My Blind Defense

Alright guys, here's the deal.  I know that a lot of you have seen what was termed as my Twitter "hissy fit" with Greg Whyshynski the last couple of days. I should have let it go a lot sooner than I did, but its hard to stand idly by and watch someone that you respect get torched and know that they cannot defend themselves. That being said, I regret nothing that was written over that exchange.
I'm not implying that I am Tim Peel's personal crusader. Frankly, it doesn't matter to me who that article was about. I didn't do or say what I did because it was Tim Peel, I said what I did because it was about a fellow official. Don't get me wrong, I am well aware that I am NOT on the same level as Mr. Peel, hell I'm not even on the same level as most of you that will read this. What I am saying is that I will always defend anyone who puts on the stripes. To me it doesn't matter if you're a 15 year old kid who's out there for the first time, or a 14 year NHL veteran that's headed to the Olympic Games. We are all part of the same team. 
We stick together. It doesn't matter how far apart we are, hell it doesn't even matter what country we're in. We are a team. That means that when one of us takes a cheap shot we are there to back them up, fight for them if need be. That's what I did. I'd do it again and I plan to if the need ever arises. Something that was told to me in my first game with the ref who is now my mentor was, "No matter what, I've got your back. If you go out there and call a 'double-dribble', I will stand behind you". Had I, I'm sure that we would have had a talk after the game about it, but the point is we can't throw a teammate under the bus. A lot of times its us versus the world and the only one you can rely on is your partner(s).
I think the word used that convinced me to write this was "stubborn". That's not accurate. I'm not being stubborn the word would be "conviction". I firmly believe everything that I have written. I'm sure its a little naïve, but if we don't stand up for each other no one else will.
So, in the end it doesn't matter to me that this article was written about Tim Peel, it matters that it was written about any one of us. Call me what you will, naïve, stubborn, an idealist, but know this. If you wear the stripes I will always be in your corner. We may not agree, we may not even like each other, but if you wear them like I do I will always be behind you 100% and without question. I've got your back. #TeamStripes