That has a lot to do with how hockey as a whole is perceived from the outside. I doubt Barry Melrose does that, for instance (though honestly I have no idea if he does or not).

I don't follow sports media or watch any media outlets whatsoever, so I never hear the "thug" used to describe players. I've never even heard Sherman referred to as a thug. I see the term "thug" in NES video games and Spiderman movies more often than I hear it referring to athletes. Thus, I never associate racial connotations with the term. It should also be noted that I didn't use the term "thug", and only called him a locker room cancer. Usage of the term "Thug" was in Joe's post, which he used in jest.

So let's end any vilification, as being called racist saddens me. We're also very off-topic now.

And I've heard the term used in hockey much more often (since I follow hockey much more closely).

Usually called goons actually although thug is used and is a stand in for goon usually. But hockey is to some degree its own ecosystem.

Allen's introductory press conference to the Bears was basically, "I'm SO excited not to be on a team that sucks ass anymore."

goes from a team thats sucks ass to just average.

Not really. Going 8-8 with a historically bad defense is actually pretty impressive; 5-6 of their losses can be pinned almost exclusively on the defense. Most of the struggles were due to injury. Honestly if Chris Conte was just mediocre last year (instead of terrible) we probably sneak into the playoffs. I think they'll have at least an average defense, but either way they won't be historically bad two years in a row, and the offense will only be better. If they're healthy enough they'll be a playoff team. I'll wait until the season starts to predict how deep they can go.

Yes, but even with a bad defense it's up to the offense to put points on the board, and Jay Cutler just isn't a good QB to lead a team.

Thank you for the scorching hot sports take

the cowboys were 8-8 and they were pretty much just as bad.

Cutler's fine. Everybody on that team likes him and always has.

Edit: And there's no reason to believe the offense won't keep putting points on the board.

Ok well the defense will still be better and they'll still be a playoff team.

Edit: And comparing the Cowboys to the Bears is about as apples and oranges as you can get. All three ex-Cowboys who were on the Bears last year said it was as different a locker room as you can get, because in Chicago it's "only about football" and in Dallas you have all the "Hollywood" bullshit. I'd be surprised if the latter didn't have an effect on the players, so I trust the Bears a little more to get their shit together.

Take what players say with a huge grain of salt

You mean because they might resent their old team? The three guys are Jeremiah Ratliff, Martellus Bennett, and S.T. Coordinator Joe DeCamillis; Ratliff probably has a real grudge and idk about the others. Either way the Cowboys have been going 8-8 for years, the Bears are rebuilding their whole identity and system so logically you can expect them to take steps forward, where I don't have that same expectation for the Cowboys. I don't really want to argue the hell out of this, I'm just saying that it's reasonable/logical to expect the Bears to be a playoff team. Basically they had 5 games where 40 or more points were scored on them, and I really, really doubt that happens again this year.

As long as Cutler's QB I don't see how the defense is going to stop anyone.