The alphabet mafia, those lovely people preaching tolerance and acceptance for all except anyone disagreeing with them on any given point as these cretins must be drawn and quartered, have found a new target to tackle. This time around, it is San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer. He decided not to participate in his team’s pregame warmup before its March 18 match against the New York Islanders, as the Sharks were having Pride Night with warmup jerseys designed for the, uh, occasion.

Reimer, who is something of an NHL anomaly in that he is an outspoken Christian, provided a statement as to why he would not wear the Pride Night jersey.

Naturally, the usual subjects typed their furious replies through clutched handkerchiefs.

The You Can Play Project, which works to promote inclusiveness in sports, said the organization was disappointed in Reimer’s actions.

“Religion and respect are not in conflict with each other, and we are certainly disappointed when religion is used as a reason to not support our community,” the organization said. “Wearing pride jerseys, like any celebration jersey worn, is not about the personal feelings of an athlete; rather the communication from the team that a community is welcome in the arena and the sport.”

We pause here to point out some of the issues with this statement.

In the true modern-day fashion of never letting a virtue-signaling opportunity go to waste, whoever runs the Sharks’ Twitter account let their rainbow flag fly.

By my count, the account proceeded to pump out 41 tweets, each partly or wholly devoted to the alphabet mafia’s assorted talking points. To say the response ratio was something less than enthusiastic would be a tremendous understatement, but this gentleman said it best out of all the people who tweeted back.

This isn’t the first time this season that an NHL player has declined to don the rainbow. In January 2023, Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov chose not to participate in his team’s Pride Night warmup. Like Reimer, Provorov cited his faith as directing him not to endorse the gay lifestyle. Like Reimer, he was hammered in the press. Hopefully, Reimer will be able to enjoy the same last laugh as Provorov.

By the way, Reimer didn’t play in the game, which the Sharks lost to the Islanders 4-1. San Jose has the second-worst record in the NHL. Which, as a Sharks fan, is something in which I take no pride.