u/jusdeknowledge

Hi all.

A lot of us are understandably upset about last night's news, and I've seen a lot of debate about what the proper response should be, be that refusing to buy season tickets already deposited for, buying seats on the glass and bringing posters to make sure she knows what we think about her, or not attending games at all. All valid tactics as far as I'm concerned, and you won't find me telling anyone that they're responding to this incorrectly. However, my girlfriend had an idea this morning that I'd like to add to the conversation; something we can do instead of or in addition to any of the previous: pledge to donate a set amount of money to the Ruth Ellis Center.

For those of you might not know, the REC is a very highly regarded agency providing support services to queer youth in Metro Detroit, with a strong focus on racial equity and transformative justice.

She was thinking of doing $50/goal, which, based off of this last season's stats, would put her at $550 by the end of the season. She makes more money than I do, so I was thinking I might do something like $10/assist and $15/goal, which, using last season's stats again, would be $180 + $165 = $345, which is a little more manageable. Obviously, anyone would be free to pledge as much or as little as they'd like, given their own assessment of their financial situation. Everyone donating the same amount wouldn't matter as much as a significant number of us pledging to do it together. Even $5/point ($145 last year), especially spread out over the course of the season, will go a long way and hopefully not hurt too hard week to week.

I've seen sports-based spite turned to good via the process of charity donations in the past. Fans of college football may have heard of the EDSBS Charity Bowl, when fans donate to a refugee resettlement charity in Atlanta in increments based on scores against rivals, and donations are tagged with the name of a particular school and tracked in a leaderboard to see who's beating whom. More topical for us, u/BreaksForMoose pointed me in the direction of #QueerFancyStats, where fans of baseball teams with outspoken homophobic players came up with a formula to donate to LGBTQ+ organizations based on those players' achievements month-to-month. So it can be done.

Anyway, consider this an invitation to all fans of the Detroit TBDs to join us in doing our small part to counter the hate Britta is putting out into the world. Happy Pride!

P.S.: If anyone wants to get a head-start, you can donate here. A number of recent donations already reference the PWHL!