Sean Avery Racist Remarks?

Sean Avery has supplied us with no small amount of quotes for analysis over the years and is one of the most hated of all athletes in professional sports.  Currently, concerns are that some of the younger impressionable players may have their careers derailed or ruined by Avery's influence.  

 Here, however, we run into translation issues.  

Alex Frolov strongly denies making comments about Sean Avery calling opponents 'black monkeys'

BY JESSE SPECTOR
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Originally Published:Monday, August 1st 2011, 1:24 PM
Updated: Monday, August 1st 2011, 10:21 PM

Bill Kostroun/AP

Sean Avery has re-shaped his image as a crude hockey player over the last few years, most recently emerging as an advocate for marriage equality in New York.

The quotes from former Rangers left wing Alex Frolov in an interview with a Russian newspaper Monday were stunning, with allegations that his former Blueshirt and Kings teammate Sean Avery used racial slurs to irritate opponents. It was news to Frolov, in particular.

"They asked me about Aves and I said he's a friend of mine and a really nice guy," Frolov told the Daily News from Germany, where he is preparing for the coming season with the Siberian team Avangard Omsk. "What I said was that he, in the past, used to have problems where he could say something, but he's a really nice person and good friend of mine."

According to the interview on sport.ru, translated on Twitter by Slava Malamud of a different Russian publication, Sport Express, Frolov said more than that.

"(Avery) isn't a fool," Frolov was quoted as saying. "Lately he has become calmer, smarter. Before he'd get swept away with emotions and do something stupid. To mention each and every one of his stunts. ... Something always happens around him, it's a part of his job. He needs to be talked about. He loves it, he feels at home in the spotlight. Sometimes he called opponents 'black monkeys.' He did a lot of things. I can't remember all."

Adding to the controversy, Deadspin used Google Translate to put the sport.ru interview into English, and it turned "called" to "calls," making it sound as if Frolov was saying Avery currently includes racial taunts in his verbal arsenal.

"I didn't say anything about Aves calling someone bad language - I was saying he's really emotional and that in the past he could say the wrong thing," Frolov told The News. "It wasn't particularly about black people. He doesn't have anything against black people. I don't think he - I mean, he's a nice person, and he wouldn't say something bad about black people or Asian people or any kind of people. I guess it's just some kind of misunderstanding."

Avery, who earlier this summer was a very public supporter of gay marriage in New York, declined to comment.

Before they were Ranger teammates, Frolov and Avery played together with the Los Angeles Kings from 2003-07.

It was during that time, in 2005, that Avery was accused by Oilers enforcer Georges Laraque, who is black, of using a racial slur during a game - a claim Avery denied. That incident came less than a month after Avery told the Canadian network TSN, about a Denis Gauthier check that concussed Jeremy Roenick, "I think it was typical of most French guys in our league with a visor on, running around and playing tough and not backing anything up."

While Avery has remained a controversial figure, to be sure, he has not approached objectionable levels with his mouth since his infamous "sloppy seconds" comments in 2008 resulted in a league suspension, behavioral counseling and the Dallas Stars putting him on waivers to be claimed by the Rangers. 

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/rangers/2011/08/01/2011-08-01_former_sean_avery_teammate_alex_frolov_causes_stir_by_saying_he_called_opponents.html#ixzz1TsNAvqm5