Does Jonathan Bernier Symbolize A Growing Problem In Professional Sports?

Jonathan Bernier‘s Nelson Mandela gaffe was hilarious, but we shouldn’t be laughing

Jonathan Bernier, goaltender for the Toronto Maple Leafs, may be an extremely good athlete — but when it comes to his social awareness, he could use some brushing up on current events.

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During the Toronto Raptors’ event honoring the late Nelson Mandela — named the Giant of Africa — Bernier was interviewed by reporters to hear his thoughts on Mandela.

Though the video has since been removed from YouTube, Bernier’s response was less than impressive to the thousands who ended up witnessing it.

He referred to the South African civil rights activist and politician as an influential member of the sports world; as the painful minute-long interview progressed, it became clear that Bernier had absolutely no clue who Nelson Mandela really was. Either he was fully convinced that Mandela truly was a famous athlete (many joked that he had undoubtedly gotten Mandela mixed up with Morgan Freeman from Invictus), or he was covering by making the kind of blanket statement that — had Mandela actually been a former professional athlete — would have covered all his bases and satisfied viewers.

Unfortunately for Bernier, his blunder was well-documented… and viewers were relentless.

At first, the video clip was downright hilarious; during the Leafs’ 5-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night, Mandela might have been referenced more than any of the players actually on the ice.

We shouldn’t be laughing, though.

According to an article by CNN in January of last year, there’s been a growing trend in collegiate and professional athletes not having adequate educations. The article talks about a learning specialist from the University of North Carolina who, on her first day on the job, was shocked by a basketball player who couldn’t read or write approaching her for help with his schoolwork.

Obviously, that was a far more extreme case than the issue at hand with Jonathan Bernier. It’s entirely possible that Bernier was simply suffering from nerves;  I remember, the first time I was invited to talk on a radio show about hockey, completely forgetting the names of every current New York Rangers forward but Mats Zuccarello.

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I write about hockey for a living — yet I kept repeating “Well, Mats Zuccarello and his, you know, talented linemates from the Stanley Cup playoffs…”

The far more likely possibility, though, is that Bernier simply had no idea who Nelson Mandela was — and whether he simply missed those lessons in school or missed out on too much of his education for competitive hockey practices and games, the bottom line is that he represents a growing trend in professional sports of players who simply aren’t aware of what’s going on around them in society.

We don’t need professional athletes to know how to launch a rocket or perform open-heart surgery, but it is alarming that these men and women — who many of our children completely idolize and attempt to emulate — don’t know even the most common names associated with civil rights and social progress.

Hopefully, this will serve as a wake-up call; unfortunately, it’s likely that many will simply mock Bernier for the next few weeks, then forget about this issue altogether.

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