Bullying and cyberbulling seemed to explode on to the national consciousness last year with the high-profile deaths of Tyler Clementi and Phoebe Prince.
The Nashville Predators, the NHL affiliate in Tennessee, are doing their part to change the long-held “jocks = bullies” stereotype.
When you think of a stereotypical high school jock, chances are, you quickly imagine said jock shoving a nerdy, undersized freshman into the nearest open locker. Growing up with years of Boy Meets World will do that to you.
But on Saturday, the Predators, in conjunction with the Nashville Film Institute and STARS (Students Taking a Right Stand) Nashville, will be debuting an anti-bullying public service announcement aimed at stopping bullying in schools.
“Through junior high, I was one of those people getting bullied. ... I was a smaller kid in the class,” Predator center Colin Wilson told The Tennessean. “It didn’t really allow me to be as happy as I should have been.” Wilson appears in the anti-bullying PSA.
Starting Saturday, the video will be available on STARS Nashville’s YouTube channel. The Predators will be debuting the video at their game on Saturday night.
To this blog author’s knowledge, this is the first major league team in any sport to adopt an anti-bullying campaign. If your local team could prove me wrong, or if you know of any others that have, please share them in the comments section down below.