Tim Thomas would really appreciate you leaving his teammates, family out of this

i think it just shows disrespect not to go .even if you disagree with the politics i didn't like bush but if given the oportunnity i would have went to the white house.hard to respect someone who shows none himself

I hadn't actually deeply considered the family angle before with regards to the TSN "KKK" tweet. It's one thing to make an stupid inflammatory comment about a player, but once you start bringing their children into it (even if you are joking) that's crazy offensive.

I would watch my back this weekend in Ottawa if I were Dave Hodge. Chara may push him into a stanchion "real accidental like". (I kid.. I kid..)

Don't make big grand gestures and than complain that people are talking about it

"Why is the media asking Thomas's teammates these questions? Because Thomas gave them the story. It's the risk he took."

Exactly. He made his bed here. It's reasonable to expect him to respond.

He believes in his freedom. He states his opinion for all the world to see, read and hear. Now, he wants no consequences for doing this. freedom goes both ways son. We are free to disagree with your speech.

Dude, you took a stand, so stand by it! If you are going to dodge the the questions that (predictably) resulted from your actions, you just aren't owning up to what you did. I honestly thought it was solely a media-driven non-story, but this fella's reactions leave a lot to be desired...

No comment, this issue was addressed on my Facebook page, now go ask my teammates all the questions you were going to ask me. I dont want to make this about me so I am going to stop talking about so now go ask Chara what he thinks about me and my political stance. Like I said, its not about me, its about teammates, wait, is anyone buying this stuff? UMMMMMMM?

As far as his actual 'distraction' to the team goes, let's just say he's no Dennis Rodman. Almost all of his team mates are not American, and thus collectively couldn't give a Philadelphia Flyer puck about it.

Tim Thomas should have known that when you take a stand, you can't expect everyone to simply walk around you.

Courage has many faces. Obviously, going to war as a member of the armed forces takes tremendous courage. Standing in front of a Chara slapper requires a good amount of courage. Being the one kid in class who stands up to the bully takes more courage than most of us will ever know.

Speaking up for something you strongly believe in also takes courage, especially when you know it may be unpopular to do so. How many times have you taken a public stand on an controversial issue? Have you ever put yourself out there, front and center, knowing the slings and arrows to be sent your way? I have, and sometimes questioned if it was worth the price I paid. But I knew I couldn't look at myself in the mirror if I didn't. I find it sad that most of us will never feel so strongly about something that we will stick by our principles, knowing we will be heavily criticized. I think Hemingway said it best:

"Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence."

Whether you agree with him or not, Tim Thomas had the courage to take an unpopular stand and not compromise his principles. I admire him. Not because he stops pucks, but because he was brave enough to know that when you look in the mirror, you have to be true to the man looking back you.

the man showed integrity by standing up to his beliefs.

something the crooks in washington don't understand.

it embarrasses the sheep to see a strong individual and the criticism shows that !

James Harrison made it cool to snub the post-championship White House nonsense

Thomas brought this on himself. If he felt so strongly about this, you'd think he'd be willing to scream his reasoning from the mountaintops. I'm guessing he knows he screwed up....

I love Timmy but he's not the most gifted speaker. He does care about his family, friends and even his fans a lot. Sometimes when we feel so strongly about something we tend to forget about those things before we act. Our pride gets in the way of common sense.

The man has allot more class than Dave Hodge. Where is TSN on there reporting of Thomas's event and nothing on there site about the racial comments by Hodge. Double standard when it come to the 4th estate. Everyone, cancel your TSN and go to the web and get it for free. At least we have that leverage the media.

For those of you wondering why this is still a story: "[Expletive] selfish [expletive],’’ one Bruins source told the Boston Globe in describing Tim Thomas. " might have something to do with it.

Perhaps things aren't as rosy in Beantown as originally thought?

It really starts becoming personal when you come up with some insipid reason to involve the man's family in it, the first initials of his kids' names. If I were him, I'd make sure to let my offense be known loudly and angrily, because the media has crossed the line in their unending coverage of this.

Thomas sounds like a member of the michigan millita. I mean its such tyranny to make 5 Million a year and have to pay some taxes. Right wing militants are boring, always how bad the federal government is when in fact the most corropt government is on the city and county level. Thomas does this and now doesn't want the publicity lolFine, he can have his free speech, but pretty pathetic to let your team down and make such an #$%$ of yourself

If Tim Thomas were the first or only athlete (or member of any profession) to have declined the opportunity to attend a meet and greet the President, then I would understand all of the uproar. But he isn't, so why is there so much attention being paid to him. TT made his choice and whether or not anyone agrees with it or approves it, that's one of the basic freedoms we have in this country. I applaud TT for stepping into the spotlight to demonstrate his frustration with the state of this nation. Lawmakers, take note - he is not the only one.

I don't even understand what the story is that you media types keep hounding him about. He already explained his reasons for not going and I don't think there's much more to be said about this story. I think this more about the media haranguing him for having the audacity to not want to talk to them about it. Also, slow news week unless you get your rocks off on other gossipy topics like who is going to be picked last and how do they feel about it.