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Chris Pronger Won’t Discuss Illustration Of Him In A Skirt (But Others Will!)

The Chicago Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup tonight if they beat the Philadelphia Flyers, and yesterday, the Chicago Tribune wasted no time in ramping up tensions between the teams even more, including a poster of the Flyers’ Chris Pronger in their print edition. But this was no ordinary Pronger shot – the Tribune altered the photo so Pronger was sporting a skirt, and rechristened (re-Chris-tened?) him “Chrissy Pronger.” As you might imagine, they heard plenty about it – just not from Pronger.

According to the linked article, Pronger said when asked about it:

“I don’t read what you guys write. Good or bad.”

It’s anyone’s guess whether that’s actually true, but credit Pronger for sticking to his guns: he offered up only three “Next question”s when reporters tried to get him to comment on the poster.

The same story, though, showed at least one hockey player was moved to comment.

“I’d like to see that editor out on skates. I’ll take them one-on-one on the ice any day,” three-time Olympic medalist Angela Ruggiero told The Associated Press. “They obviously have never seen women’s hockey and are living in the dark ages.”

USA Today columnist Christine Brennan wasn’t thrilled, either:

“Looks like Tarzan, skates like Jane,” the Tribune wrote of “Chrissy” Pronger, clearly using the names Jane and Chrissy as a sign of weakness. It’s the same outdated strategy broadcaster Jim Rome used in 1994 when he tried to “insult” quarterback Jim Everett by calling him “Chris” — when we all know Chris Evert was a much tougher athlete and more successful competitor than Jim Everett ever was.

So here we go again, this time from a newspaper that is led by a female managing editor, Jane Hirt, who clearly should know better.

Whatever one’s opinion is on the poster, it’s hard to argue that the Tribune didn’t use the greatest of judgment in publishing it. The paper’s sports editor, Mike Kellams, apologized to those offended, saying, “We were just trying to have a little fun. That’s really it. Honest.” Unfortunately, that defense probably won’t fly when it’s a response to allegations of sexism, and he at least seemed to realize this:

“I don’t suppose this will move anyone on either side to change their minds about the image.”

Kellams’ most important admission, however, came when he was responding more directly to Ruggiero’s comments:

Ruggiero vs. me on the rink would be no contest.

We still wouldn’t mind seeing it.

AP photo, via