The XX Factor: What women really think.

Puck Daddy

Sean Avery, hockey's self-confessed bad boy, was suspended indefinitely yesterday by the NHL for making remarks to a reporter about "how it's become a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds." The vaguely gross remark was aimed at exes Elisha Cuthbert and Rachel Hunter, both of whom are now dating other pro hockey players. It was also a deliberate stunt by Avery, who walked up to a group of reporters during a morning skate and asked them if there was a camera present before delivering his comments.

Maybe it's a cultural thing, but I don't really see what's all that terrible about the term "sloppy seconds." Juvenile, yes—but making disparaging remarks about the wives and girlfriends of your opponents is habitual within professional sports. In the 1998 FIFA World Cup, David Beckham was given a red card for kicking Diego Simeone, who had reportedly made graphic and insulting comments about his wife, Victoria, aka Posh Spice. More recently in the 2006 World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane was sent off for head-butting an Italian opponent who had called his sister a whore. Sean Avery's always been an expert at aggravating his opponents. Unfortunately, this time it was the last straw for the NHL.

Avery, who is frequently targeted by his teammates for his love of high fashion, was one of my fellow interns at Vogue this summer. I never actually met him, as he was rarely in the office past his first two weeks, choosing instead to do decidedly more uninterny things like attending fashion shows in Paris and  guest-editing Men's Vogue online (their Web traffic skyrocketed). So I really have no idea if he's as much of a pig in real life as he seems to be on the ice. However, everyone at Vogue loved him, particularly the older editors, and he was very good about giving out signed autographs and pictures for friends and family. The Sean Avery Fashion Story is reportedly set to become a movie, so regardless of his character he's an excellent self-publicist.