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Paul McNamara

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Even star athletes are responsible for what they write online

Bruins goalie Tim Thomas is living in a fantasy world

By Paul McNamara on Fri, 02/10/12 - 10:12am.

. What's this?

thomas

Two thoughts about hockey players and the human head:

A goaltender whose play has been extraordinary is said to be "standing on his head."

And, a goaltender who believes his Facebook posts are nobody's business but his own can be said to be not using his head.

Boston Bruins star goaltender Tim Thomas has embroiled himself in yet another public controversy (ditching the team's White House visit was the first) by posting political comments on his Facebook page and then, when the inevitable uproar ensued, refusing to explain his actions.

From a Boston Globe story this morning:

Thomas said his hockey life and private life were separate and not to be blurred.

"I say that's my personal life and that has absolutely nothing to do with the Bruins or hockey, and I'm going to use my right to remain silent,'' Thomas said when peppered with questions about his latest Facebook post.

Asked if he had any other views to share, Thomas said, "If I do, I'll do that in my personal life and not in this arena.''

When it was pointed out that Facebook was a public forum, Thomas agreed.

"It is,'' he said. "You have the right to ask the question, but I have the right to not answer the question.''

He's right only about the last part; Thomas is under no legal obligation to explain his public political statements (although the contracts of professional athletes do often require them to speak to the media.)

Where he's dead wrong is in asserting that his public comments have nothing to do with his employer. Any employer absolutely has a stake in how their workers - especially the high-profile ones - present themselves in public, because those words and actions inevitably reflect on the business. And employers have well-established legal rights, too, in terms of being able to exercise limitations on what their employees are allowed to say and do while outside the office.

In addition, Thomas is a major celebrity (at least around here) in a society that's obsessed with even the most minor ones. If he insists on talking politics in public, there is no chance that the press will stop asking him questions about it because the public words and actions of celebrities are news.

Thomas is entitled to believe that these connections between what he does on and off the ice are unfair, but he's not entitled to his own version of reality.

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