhurst as well, who I really like for his writing skills and insightful commentary. He correctly pointed out that I had mistakenly used a pic from last year’s hazing, which I soon corrected. He had some kind words to say:
@msnikkithomas I think it was more in-depth than most of the other articles I’ve read, about the cultural meaning of it all.
— Dirk Hayhurst (@TheGarfoose) September 25, 2012
But we disagreed as to how deep-seated homophobia and misogyny really were:
@msnikkithomas I don’t think there is much homophobia there, honestly. I think sport culture isn’t educated in how their words are taken.
— Dirk Hayhurst (@TheGarfoose) September 25, 2012
We agreed to disagree on that one, as Dirk politely excused himself from further discussion:
@msnikkithomas But seriously, I’ve written 4 articles on this and have said my piece, so I’m dropping this one, if you don’t mind.
— Dirk Hayhurst (@TheGarfoose) September 25, 2012
I thought that was totally fair, he had discussed the incident several times over and was no doubt tired of rehashing the same thing. I appreciate the fact that he even took the time to read my post, let alone respond – I certainly couldn’t expect any more than that. Thank you, Dirk, for your feedback. 🙂
The rest of the responses were quite positive, and the post got lots of extra attention thanks to a Retweet from @YouCanPlayTeam:
@msnikkithomas Love this post
— Allison (@this_juncture) September 25, 2012
@msnikkithomas Thank you so much. I think this is right on and the impliciy misogyny in homophobia is so rarely addressed.
— Lira (@xfiatpax) September 25, 2012
Along with an answer about something I was wondering about:
@msnikkithomas Hi Nikki. The Jays have not had their rookie hazing for 2012 yet. Most teams do it in September so it should be soon.
— Jamie Uyeyama (@JUyeyama) September 25, 2012
And I’m still waiting for feedback from a few others that I’d love to hear from (including one of my favourite bloggers and reps from a couple of groups that I really like and support) but I’m heading to bed soon and wanted to get this out there before I went to sleep:
@msnikkithomas Been in classes all day. Will read when I can.
— Patrick Burke (@BurkieYCP) September 25, 2012
@msnikkithomas Thanks for sharing. Will respond to you directly.
— Tao of Stieb (@TaoofStieb) September 25, 2012
@msnikkithomas @youcanplayteam I’d like to hear @caaws perspective.
— OutSport Toronto (@OutSportToronto) September 25, 2012
I’m really happy that my first official blog post was able to stimulate plenty of discussion, and keep this topic in the public forum. It’s a really important issue, and while I think that we can forgive Escobar at this point and move forward without anger or vitriol towards him or the Blue Jays, it’s vital that the underlying and more critical discussion – how to end homophobia and misogyny in sports, and society at large – not be forgotten, ignored, or left behind. 🙂