While poking around the web last night to see if the Sean Avery “Sloppy Seconds” story had enough legs for another post today – it was amazing to see hockey out front on ESPN.com yesterday; also, it might have been the first time in PTI history that hockey led off the show – we were a bit perplexed as to why the Associated Press refused to print the actual phrase, “sloppy seconds,” instead replacing it with the much more reader-friendly “former girlfriends.”

It was jarring, actually. Neither ESPN nor Yahoo Sports, which posted video of Avery’s memorable quotes, censored the phrase. (Unofficial definition of “sloppy seconds” can be found in this wikipedia entry.) In fact, it seems like the Associated Press was the only media outlet to censor the phrase.

Is the AP too prude? Have we, as a society, pushed the envelope so far that a crude phrase is part of our common lexicon? Or was what Avery said too shocking not print it and show the video?

Thinking back to when we picked up the newspaper every morning before high school … let’s say a kid was thumbing through the paper Wednesday and saw news of the Avery suspension. Wouldn’t the kid be curious about why someone was being suspended and summoned to the commissioner’s office for using a term like “former girlfriends?” So then the inquisitive kid pokes around on the internet for what Avery really said … and next thing you know, he’s turning to the internet for his uncensored news.