*sigh* My beloved Colorado Avalanche are in the midst of crisis, and in a season that has thus far been fantastic. Their goaltender, Semyon Varlamov, was arrested this week after having allegedly assaulted his girlfriend. The charges are pretty severe and include assault and kidnapping. According to the girlfriend, he showed up at her house Monday night, stomped on her chest, kicked her and dragged her from room to room by her hair (this is where the kidnapping charge stems from). She didn't report the incident until Tuesday night and an arrest warrant was issued Wednesday night. Varlamov turned himself in and appeared in court yesterday, having spent the night in jail (a requirement for anyone facing these kinds of charges). He left court and boarded a plane bound for Dallas, which is where the Avalanche play tonight. He will be in uniform but will not start the game (he wasn't scheduled to anyway), but as I understand it, he will play tomorrow night back in Denver. *sigh*
I first heard of the charges against Varlamov the night he turned himself in. Sports ARE the top story around these parts this time of year and this being the Broncos bye week, there was no way this story was going to fall by the wayside. And it shouldn't anyway. If the allegations turn out to be true, then Varlamov has no business being in the NHL. IF, being the keyword. I'm already troubled by some of the actual facts in this case. First of all, his girlfriend has already done an interview with a local news station (via a translator, both she and Varlamov are Russian and apparently she's not fluent in English). There have been a fair amount of athletes involved in similar scandals and rarely have the women who were allegedly battered decided to come out publicly in such a way. According to her, this is not the first incident of domestic violence in their four year relationship (he supposedly choked her almost to unconsciousness over the summer), but she has never reported any of those previous incidents to the police. She claims she only reported this one because they are now in America. I find it hard to believe that no one tipped off the police or the team(s) in four years. Another thing that doesn't sit well with me is that this just doesn't seem to fit with everything known about Varlamov. He's a young, shy dude and he's spent the better part of his NHL career living with his mother, whom he seems to adore. He was also supposed to play for the Russian KHL team that died tragically in a plane crash a few years ago. The only reason he was not on that team and on that plane is because the Avs acquired him in a trade that kept him in the NHL. Had that not happened, he would've headed back to Russia and the KHL. I could be wrong but something about this just doesn't gel. It doesn't help that his girlfriend looked and seemed fine in her interview, telling the story matter-of-factly and without any emotion (of course, they are Russian, which makes all of this even harder to figure out). So far the only injuries that have made public are bruises on her lip and wrist. I would think if you were stomped, kicked and dragged, there would be severe injuries from that and you would go to the ER the same night, not a day later. But time will tell, I guess.
Another story making the rounds is the battle of the Washington Redskins and...well, everyone else. For years there have been calls for Washington to change their name since it consists of a racial slur. But the team has always refused and the uproar has died down. The same thing appears to be happening now. There's a very vocal group calling for the change again and this time both the NFL and the team are refusing to take action. The San Francisco Chronicle however is taking action. They will no longer refer to the team as the "Washington Redskins" and will instead just use "Washington" when referencing the team. This is what needs to happen nationwide. If more newspapers and websites stopped using the term "Redskins", they would eventually have no choice but to change their name. I don't see what the big deal is about changing it. It is a racist, offensive term. Hopefully they do the right thing.
