If I was Sean Avery, I would be worried. I wouldn’t be worried so much about the fans reactions, any bad feelings likely ends the first time Sean hits someone into the boards. I wouldn’t worry so much about Glen’s reaction, the first time Sean feeds a teammate for an assist or scores a goal, likely furthers himself from being a roster casualty. And I definitely wouldn’t worry about Torts’ reaction, because if he had the power to get rid of Avery, it would have happened after the 2009 post-season…and numerous times thereafter.

No, the only person I would worry about is the reaction of Gary Bettman and company, since they treat Avery different than they do everybody else.

Sean plays under a different set of rules than the rest of NHL. Unfortunately for him, he also lives under a different code of ethics off the ice as well.  Almost three years ago, Bettman basically told Avery that he was living on his 9th live. Well is this the final straw? Nothing is certain, but you can bet that Sean will have to answer to NHL HQ before this thing is over.

If mouthing off has put Avery in the NHL doghouse before, then what exactly happens when he’s actually arrested? Any other player in the league likely gets a slap on the hand and is told, “here’s your lollipop kid, go home.” But Sean is different. Sean is despised at HQ, and the fact that fans still adore him, makes him even more despised.

To some people, this recent incident is easily forgettable, probably because people can relate. If you grew up in the suburbs, chances are you’ve had a least one party broken up by the police in your lifetime.

Of course, no one condones having an altercation with a police officer, but who knows how that really went down? Did Sean drunkenly fall into the police officer? Did he just slam his front door and accidentally catch the guy’s hand? Who knows? We don’t have the details, and TMZ isn’t a reliable source, even though Larry Brooks seems to think so.

While the fans may not lose a wink of sleep over this, since we are probably comparing this incident to Plaxico or Vick, Bettman likely is. And he could use this as an opportunity to make an example out of him. If I was Sean, I would be saying a prayer before that meeting…

Now before I open this up, I will say that I am not big Avery fan. To be frank, I think he’s overrated, and there are many other players that deserve to get the media’s attention before he does. However, that will never get in the way in what I think is just. Avery doesn’t deserve the pedestal the fans put him on, but he also doesn’t deserve irritable scrutiny by Gary Bettman either.

Does he deserve to get sh*t from Torts for taking bad penalties and for killing every rush by constantly being off-sides? You betcha. But does he deserve to play under a diffrent set of rules because he’s mouthy, or because he likes fashion, or because he stands up for causes that aren’t always symmetrical with blue-collar sports fans’ beliefs?

The answer is no. The answer should always be about hockey.

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