So Tie Domi is apparently a cheatin' jerk. Here's why Toronto Maple Leafs fans will ultimately forgive him.Whenever Tie Domi would do something that was especially in character for him, Leafs fans' reaction pretty much boiled down to: Oh, Domi.
It was usually followed by hand-over-the-mouth giggling. He could be a jerk, but he was our jerk, and that's important to keep in mind now that his messy divorce is all over the media.
Say the whistle would blow and the TV camera would find the opposing player picking himself off the ice, checking for loose teeth. Typically, there would be a shot of Domi, yelling at the official who had actually had the temerity to penalize him for high-sticking when he high-sticked someone. Oh, Domi. Or say that a skirmish would break out after the whistle. It would almost be diffused, but there would be Domi, still trying to get at an opposing player, tussling with a linesman who was usually a couple heads taller than him. Oh, Domi.
Oh, Domi, indeed: The Leafs' enforcer emeritus is embroiled in an apparent love triangle that involves his estranged wife, the very blond Leanne Domi, and a high-profile member of Parliament, the very blond Belinda Stronach, whom cool kids and good-old-boy types alike often depict as the Paris Hilton of Canadian politics.Hey, give Tie credit: At least he didn't fool around with a teenager, like Christie Brinkley's ex-hubby. And if Domi can allegedly bed Belinda and actress Tia Carrere, which Leanne also alleges, it's proof positive that women prefer the simian look to metrosexual types. Balding guys with unibrows, cancel your spa days. That's another column, though.
The guess here, however, is that Leafs Nation could care less about Domi 'n' Stronach. It'll be on par with the time back in 2001 when an out-of-control Domi scuffled with a couple Philadelphia Flyers fans during a game: Oh, Domi. Leafs fans are very forgiving. When the team hasn't won a Stanley Cup in almost 40 years, it's kind of required. If what his ex is accusing of him is true, Domi is a huge jerk, but Leafs fans will forgive him, just as they did when he cost them a 2001 quarter-final series against the New Jersey Devils with a mindless cheap shot on Scott Niedermayer. Oh, Domi.
Save for it being a popular, recently retired player in Leafs-crazy Toronto and the Other Woman being the heiress to billion-dollar auto parts fortune and a sitting MP, this is pretty much a run-of-the-mill story. A male athlete acting like a chauvinist pig, then trying to intimidate his wife and trying to scare her from filing for divorce, telling her she's nothing if she discards his last name? Gee, never heard of that before.It's just another millionaire jock with a certain morally casual attitude, leaving his wife at home to tend to the kids and doing what he pleases -- ho, hum. Besides, most people these days, even those who are happily married, probably tend to nod in agreement when someone such as Bill Maher spouts off about how marriage, like Communism, goes against human nature.
Leanne Domi says Tie is an "angry, violent" person and a philanderer, but he will skate away from this much easier than he ever got away from an opposing checker. He's an icon in Toronto. In terms of athletic entitlement is right up there with playing baseball for the New York Yankees or football for the Dallas Cowboys, aside from the absence of post-1967 championships.
The relationship between the Leafs and their diehard fans is the epitome of the the concept that any celebrity is worth fawning over. Toronto is a city where people line up to get autographs from former Leafs such as Mark Osborne, who was little better than third-line flotsam in his day.
Domi 'n' Stronach is an irresistible, sordid little 48-to-72 hour story, but in the end it's not a modern morality tale -- it's just a hockey player with his pants down. Allegations of being a homewrecker probably won't hurt Belinda in her Toronto-area federal riding, which she carried by close to 5,000 votes in the January election; the people at both ends of the political spectrum who don't like her will continue to dislike her.
As for Leanne Domi, wish her all the luck in the world in her lot in life as a very blond wife of a Toronto hockey hero, trying to secure a cool $45,000 Cdn per month in spousal and child support. In a society that still clings to sexism, where women are still quick to turn on each other, she's going to be coming in for her share of ridicule.
As for Tie Domi, he will come through this with that charismatic idiot grin of his plastered across his face. Oh, Domi.
Related:
Tie-Ing One On This Canada Day (July 1)
Sticking Up For 'Trophy' Wives (June 22)
That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.
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1 comment:
This doesn't surprise me. While Domi played in Winnipeg, he had a girl fired from her job in Polo Park Shopping Centre. The girls offence? She was waiting on Mrs. Domi and mentioned that Tie was seen at a local bar the previous week. Apparently Tie was caught in a lie because when his wife confronted him with these facts he went to the boutique and demanded the girl fired for her so-called indescretion.
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